PROGRESS COMES TO THE PACIFIC

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5302, 15 January 1947, Page 4

PROGRESS COMES TO THE PACIFIC

QUGAR and , copra, Daughter Hubbards; gold and nickel, swing music; chrome aild phosphates and social security. Ali these and a fewT more, it seems, are going to be the things that | matter in the Pacific Islands in | future. The six Pacific Powers ! to meet in Canberra in h forti | night's time are going to see to ! it. Romance will fiee the atolls of the South Seas; the beachcomber will become a beach j inspector and the bulldozer will | widen the headhunter's bush ! tracks into autobahnen. The goj down of the trader will expand l into an efficiently-run emporium j and the fire flies that glow on j the verges of the mysterious

j bush will pale before the flash- ; ing neons. The jungle birds will be silenced by the jive session; naked children of the villages will become erudite quizzlings. Progress is coming to the Pacific and the Islands of the Blest will be overrun by anthropolo- ! gists, candid cameramen and taxis. Dr. Ernest Beaglehole, although not in so many words, warned us about this the other night, and we as New Zealanders and trustees of some of these Islands, are bound to do our part. Hitherto, it appears, j we have failed lamentably to | fulfil our obligations, social and | scientific, towards them. It is ! true we have encouraged the i moral, medical and material I ; well-being of the native populaj tion, while allowing them as far as possible to regulate their own | lives under the gnidance of enlightened administrators, and in the main, if their ready laughter is any criterion, they have lived happily. But this policy of paternalism is not enough. We must aim for self-determination. Considering the very diverse range of j culture met with in the South ! Pacific,. from the virtually unknown interior of New Guinea and Papua to the practically Europeanised Tongans and Fijiians, this is going to be an undertaking that will require a i ' good deal of careful study. This , is wrhere the anthropologists will ] come in. Then we shall need to ; develop social and sports activi- ! ties to ensure regular means of ; relaxation after they have done j their 40-hour week on the plan- . I tation or in the mine. This is j where.the candid camerman will j come in. And finally, they will j need to have available a ready J means of collecting their social | security and family benefits i (some of the chiefs will be fabulously rich on this score) . That is where the taxis will come in. 'On the whole, New Zealand need not be afraid that the Islands under American infiuence will tend to outbid her for the available labour in the territories. Freedom of movement among the groups is permitted but has been very little availed of. Holiday excursions will easily rectify this claustral conception of commnnity life — exqursions in de luxe diesel oilburners, while the exquisitely executed outrigger canoes of a discarded age are sent to the museum.