NEW GUINEA ROTS IN THE SUN

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5296, 8 January 1947, Page 2

NEW GUINEA ROTS IN THE SUN

. AOMINISTRATION FAILS natives confuised and almost idle A year of civil adittinistfation has' [ left New Guinea thoroughly confused. White men and natives alike want rapid enlightenment, for the ; epUte isdand's economic and social set-up has been cast into a melting pot by "Mr. Ward's dream," writes a Sydney Morning Herald Special corresponderit. This "dream" envisages a gigantic socialistic plan for native uplift on r. scale never before afcempted in tho Pacific. If it succeeds, 1,500,000 native:will govern this island and. phys'ically and mentally be capable of a fulle life. The visionaries are certain tbi dream ean be realised. The old hand say it is an impossibility. An English missionary with li years' experienee throughout th islands told me that it could not b done. 'H am convinced that the nativ here is simply an adult child," h sai'-d. "Generally spea'king, he is ir capable and even unwilling to accep responsi'bilities. For 50, maybe 1C '■ years, he cannot hope to get alon; without the white man if he is to a r proach civilised standards." That missionary described the present provisional administration as "a band of ologists and supersentimentalists lacking appreciation of native mentality." To a point that statement is cor rect. The men and women trying t make Mr. Ward's dream a- realit, comprise many young idealists imhue with ideas of racial equality an ready at the slightest excuse t swamp the listenei: in anthropologicf data about native ahility. New Deal for Black Men On the other hand the administra tion also includes men with deeade of New Guinea experienee. Som have doubts about the new scheme: feasibility. Others freely admit it i one of the most diffiicult assignment, ever given to white men, but all ai determined to push it to the limit a part of the United Nations Organisa tion decision that black men niu 5 have a new deal. All thinking men will agree tha this is desirable, hut so far in Ne' Guinea there ap^pears to have been . failure to realise that native welfar and the development of their countr. rnust go hand in hand. In the first year since the Arm left, production has been almos negligihle. Plantations are idle or, a best, functioning at half-pace bt cause of labour shortage, and the rc sult is that, with the world cryin for fats, coconuts which would yiei copra worth £2,000,000 are rotting. Admittedly this situation is nc brought about entirely by labou shortage. Important producing area in New Britain, New Ireland, an Bougainville sustained a lot of direc an-d indirect war damage. Equipmer and livestock were wiped out, an their replacement is required at : time when shipping and materials ar everywehere in short supply. But labour remains a major prol lem for which people here hold th Administration to blame. The cor. sensus of opinion is that the Goverr ment has forced the Australian tax payer to carry an ynneceessaril heavy hurden. Realisation of this has split th New Guinea white community int two factions. There seems to be no middle course here. You are passiohately pro- Administration or violently antiAdministration. To understand why this situation has developed, it is necessary to trace New Guinea happenings since the war began. With the coming of the Japanes in 1942, A.N.G.A.U. took eontrol o the Territory and the bulk of civiliar were evacuated. Production ceased overnight an thousands of natives, many of whor had been indentured to planters fo three years, were conscripted fo Army service. Administration ofhcers told me the some villages were denuded of nearl; 90 per cent. of their able-bodied mai villagers, that gardens fell into dis repair arid by the end of the war, th native was more completely "browne off" than any white soldier. Paralysis by Peastroke That applied equally to the native in actual war service, and to those thousands who, as the Japanese were pushed back, were cdlnsoripted for work under the Australian New Guinea Production Control Board. Planters in that period obtainec native labour through the board at £4 a head, but soon after the war ended the Federal Govern ment cancelled all native contracts. The result was near chaos. •Natives downed tools and went home, wherever home might he. From the Fly to the Sepik Rivers, from Milne Bay to the highlands the effect was the same as when war hit the islands. Almost overnight production -of copra and rubber dropped near zero. Practically everyone I have met in New Guinea, and that includes occasional Administration officers, helieve that this chaos couldi, have been avoided. They agree that it was patienj;ly ahsurd with one stroke of-a Canhehra pen to paralyse the entire island;. A gradual demobilisation would have maintained a better halance and helped to 'keep New Guinea economy more stable. • Now that economy seems baaed mainly on Federal Government grants. Planters insist that the sudden cancellation of all contracts conveyed to the native mind hhat there was no more work for him, and that until he realises that there is pleny pf work on higher wages and improved

rations, New Guinea must wallow in the doldrums. " The rubber yield wiU remain low, the coconuts will continue to rot, the world will lose much-needed products, and New Guinea itself will lose millions which could go towards a fuller andi'faster test of "Mr. Ward's dream."