PAPUA AND PAPUANS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 380, 22 July 1911, Page 4

PAPUA AND PAPUANS.

LEGISLATORS GAIN USEFUL INFORMATION.

Members of the Federal Parliament who have been on a lour to Papua have been greatly impressed with the possibilities: o( the. Gommonwealth's new territory. The purpose of their visit was to gain knowledge of tho country, and they are more thin satislied with what they have scon. They did not penetrate into the wild* not encounter hostile nal i von, nut they had experiences t hat were sometimes amusing and always interesting. The members wen 1 mistaken for cannibals by live natives win were pn! mi board their steamer at. one of th small islands in order to be taken to Port Mo'esbv for trial on certain charges. The progress of the visitors was marked by feasting* an I junketing*, and the live prisoner:; ipiile nalur.Pdy came to the conclusion that, they were being reserved to till th" menu of a great banquet at the headquarters of tlv Administration. The logidafors. received a surprise when they worn induced to play a cricket match against a Papuan loam. The Federal Parliament lueists some good cricketers among its members, but they admitted readily that the natives "made short work" of shattering their stumps." the visitors were keenly interested in the village life, which in many districts is entirely communistic. "They share everything they get," said one of tho members to a reporter in Sydney. "The villages are. laid out neatly and have their plantations and their gardens. The men do th" clearing and the women do the planting. When a man goes out working for twelve months and returns, he hands over tho fruits of his labour mostly tobacco - to be divided among the lot.'' Thero is an (dement, of unionism in Panua as well as that of ."immunise,!. The natives carefully maintain a black list" of employers, which contains the names of nun who have treated them badly, and by some means this list is communicated from mm \ill;igo to another. For the see-; pari, the natives under the ; mmcd ia!e care of the i 'nninion weal 111 A■! in in is I rat inn are law-abiding. There ar,. prisoners in gaols at Port Moresby and t-'amarai, and they are left in-set mallv iolheiv own device;-, the authorities allowing them to serve their sen! en,a-• without, being subject to s-'Vere restraint. It, is said that only one prisoner over attempted to escape and Im was captured and brought bad; by his companions in misfortune.