Germany And New Guinea

IT is necessary to set out, without equivocation or apology, the position of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea as we see it, in relation to international affairs.

The Germans are masters of the art of propaganda. Germany is seeking to convert British public opinion to the idea of returning to Germany the colonies which Germany lost in 1914. Germany wants New Guinea because of the rich goldfields there.

There are several arguments which support Germany’s plea for the return of her former colonies. They have been stated several times in this journal. This great nation, so skilled in productiveness and so competent in administration, cannot be kept indefinitely within the boundaries imposed by Versailles. Germany must trade with the rest of the world; and, to do that, she must have overseas sources of raw materials and foreign exchange; she must have new territories where her colonising genius can express itself.

We have previously expressed the view, which we still hold, that the colo-

nial and territorial needs of Germany can be provided for in Africa. If Ger many wishes to return to the Pacific, a series of difficult problems, both econo mic and strategic, immediately present themselves.

We said, last year, that the return of Germany to the Pacific might be wel comed by Britain, France, and America.

Since then, we have been introduced to a Germany which shows not the slightest wish to at peace with her neighbours and which literally is forcing all Europe to re-arm.

Under present conditions the Pacific Ocean is indeed pacific. There is not within it at present one disturbing factor. Many of us, it is true, await anxiously the growth and expansion of Japan. Some day, maybe, Japan will wish to advance officially southwards of the equator; but so far Japan has made no move in that direction. At present, Japan is completely preoccupied with the enormous task which she has assumed in Eastern Asia; and, therefore, from the point of view of the nationalities estab lished in the South Pacific, Japan is a

good neighbour. She is too busy, in Asia, to be a bad neighbour in the Pacific.

If the Germans were peaceful, quiet people they would be welcome in the Pacific. But the German nation now seems to be just as aggressive and na tionalistic under Hitler as it was prior to 1918, under the Prussianised Hohen zollerns. We British people emphatically do not want this disturbing element right alongside us in New Guinea, or in Samoa, within a few hundred miles of Fiji and New Zealand. The concentra tion of a few hundred German aero planes in those places might give an entirely different complexion to the out break of another war. Australia and New Zealand, with the assistance of the French and Japanese, completely bottled up the German military and naval forces in 1914. But enormous damage could be done by hostile aeroplanes before they were destroyed.

Germany recognises that her former Pacific Islands Territories could be very easily chopped off in the event of war— that, in other words, they represent a strategical weakness. Why, then, does she seek their return? Because of the value of the Morobe goldfield in New Guinea.

But the Morobe goldfield was not taken from Germany in 1914. When the Australian forces seized New Guinea, there were not half-a-dozen white men in the whole of Morobe—it was unexplored and practically un known. The Morobe goldfield has been opened up since 1923 by Australian prospectors and Anglo-Australian enter prise, assisted by Australian, British, and American capital. The Germans have not the slightest moral claim to the goldfield. If it had been developed by German enterprise and capital the argu ment would have been different.

Germany, being the aggressor and having been defeated, had to pay for war damages. Against the damages as sessed against her were set the value of her colonies, which were taken over. In that way the British Empire has already paid for New Guinea; and the estimate of the value of New Guinea was reached without the Morobe goldfield being taken into calculation. The Morobe goldfield, in 1918-1919, was unknown.

There is another argument against the return of the Pacific territories. Japan, in the plainest language, has made it known that she will not give up her hold on the Caroline, Marshall, and Mari anne Islands, held by Germany until 1914. If Japan regards the retention of those territories as necessary on strategic grounds, surely Australia is entitled to view New Guinea in the same light.

It is desirable that Australian and British public opinion be better informed in regard to these matters. The Austra lian people are certainly quite indiffer ent about them, and, so far as Australian interests in New Guinea are concerned, the Commonwealth Government is asleep. In that territory there is a large and rapidly growing community, and the trade connected therewith is valuable.

Recent figures show that that trade is being taken away from British interests by other countries.

Huge quantities of rice are consumed in New Guinea by native labourers.

Until two or three years ago, it came mostly from Rangoon British-grown rice. To-day, it is coming almost wholly in foreign ships from Saigon—foreign grown rice, A few years ago, a very large proportion of the goods going into New Guinea were of British origin, and Australia had her fair share. To-day, more than half of New Guinea’s imports are of foreign origin. We have under notice an order given recently by an Australian firm for 200,000 yards of cheap cotton prints. The Australian firm wanted to buy from British sources; but was compelled to place the order in

Japan—compelled because, while New Guinea is an Australian territory, New Guinea gives no preference whatever to British goods.

If the Commonwealth Government had been awake to the value and sig nificance of this trade, it would have followed the example of the British Ad ministrations in the adjoining territories of Solomon Islands, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Fiji, etc., where the existing tariffs impose a very definite preference in favour of British goods.

If the Commonwealth Government, at long last, is to be compelled to carry out what is its obvious duty, and give ade quate protection to British interests in New Guinea, it should give particular attention to the subject of German shipping. There is no use in blinking the fact any longer that the German shipping interests in New Guinea are the agents of German propaganda in favour of the return of New Guinea to Germany. It is likely that in the next session of the Commonwealth Parlia ment attention will be drawn to the fact that certain public officials in New Guinea have been accepting favours at the hands of the German shipping inter ests —favours which are customarily given and received in commercial circles, but which have a special and most unde sirable significance as between units of the New Guinea Administration and the Germans.

Those small German ships, equipped with pedlar’s licences, and manned by Chinese, are still busily trading between all ports in New Guinea, and, if the Commonwealth is not blind to what is going on, they must soon be given official attention. They may represent a check upon the freight and merchandising rates charged by British firms, and in that way they may have some immediate value; but, actually, they represent a threat that is growing and a danger that is fundamental. It may not be possible to keep them out of New Guinea; but at least the Commonwealth authorities should impose some tax upon them — 10/- per ton upon all goods imported or exported in foreign bottoms, or some thing of the sort —so that the spectacle of German ships actually cutting into British commercial interests, while at the same time acting as the agents of Ger man propaganda, will no longer con tinue.

Certain aspects of this shipping posi tion cannot be too strongly emphasised.

While the German ships trading in New Guinea are manned by Chinese, the British ships with which they are com peting are manned either wholly by

white British crews, or by British com plements aided by New Guinea natives.

Great Britain long ago imposed an import duty of 10/- per ton on all copra not grown in British countries —a very generous gesture towards the coconut planters of the Empire. Yet, to-day, we have the extraordinary spectacle of Empire-grown copra being carried to the British market in foreign ships, and thus defeating one of the main objects which the British Government had in mind in imposing the copra duty. This applies more particularly to New Guinea.

It is time that Australia was awak ened to what is going on, and realised that it is an important part of the British Empire. We have a warm regard for the German people and we sincerely hope that there will be no further war between us. But we dare not ignore the fact that this new Germany, that has ap peared under the emblem of the swas tika, is just as an aggressive and warlike a Germany as we knew prior to 1914; and it seems to be even more necessary to protect ourselves against her.

There is a political job of work to be done in New Guinea; and people with Imperial interests truly at heart will see to it that Canberra fs given no rest until Canberra recognises the position and does the obvious thing.