For the First Time and Be Friendly with People from Galoma in the East, at This Port. 'L'here Must Have Been Fully 2,000 People

81 for the first time and be friendly with people from Galoma in the east, at this port. 'l'here must have been fully 2,000 people asRembled here for about a week in .January, the young men amusing themselves, while the elders were sitting on the verandahs convOI'sing and chewing betel nut on the most friendly terms. The Toaripi people came to port in larger numbers than usual. This is an occasion when there is generally trouble, but this year the trading was conducted in a quiet and friendly manner. Mr. A. C. English, the Govemment Agent at Rigo Station, has done good work in his district. All the Sinaugolo tribe are now at peace with each other and the surrounding tribes. Those of the Rigo village, who scattered during the famine, are now collecting and forming a large village at Gomuridobu, close to the Government station. The Bono people have also joined them there. The Manukolo people are collecting and building a new village. 'I' hey are now at peace with all their neighbours and with the hill tribes. The Balaguaia and Ikoru tribes have also collected and settled down peaceably. The villages of Kelirupu and Tupulamu have been visited for the first time by Mr. English and the constabulary. They are now friendly and peaceful, sending in reports to the Government station when anything goes wrong. Kala and Kwaipo now interchange :friendly visits, as do also Kwaipo and Ganimarupu, Galoma, and Aliba. I have sent messengers from Koapara overland to the Government station. They had to pass through Balaguaia and Ikorn, formerly their deadly foes. They lost their way and were met by some Balaguaia people, who housed and fed them, showing them the road next day. The villages in Cloudy Bay and as far east as Table Point have been visited twice during the year and were found to be very friendly although frightened of the bush people. 'l'he new village of Merani has also been visited, but on approach no onE\ remained in the village except two women. I am glad to report that the Motu dialect is getting more widely known. There is no difficulty now in getting interpreters for Cloudy Bay as Tuari, the Domara chief, and his followers know Motuan fairly well. There is a decided change for the better at Galoma. The people are now quiet and peaceful, and Koapena, the chief, is a firm friend of the Government and of white men. Kopikulo, the chief of Bula'a, is also a convert to law and order, consequently his village has taken a turn in the right direction. Mr. Kowald, the Government Agent at the newly-formed Government station in the Mekeo District, has made a good start. Comfortable quarters have been erected of native material. A good boat jetty on the river bank has also been made. He has a boat and a crew of five Motuans who act as police. There has been no intertribal warfare or murders since the station has been formed, and, although the station is yet in its infancy, I trust a good effect has already been produced. Maiva and Kivori are at peace and continually visit each other. \Vaikapu have been threatening Kivori, but since your Honour's visit there nothing has come of it. The Maiva murderers are still at large; two unsuccessful attempts have been made to capture them. The murderers at Kabadi are also still at large. They are always on the lookout, and whenever we visit the district they disappear into the bush. There have been no fresh murders during the year. 'l'he Nala villages are also quiet. No villages to the west of Kivori have been visited by me nor have the Koiarians on the Astrolabe, but those scattered on the plains about the river and inland of Tupuseleia have been visited, but arc very frightened. There are several old murderers amongst them who are "wanted," but it is very difficult to effect their capture owing to their nomadic habits. From October, 1890, to 30th .June, 1891, ninety different villages have been visited by me; some, however, have been visited several times, thus bringing up the total number of visits to 135. Since the Regulations of the Native Board have come into force several native magistrates' courts have been held in this district. One case of using threatening language has been dealt with by me, and I am afraid this evil is on the increase. The more intelligent natives, mostly boys who have been in Government service, or have worked for white men, go about trading and threatening the ignorant natives inland with gaol and the wrath of the Government if they do not supply them with the goods they require. On the whole, the natives have taken kindly to the regulation against burying the dead in their villages. Burial grounds have been picked out at most of the places at a reasonable distance from Port Moresby. The Sinaugolo tribe, who formerly did not bury at all, now have their burial grounds and use them. There has been a little friction at Kalo, but on being spoken to the friends exhumed the bodies buried in the village and re-buried them in the burial ground. The Keapara people refused to select a burial ground, but no deaths have as yet taken place, therefore no action has been taken. Lands.-In the month of March last sites for stations of the Sacred Heart Mission were bought by me m the Mekeo villages of Aipeana, Veipaha, Amoamo, Rarai, N gauauni, Mission Hill, and Oriropetana-the largest block being 20 acres at Aipeaua. More sites are required, but owing to the overflow of the river travelling was rendered impracticable. A plot of 24 acres has also been bought by me at the Maiva-Kivori boundary for the Government. 'l'here are several blocks of country in this district suitable for cocoanut growing, viz. :-All the line of beach from Vererupu to Table Point with a few breaks, Constance Island, Lily Island, all round Red Scar Bay from Morabi to Cape Suckling, also the land now lying waste between Maiva and Kivori. Cocoanuts also flourish well on the banks of the Vanigiri River, but more clearing would be required there than on the beach blocks. Grime and Prisoners.-I am happy to state that crime is decidedly on the decrease in the parts under our control in this district. In September, 1890, seven men and two women were cleverly arrested by the Government Agent at Rigo for the murder of Mr. George Hunter. Three of the men were acquitted, two suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and the remainder are now in Her Majeety's prison at Port Moresby. The executions have had a wonderfully quietening effect in this hitherto troublesome district. There have been sixteen persons charged with murder and brought before the courts, nine of whom were acquitted. Only four cases of larceny have been brought to light. This is owing, doubtless, to the plentiful supply of food. Twenty-seven persons have been received into the gaol, four of whom were females, and four from the gaol in the Eastern district. Twenty-two have been discharged on the expiration of their sentences, The maximum number in the gaol at any one time is twenty-one, and the minimum fourteen. G On 82 On the 30th June there were fourteen males and two females confined in the gaol at Port Moresby. Early in September last the new g~ol on Ela beach was completed, and all the male prisoners removed there, the old lockup being reserved f0r the female prisoners. The prisoners have enjoyed excellent health since they have removed to their new quarters. There has been only one death, that of an old man transferred from the Samarai gaol, who died of decline. One birth has also taken place. Two coloured warderB, under the head gaoler, are in charge of the male prisoners, whilst the wife of one of them acts as matron to the females. Divine service is, as hitherto, regularly held every Sunday by a mission student. I have, &c., FRANK E. LAWES, Resident Magistrate for Central District and Secretary for Native Affairs . .APPENDIX V. REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT AGENT OF THE RIGO DISTRICT. Government Station, Rigo, lOth September, 1891. SIR,-I have the honour, for your Honour's information, to furnish the following report on the Rigo District, for the year ending 30th June. Native A.ffairs.-It is gratifying to be able to report that during my term of office in the Rigo District the state of the natives has been on the whole satisfactory. The Sinaugolo tribes have now settled down on their own land and old village sites-namely, Rigo, Kemaia, Saroa, Waboroba, Girobara, Babaka, and Saroakei. The last-named, which is a portion of the Sinaugolotribe, have settled down on the Vanigere (Kemp Welch) River in three villages, where they have planted cocoanuts and cultivate a large quantity of food, and they have supplied the above villages during the scarcity of food among them, as also the coast tribe Kapa Kapa. I am pleased to be able to state that the l<mg-standing feud between the Saroakei and Saroa people appears to have ended. Much credit is due to the chief Tanogari, of Saroa, for the way in which he has preserved peace among his people. He has built for himself a large weatherboard house; this is quite a new idea with the natives. Tanogari has conducted church service for the last two months during the absence of the London Mission Society's teacher.

Load more