THE MISSING EXPLORERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3150, 21 February 1911, Page 5

THE MISSING EXPLORERS.

PROBABLY MASSACRED BY NAT! YES. NO AUTHENTIC INFORMATION AVAILABLE. [UNITED PEESS ASSOCIATION-COPYEIGHT.J (Received Feb. 21, 12.45 a.m.; THURSDAY ISLAND, Feb. 20. Reports from Darn, New Guinea, point to the possibility of Mr. Stamforth Smith’s party having been massacred by natives. Two ketches, one in charge of the Resident Magistrate _ at Daru. are out searching for the missing party. Natives who arrived at Dam on the 11th inst. stated that the search parties took all th© native police and ex-nolice from their villages, and they were under the impression they were going to fight the natives who were reported to have killed Mr. Smith’s party. The safety of Mr. Smith is doubted at Daru, as the question appears, to have been discussed amongst the natives whether they should be permitted to pass through their territory without hindrance. No authentic news has been received by the Acting-Magistrate at Daru, whom, however, is inclined to believe the reports of the coast natives, .who got the information from their wilder neighbors in the vicinity of the Papuan Gulf delta. A THEORY ADVANCED. BRISBANE, Feb. 20. A well-known New Guinea explorer opines that Mr. Stainfortli Smith and party drifted out of the Fly River into the mountains, where food is scarce, and that they probably perished from exhaustion.