Silver Lining

Papuan Trader’s Life has no Silver Lining

SO much is expected by the general public in reading of tropical life that it is difficult to describe satisfac torily the monotony and isolation that it represents to the lonely settler in Papua. One often reads with amuse ment the fulsome descriptions of con ditions and events “in the romantic Pacific Islands.” Heat, fever and mos quitoes—copra, natives and dirt —these are hardly a happy combination when coupled with isolation and loneliness.

It is of little consequence to the Islands residents whether the S.E. trades rustle musically in the graceful coconut palms, or whether, after tor rential rains, they droop forlornly against leaden skies. It is copra—the falling market—freightage and the price of stores—that are the salient points of his consideration; how soon, with luck, he may make good and clear out.

But this hope, always elusive, usu ally fades, in time, slowly, out of sight and mind. Store accounts mount up and copra returns fall. After a futile struggle he is forced to realise that to “hold on” is not entirely unenterprising and, even with only a narrow margin of profit, can he hope to do that.

Years ago trading in Papua had a glamour. But times have changed. Yet it is still believed to be a life of allur ing adventure!

Papua is cruel, merciless, and exact ing to the white man on his own. The trader of to-day barely scrapes a liv

ing along these shores and roundly curses the day he ever caught sight of them and the wily savage, who now exploits him more thoroughly than he ever dared to hope to exploit the sav age.

Trade to-day is conducted on definite lines and scheduled prices, which most natives know to the exact penny.

Whether the trader lives in an unac cessible district or not, makes little dif ference. The native demands a set price or goes elsewhere. His time is his own, and distances to him are no ob ject. He, in his ignorance, is satisfied that the stores and traders are there for his benefit alone, and he treats the trader with scant courtesy and cheats him on every possible occasion. Until the native learns the cost of retailing and transport and market values, there is little profit for the trader. Even then competition on these grounds may lead to an even sadder position than that of to-day.

Traders of the old days—Bevan.

Mawson, Buchanan and Peter the Greek —had it all their own way, as pioneers. There were little settlement, few planters and many untouched districts. Natives, overjoyed at the opportunity of trading, and pleased with the novelty, bought and exchang ed their wares with wholehearted vig our, and the days were then full of the stirring adventures that is so in correctly claimed to be still the life of the present hard-pressed settler.— M.L.