Frog-Blooded Execution

Because the New Hebrides are governed jointly by France and Great Britain there is scandal and backbiting about almost everything that British or French officials on the islands do. Last week the trouble was about beheading.

Fourteen Chinese had been arrested for the murder of a French planter. Six were sentenced by a French court to Death. Anxious that the execution should be comme il faut, reflecting that the condemned men were Orientals, the French Court sent for an Oriental headsman, obtained after some difficulty a scowling Japanese adept with his great broad blade.

Exactly as though they had been sentenced to Death in China, the six Chinese chained up in front of the French Hospital at Vila had their heads chopped off in the good old Chinese way. From a French standpoint the execution was a triumph. It harmonized with the French Government's traditional policy of observing native customs in French colonies wherever possible. But British residents of Vila were furious.

When a British ship brought news of the "outrage" to Auckland, shocked New Zealand editors roasted the French as a race of coldblooded, unfeeling frogs.

"I was unfortunate enough to witness the spectacle, which was too barbarous and ghastly to be described," said Second Officer Herbert Mimms. "About 170 people were present, including natives and the entire French population of Vila."

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