Tropicalities

THREE mission workers have been killed by natives in the newly-discovered Mt.

Hagen region. Central New Guinea. Police have gone out to seize the “murderers.”

There are indications that a good deal of fighting will occur and many men be killed, before this “incident” is done with.

There was no need for all this blood shed, disturbance and waste. Last year, when the missionaries began rushing in to “convert” the new-found natives, we urged that the tribes be left alone, to live as they have lived for thousands of years. We said it would be time enough for missionaries to get busy when miners and other European advance guards took the “blessings of civilisation” among the primitive tribes, and the lat ter needed protection accordingly.

But it was no use. The evangelists, with zeal and courage as admirable as their enterprise is unwise and deplor able, have gone In among the untrained natives: and many lives, in the result, are to be sacrificed. Missionary martyrs —punitive expeditions—disappearance of native population. Pacific Islands his tory merely repeats itself —but, the pity of it! * * * AS we predicted, the New Year “Honours List” and Prince Henry’s “Honours List,” announced with the usual newspaper burblings about “public service,” do not contain the name of General Tom Griffiths, who retired re cently from the Administratorship of New Guinea. But knighthoods have been con ferred upon all sorts of professional poli ticians and social limelighters. Mr. Colin Stephen, chairman of the senior Sydney racing club, is now Sir Colin Stephen; but heaven alone knows what this gentle man has done for the public weal, beyond handing out complimentary tickets to distinguished visitors who could well af ford to pay for them.

General Griffiths rose from the ranks, by sheer merit, to become a distinguished and most successful military leader and administrator. There never was, in a re sponsible position, a man who carried out his duty with more conscientious thorough ness than General Griffiths—he gave his great talents unsparingly to every im portant post he occupied. His last term in New Guinea put the coping-stone on a splendid career. He found the Territory surging and seething with grievances and general discontent. His predecessor, in his last years of office, had virtually sur rendered his authority and his judgment to bureaucracy; and Rabaul officialdom was making a welter of it. Griffiths, al most in a day, altered all that. Any man in New Guinea could personally interview the Administrator and could rest assured that his case would be considered with absolute impartiality, free from the in fluence of unimaginative and convention alised departmentalism. Within two years, the praises of General Griffiths were be ing sung by every man in New Guinea— including the bureaucrats whose claws had been clipped. Even the powerful new companies which the gold industry brought into being praised his scrupulous fairness and his liberal point of view. The General did not achieve that result easily—as a

matter of fact, only an iron constitution could have stood up to the immense tasks he imposed on himself. Withal, he remained plain Tom Griffiths—a simple, kindly, unostentatious man, a consistent hater of swank and limelight. He is the sort of man whom this young nation should have been delighted to honour.

But he goes into retirement, unsung and undecorated, while all sorts of useless hangers-on collect titles and gee*-gaws.

The “honours” system, as a method of acknowledging genuine public service, has much to commend it; but Australian governments are reducing it to absurdity.

People already are beginning to giggle when they are introduced to “Sir Something This or That.” Is it to be wondered at? * * * STEAMER fares in the Pacific are sheer murder!” writes a correspondent. "£50 is the minimum return rate between Sydney and Suva, and all other routes in proportion.” We agree that the high rates seem out of proportion to the cost of a great many other things.

There is another side to the picture, however. Recently, we saw the wages lists of a moderate-sized ship which runs in the Pacific on a regular schedule, and on Australian articles. Those lists showed that the chief cook receives monthly in wages more than the captain; the scullion more than the third officer, some of he firemen more than the chief engineer.

The members of the crew are paid at rates prescribed by the Australian industrial awards, in which the monthly sums are properly proportioned between professionals and labourers—between technical skill, and mere brawn. But strict conditions as to hours, and over-

time rates, are provided for the unskilled workers, while there is little similar pro vision for the skilled people. The net result is that the less important people on the ship—kitchen hands, stokers, cooks, etc.—draw in overtime almost as much as their regular wages; the ma jority of them, in addition to being sup plied with food and quarters, receive from £25 to £40 per month. No more need be said. There, in a nutshell, is the principal cause of high fares in the Pacific. * * * A PARAGRAPH in the P.I.M. of Novem ber made unflattering reference to the “Maui Pomare,” the vessel which maintains communication between N.Z. and Western Samoa. This has brought from Mr. L. Derrett, of Hororata, N.Z., who travelled in the vessel in 1934, a spirited defence of the ship and the ser vice. He says: “The vessel is not large—1159 tons gross —and one could not expect the equipment and facilities of a large ocean liner; but she is a good little sea boat. The accom modation is adequate, and comfortable; the equipment sufficient and of good quality: and the whole ship as clean as a new pin. I believe the pantry is near the lavatory, but the galley and dining saloon are some distance away. The food is of first-class quality, well cooked, and tastefully served, while the quantity is greater than any person could possibly eat. In addition to three usual meals, tea in bed, morning beef tea, afternoon tea, and supper are available. The ser vice on this vessel is particularly effi cient and home-like. The stewards know their work and do it well. The ordinary sailors on the boat are very obliging and seem of a better type than one usually meets in such positions. The captain and officers, while quite unobtrusive, do everything possible to make the trip en joyable, both on the boat and ashore. At no time have I been better looked after or made feel more at home than during my trip on the Maui Pomare.”