White Women

Natives’ Attacks on White Women Kanakas Should Not Roam Freely in Big Cities

Letter to the Editor RESIDENTS in New Guinea, Papua, and the Solomons, seem to be greatly per turbed at the present time concerning the increase in the number of assaults by na tives upon European women and girls. To my mind the reason for such an increase and the prevention of same is quite a simple matter.

The reason is that numbers of natives are regularly taken to Sydney and other Australian cities as servants, boat crews, etc., where they invariably meet a class of women who follow the world’s oldest pro fession. Upon their return home, their experiences are related at length to all and sundry, and the teller is hailed as a con quering hero.

The Melanesian native, in his present state of evolution, is incapable of distin

guishing one class of women from another —they are all white women to him. Con sequently, he or any other native who be lieves his story thinks the women in these islands possess the same morals as those he met in Sydney.

Although I have not spent many years in this Territory, I have met no less than five boys who have started to tell me of their experiences with white women in Sydney and elsewhere. I say started, because as soon as I realised what they were talking about, the tale ended rather suddenly.

Surely it would entail no great hardship on anybody if this practice were stopped, and no native allowed to leave the country under any consideration. As for people who take natives South as personal ser vants the ban would really be doing them a good turn, as the only possible reason they can have for taking natives with them is to show off.

Some people may argue that a native servant is a great help to a woman with two or three children in Sydney, but to my mind this only increases the responsibility by one more, as the native must require more looking after than the children.

There is no need to go into the matter of sleeping accommodation, sanitary conveni

ences, travelling arrangements, etc. The person who does not object to a native using the same convenience as himself in Sydney would protest loudly if such a thing happened up here. Probably the only people such an edict would affect adversely are the shipping companies which send their boats South for repairs.

If it were found to be too expensive to re place the native crew with a white crew for the journey, perhaps arrangements could be made for native crews not to be allowed ashore, while in Sydney or Brisbane.

When reading some time ago of the proposal to send Papuan natives to Sydney University for medical training, I remarked that something in the nature of the hap penings hinted at in your February issue was certain to occur. One can now imag ine the tales these students will have to tell on their return to Papua, and the cor responding drop in white prestige there.

As I do not know the Motuan native very well, I hesitate to criticize the policy that sent those boys to Sydney, beyond saying that even though they possessed double the intelligence of the New Guinea native (which I very much doubt) the idea of their acquiring more medical knowledge than could be given in their own home is laughable. I hope the Pa puan residents will realise what they have to blame for it, if there is an increase in the number of assault cases in the Terri tory.

I am, etc..

W Oli.

Namatanai, New Guinea, 20/3/’34.

Miss Alice M. Ussher, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. J. Ussher, who were for merly residents of the New Hebrides for 25 years, was married on March 24 to Mr. H. Newton, of Hyde, N.S.W. The ceremony took place at Smithfield, N.S.W., where Mr. and Mrs. Ussher now reside.