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[Page 77]
(3)
"I have the honor to bring this to your notice and beg you to kindly instruct your outposts accordingly in order to avoid misunderstandings.
Please state receipt of this notice."
I have etc. etc.
(Sgt.) E. Haber.
The above letter was duly acknowledged and a half-Company of Infantry left at Toma to conduct these troops to Herbertshohe on surrender.
That terms of surrender were concluded before this force arrived from Kaiser Wilhelmsland was most opportune, as with this accession of strength the resistance of the enemy in this class of country would have been formidable and most difficult to overcome, and I am positively certain terms would not have been arranged so promptly had the "Honours of War" not been conceded.
Clause 4 provides that upon the Governor giving his parole to take no further part directly or indirectly in the present war, no obstacle will be placed in the way of his returning to Germany. But he distinctly understands that whether he gives his parole or not he is to be deported to Australia and no assurance or promise has been given him that his departure thence to Germanyill be in any way facilitated. On the contrary he was informed, and he distinctly understands, that he will most likely be detained in Australia for some considerable time. Moreover, it is doubtful whether he will accept the alternative of giving parole, in which case the condition as to his returning to Germany is a dead letter.
The Governor is not a Soldier, and has had no military training whatever; he is purely a Civil Administrative Official.
Clauses 5 and 6 deal with Officers, N.C.Os and Men who have been captured or who have surrendered as prisoners of war, and provides for Officers of the Regular German Army, of whom there are 2 sent here about 5 months ago to organise the defence of the Colony, viz. Captain Von Klewitz and Lieut. Mayer, being detained as prisoners of war, and they will be sent to Australia first opportunity. The remainder, whose ordinary occupation is Civil, on their taking the oath of neutrality to be released and allowed to return to their homes and ordinary avocations, except where such avocations are Official.
In this matter I was guided by the fact that large numbers of the white population who were with the forces in the field, are men owning and working their plantations, in some cases many miles away in isolated localities. If these men were deported, their wives and families and their plantations would be left to the mercy of the Kanakas and other native races, and the result would be most disastrous, as untold damage would be done in a short while which could not be remedied for a years, if at all. Here again I kept steadily in view the future of the place under British rule, and I am perfectly satisfied the clemency extended and appreciated and will bear good fruit. In other cases the men were engaged in stores in the towns of Rabaul and Herbertshohe and they have now peacefully resumed their duties, which will help to speedily restore normal conditions of Trade and Commerce.
-Clause 7-