Primary tabs
Transcription
and whose real name is Rabenskraft. He had the 5 men arrested and sentenced them to corporal punishment. Despite protests and pleas by the men, who would have rather been shot, the punishment was executed on a public square with the English flag hoisted and the English troops lined up. It is an extraordinary incident and an unbelievable
affront at the hands of the Provost Marshal and in the name of the English government. The Rev. was beaten up by one person and in private, so to speak, whereas the very public corporal punishment amounted to a deliberate disparagement of the German name in front of the natives and to a violation of the law, even an English-Australian law. Unfortunately, there were a few questionable characters among the Germans in New Guinea who, in order to ingratiate themselves with the English administration, collected German signatures for a declaration stating that the undersigned condemned the action of the 5 men and approved of rigorous punishment. Luckily, reasonable people managed to destroy the declaration before it was submitted.