Treat Sāmoans roughly - navy

Invincible Strangers 54 Chapter 24.2

Navy raids no longer impressed villagers. Platoons were ordered ‘to make the raid as severe as possible, searching every fale in the villages and turning the inhabitants out into the open while the inspections proceeded,’ Wilson reported. Punishment, such as confiscations of food and boats, or curfews were authorised. The military lacked accurate topographical information. They raided an area around 536-metre Mt Tafua, near the Alafa’alava and Lefaga track intersection. They wrongly deduce, mostly on the basis of rumour, that Mau were there.

Left: Dunedin sailors prepare to head into the jungle. Pix National Library Right: Another parade before the jungle, PapersPast Timaru Herald 1 March 1930