KNIGHTS ERRANT OF PAPUA
By Lewis Letts . •
The knights errant of Mr. Lewis Letts' hook (Blackwood, 12s. 6d.) are the armed native policemen of Papua who, under white officers, keep the peace between their kinsmen who are still head-hunters and cannibals. Pacification is seldom a peaceful business, but Papua provides an outstanding example of how it can be achieved with a minimum of bloodshed. • As this excellent account of the pacification of Papua (previously
known as British New Guinea) demonstrates, understanding of and co-operation with the native inhabitants, however barbarous they may be, is the soundest method. The force is composed of natives who have demonstrated by their conduct that they-believe in law and order. After training they are attached to a station in charge of a white officer and their duties mostly consist in rounding up murderers and robbers. " They are ordered to use their arms only as a last resource, for it is the Government's policy to treat head- hunters and cannibals not as criminals to be punished but as men to whom killing is a . natural occupation. Captured murderers are frequently sent back to their tribes when the judge is convinced that they understand that murder is wrong and against the laW, although one prisoner said, " Let us be hanged. . . What is life to us if we cannot tInoW spears at the police ? " How a magnificent body of policemen has been built up of men such as this ardent huntsman, and how they play a vital part in the pacification of their own country, makes a fascinating story and forms one of the more creditable chapters in British colonial history.
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