Tropicalities

Written for The Pacific Islands Monthly by “Sea Serpent:’

THE belief persists in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, that private letters from persons inside the Territory, addressed to newspapers outside, are subject to some form of official censorship. The Melbourne Age, of July 23, 1930, defi nitely suggested that a letter posted to the editor from Rabaul, containing criticism of the Administration, had been deliberately interfered with, and an official inquiry was made into the circumstances. We have now re ceived a copy of a letter posted to us in Kavieng, in June last, in which there were unflattering references to the Administration. This letter never reached us, and its writer is quite convinced that it was read somewhere by officials and suppressed.

We find it difficult to believe that responsible officials anywhere, no matter how resentful of anonymous attacks, would adopt a measure so serious as that of interference with the mails. That sort of thing has never been permitted in a British community The N.G. officials, if they are a little myopic of vision in re lation to native affairs —are not fools.

However, there has been an unfortu nate crop of rumours. Anyone seeing definite evidence of an underground censorship of N.G. private correspond ence should lose no time in bringing it under the notice of the proper authorities.

A SORT of guerilla war seems to go on constantly between New Zealand Government officials and Mr.

O. F. Nelson, a well known Apia mer chant, who has been exiled from Samoa by the New Zealand adminis tration. Whether one agrees or not with Mr. Nelson’s fiery politics, one can at least admire his pertinacity and determination. The N.Z. officials are trying to prevent, as between Mr.

Nelson and the Samoan Nationalists, any communication which will tend to keep the fires of political discon tent smouldering in that distressful country. They scrutinise his mails and confiscate and burn the lively and outspoken newspaper (The Guardian) with which Mr. Nelson and his friends occupy their time. The exiles, of course, take a satanic delight in de vising ways and means of circulating the newspaper and otherwise defeat ing officialdom.

It is amusing, but it is also rather absurd. If there is a spirit of revolt in Samoa it will not be removed by exiling its spokesmen, or stewing them in boiling oil, or following any other method of the Middle Ages. That sort of thing will only keep bad feel ing alive.

However, I believe there will be a different policy manifest soon in Samoa. Private information is to the effect that General Hart is quickly bringing about a better feeling; and it would not be surprising if he made a generous gesture and invited the deportees to return to Samoa and assist him in restoring tranquil con ditions. Surely there are a sufficient number of big-minded people on both sides to make such a thing possible!

ALTHOUGH he died (from sun stroke) in April, 1913, and has been sleeping for 18 years be neath a plain concrete cross in the little cemetery at Kavieng (New Ire land), Boluwinski is not forgotten In New Guinea. I am told that the older natives still speak of him with awe as “big strong feller Boluwinski.” Al though a typical Prussian Junker, hard, arrogant, fierce and even cruel, he was yet one of the finest colonisers Imperial Germany ever sent into the South Seas. He had vision, a great belief in the future of New Guinea, tremendous energy, and a ruthless determination to get things done. The magnificent road he built along the north-east coast of New Ireland, 150 miles long —with forced labor —is still the finest engineering work in the Territory. Yet, in his Prussian way, he was a just man, and although the natives feared him he also held their respect during the whole period in which he was Administrator of New Ireland.

His method of maintaining his road was typical. The various villages were responsible, each for its own section; and when Bulowinski, on in spection, found a piece of road in poor condition, the horses were taken from his carriage and the delinquent natives were forced to carry it back wards and forwards over the bad piece. I am told that Bulowinski’s road is not being properly maintained nowadays, and that forest growth is slowly encroaching upon it. If that is true, it is a very great pity. The road was splendidly planned and con structed and the crushed coral was originally packed into such a fine solid surface that very little effort was needed to keep it in good order.

A WELL-KNOWN Polynesian resi dent of American Samoa, Mr.

Wesley Foster, has inherited £500,000 (sterling) from his foster father, In America, and proposes to settle down in Western Samoa. Mr. O.

F. Nelson, in his paper, the N.Z.

Samoa Guardian, rather bitingly sug

gests that Mr. Foster should buy “Vai lima,” in Apia, and restore to it the glories it knew when it was the resi dence of Robert Louis Stevenson, Mr.

Kunst (a Vladivostock millionaire) and Dr. Solf, the first German gover nor. “Vailima” is now the official residence of the New Zealand Admin istrator; and all N.Z. Administrators are equally hateful to Mr. Nelson, who is still living in Auckland, under the official dictum of banishment from his country.

LOOKING up some data relating to Papua, the other day, I had oc casion to dive into the annual reports of Sir Hubert Murray, Lieu tenant-Governor of Papua; and before I knew it, two hours were gone. I doubt if there is another Adminis trator in the Pacific who can write of his work, in his annual report, in so fascinating a manner. Sir Hubert’s annual reports are full of facts and figures, as such documents are sup posed to be; but he has a most attractive literary style and a singular capacity for throwing into relief the unusual and interesting features of his work. His irrepressible humour crops out in every paragraph—one chuckles, with him, over the many quaint incidents which attend the slow process of “civilising” the New Guinea savages. As a publisher, I hope that Sir Hubert retires while his energies are still fresh, so that he can in his later years, give us further books which his knowledge, experi ence and humour can provide and which he is so eminently well fitted to write. These annual reports of his are real literature in themselves; but such splendid material should not be lost in musty archives. Instead, in cloth octavo binding, they should take a permanent place in the popular libraries. The world nowadays is hungry for just the class of book that Sir Hubert Murray can write.

MANY letters, warmly commending the objects of the Pacific Is lands Association (see report elsewhere in this issue) have been received at this office. The following from Mr. A. N. Lussick, of Logagon.

Kavieng, New Ireland, is typical.

“Go your hardest with the Pacific Islands Association and count me a member. I have been 14 years in Fiji, Samoa and New Guinea and I think I have never heard a better susgestion for the betterment of Islands con ditions.”