A PEOPLE ADRIFT

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 18, 11 September 1944, Page 21

A PEOPLE ADRIFT

By Sgt.

This war has now brought large numbers of New-Zealanders into contact with the peoples who live in that part of the Pacific north-west of Fiji and Samoa, which are places fairly well known to us. However, few of us knew much about parts farther afield when we left home with the Third Division, but after nine months spent in the Solomons and farther north opinions have begun to form, and we understand a little of the situation in which these neighbours of ours find themselves. Before European culture influenced them, the primitive people of the Pacific lived in accordance with complex economic and social patterns. Their pagan ways were not haphazard, as one might think, but had been evolved slowly over very many generations, as environment reacted on the genius of their race. We found that the native of Vella Lavella had possessed in former times a comprehensive system of religion. It endowed every natural object with a spirit, and formulated customs associated with birth, death, and all the major events of life. When he was confronted with a problem, custom told him what he should do. Some of his old social institutions, such as headhunting or widow-strangling, are repulsive to us, but they were part of a rounded system of life, by which the native had worked out for himself a defined place in his surroundings. To him the human race was grouped in clans, which were quite small in size. His own life was practically confined to a group of hamlets. He cultivated his gardens and caught fish, and he did not have to go on long journeys to supply the needs of life. He had a well-developed system of currency, for which he used objects which were scarce, but had no

intrinsic value, such as shell rings ground with laborious care, or whale’s teeth. Since these small communities were self-sufficient, the standard of culture was maintained by handing down unimpaired from one generation to another the skill of the craftsmen. These skills were often of a high order by our standards. A technician in an American Construction Unit said that he admired the skill in woodwork employed by the natives of Nissan when they made their simple houses. This was in the Bismarcks, north of the Solomons, and the general level of culture had seemed lower to us than that of the Vella natives of the New Georgia Group. When the native built a dwelling he used only the materials in the bush around him, but there was no slipshod work, and he did everything so neatly that often at the same time the eSect was highly decorative. He did not use much conscious ornament, and he seemed to have an instinctive eye for good proportions. In Vella the natives built a chapel to honour our dead, and they put their finest work into it, so that we

saw some of the old crafts employed. Great pains were taken to get the best of materials, and, if need be, the smallest item was brought a long way, even when something nearly as good stood at hand. In this instance the natives did employ a modest amount of ornament, but they did it, as the work proceeded, in the manner of the medieval craftsmen who built cathedrals. For instance, as soon as a pillar was set in place, it might be carved in relief with some simple symbol from daily life, such as the image of a crocodile. This decoration then merged with the structure, and did not have the appearance of something applied as an afterthought, as our ornamentation often does. The comparatively recent arrival of European influence was a sudden blow to this age-old way of life. Their system, which fused all aspects of the human span into a closely-welded whole, has now vanished. The coherence of their living was destroyed because European life did not present itself to them as a rounded alternative system. European influence arrived in three main ways, at different times, and the separate institutions which brought it never really co-ordinated their policies. The Missions influenced religion; commercial interests influenced economic affairs ; and the Government, last in the field, and, in the case of the Solomons, remotely controlled from the Colonial Office in London, took over

administration, with nominal control over all aspects of native life. It was impossible for a simple people to adjust itself to such a radical change, when the alternative was presented in such a disjointed manner. Now the native no longer has an integrated way of life; his problems tend to confuse him, and he has no single body of custom to tell him what he should do. In the sphere of religion, most of the natives have been converted to Christianity, and they have adopted their new faith with impressive fervour. Especially at Vella we had opportunity to observe that

their new beliefs play an important part in daily life, and that their religious outlook is now positive and enlightened. It was in the economic field that degeneration was most marked. Many natives possessed treasured relics of ancient workmanship, but could no longer make such things themselves. When a small party visited an ancient burial-place in the hills of Vella, we saw lying broken among the mouldering skulls an ornament which had been carved from a slab of white shell of the giant clam. It had a delicate fretwork pattern of great felicity, with dancing figures arranged in rows. We asked a native who the craftsmen were who had done this beautiful work, and he replied that this thing had always existed, because no man could possibly have made it. It was clearly unbelievable to him that his race had ever possessed such skill, which had vanished with the old beliefs which it adorned. The old system of currency has also largely broken down. Shell money, pigs, and other ancient currency still seemed to have value, but the common medium of exchange and store of wealth was the Australian shilling piece, which was a labourer’s hire for one day. Thus, so far as we could find, shell money was no longer manufactured.

The old tools had mostly disappeared. Conventional European articles such as axes and knives are now bought or traded, and they are not always specially adapted to the particular needs of the native, as were usually the ones which he used to make for himself. European building materials and methods had penetrated to some extent, and have tended to destroy the sense of functional design. War has intensified this process of disintegration in some cases. For example, over a period of about six months the unfortunate natives' of northern Guadalcanal had tens of thousands of troops fighting fiercely over their land. They were apparently a hybrid race, not of the highest type, but those we saw there, a few miles from our camp, were an extreme example of social breakdown. Their ordinary way of life had disappeared temporarily, and they were wearing cast-off military clothing, and eating canned rations. They were dejected in appearance, and lived in squalor. What, then, must be done ? What is already a geographical fact seems likely

to become a political one in the near future —these people will be living in the sphere of the influence of Australia and New Zealand. It will be necessary for us in this event to develop a national sense of responsibility for the Pacific-Islanders. Clearly the old order was unenlightened in many respects, and with our knowledge, resources, and superior social experience we are able to do a great deal to improve their life. Our first thought might well be that the native needs more of the material things of life, and should have cheap goods made available to him in abundance. If a well-intentioned policy were based on this assumption, it would probably prove a disaster for the native before very long. Its effect would be that which we saw in an exaggerated way in

Guadalcanal. These fertile tropical islands will readily supply their inhabitants with a simple, natural living as a reward for moderate effort. This kind of life should not be disturbed fundamentally, nor should native culture be disintegrated by letting the natives learn to rely on our manufactured articles, which have superficial advantages for them. At present the need of the native is not so much for wealth, as for some-

thing more intangible — racial selfconfidence. Perhaps discretion and wisdom are more required of us than generosity. If we can, we must help the native to build up a new life which will be as wellknit as his old pagan one. This will require a professional service of enlightened administrators, freed, if possible, from a policy which places the interests of the native in a subordinate position. The process of reconstruction should be fostered from within the native races, rather than imposed from above. Medical care and education are major needs. The aim, however, should be to make an educated native, not a European. The mild controversy as to whether

natives should be admitted to New Zealand colleges probably misses the point. A native educated for years in New Zealand might be unfit to resume the simple life of a Solomons village. It is unlikely that white people in any number will ever wish to live in such a climate, so no problem of colour discrimination need ever hamper progressive plans. There should be a gradual and tactful introduction of scientific improvements into native agriculture, and old handicrafts which could still have a useful function should be revived. New crafts which would assist the rise of living standards could also be introduced. It seems unfair, and is probably unwise, to leave education to the privately financed missions. At Vella we knew an intelligent youth from Choiseul who had been educated in mission schools, and now wished to be trained at Suva Medical College as soon as conditions would permit. Every ambition was subordinated to this desire. When we who knew him wished to give him little things, he gently refused, and said in his charming English : “ I need nothing but education.” These islands where we have been stationed are populated with childlike people, of whom many are talented, like this boy. As a reward for their loyalty, if for no nobler reason, they deserve our utmost consideration.