Yesterday and To-day in Rabaul

From a Special Correspondent

Rabaul, May 20.

THE local Methodist Church has inaugu rated a series of monthly addresses which are given after the close of the church service each month. In February last His Honour the Administrator lec tured on the late Rudyard Kipling; at a later date Hon. H. H. Page (Government Secretary) gave an interesting talk on the activities of the League of Nations; and last Sunday Mr. Gordon Thomas, editor of the Itahaul Times and one of the oldest British residents in the Territory, spoke of conditions as he found them when he first arrived in the Bismarck Archipelago in 1911. He described his impressions on ar rival at the new port of Rabaul on the N.D.L. steamer Coblenz.

“Rabaul was but a small town in com parison,” said Mr. Thomas. “The trees along Mango and Casuarina Avenues were not long planted. A narrow gauge rail way line ran up the centre of Namanula Street, and along Mango Avenue as far as the big cool store of the old German New Guinea Company, where now stands Carpenter’s emporium. Another big busi ness house was that of E. E. Forsayth— better known as ‘Queen Emma.’ The store buildings occupied the present Times building site, and not long before my ar rival several of them had been removed from the Ralum depot and re-erected in Rabaul. Later the firm became the

H.S.A.G.

“The third big commercial company was Hernsheim. situated on Matupi Island, which was in those days a busy European centre where overseas boats coaled and many a substantial European bungalow housed the large staff of the Hernsheim Company. Where the W.R.C. club now stands was occupied in those days by a small trade store owned by one of the few Englishmen in Rabaul—Steve Whiteman, popularly known as the best-dressed man in the Pacific.

“On the present site of the B.P. store,” continued the speaker, “there stood the Post Office —the building with its little tower still stands opposite the police sta

tion. And speaking of police, there was no European constabulary; there were no traffic ‘cops,’ because there were no motor cars, no furious driving; and there was no European gaol. If by any mischance a European’s behaviour was so lawless and he was so pig-headed that he refused to listen to the advice of his friends to slip out of the country then on a conviction of imprisonment (which was rare in these days) the sentence would be served as a Government roadmaster or engaged in planting up a Government plantation. In this way a white man received his punish ment without losing caste among the non- European population? Such cases were few and far between.

“The German administration was scru pulously caretul of the Eurcpeafts whom it allowed to enter the country. Govern ment officials, prior to their arrival had spent years of training in Germany for the service. Employees of the commercial concerns were carefully tutored on arrival by experienced officers of the company, taught Pidgin-English and schooled in the laws of the land before being sent to out stations or on plantations. The main ob ject was to avoid inexperienced Europeans coming into contact with the native, either indentured or free.

“The Germans were great sticklers for the maintenance of the white man’s pres tige in a b’ack country. It was a quality which was guarded sacredly. One would never see a European leave his office and walk the streets of Rabaul unless he added coat and hat to his attire, and in those days the pathways along the road were well-worn by pedestrians. Sulkies, bul lock-carts. and an occasional horseman travelled the road; natives also used the roadway. A stroll in Rabaul meant a series of salutations. Every man lifted his hat to his own colour, whether acquaint ance or not (a relic of the continental custom). Asiatics and Malays always saluted the white man with due deference, and no native would dream of smoking whilst in the presence of a master.

“Discipline among the natives was strict.

Disrespect was seldom ever heard of from a native to a white man. The European did not demand it —he commanded it and there is little effort to render respect where it is commanded unconsciously. There existed in those days an awe and respect of the white man even as the small school boy maintains an awesome regard for the schoolmaster. It is only after years of daily contact or after graduating to the higher temples of learning does that awe vanish, and the respect turns to tolerant familiarity.

“The attitude of the native toward the white man, and vice versa, as it was in those days is a topic which, if one analysed it, with one’s knowledge of to-day, would take up far more time than I have at my disposal. Suffice it to say the native ex pected discipline (it was part of his ration like the rice or tobacco) and in return he gave service, even as servants throughout the whole world are expected to give.

“One thing that impressed me greatly in those earlier days was the alacrity with which nhtive servants answered a sum mons or call. With a respectful ‘Ja wohl’ (equivalent to our ‘Yes, sir’) the ‘boy’ would come running along, stand to attention, take his order and depart as rapidly as he came. There was no familiar ity between the master and the servant; no quibbling, no arguing. Like the cus

tomer in the shop, ‘the master was always ' right.’ But it behoved the master to be always right in practice as well as in theory, and it was the invariable custom among Europeans always to set an ex ample. They lived up to the highest standards —at least before their servants — in order that the status of the white race should not suffer through foolish or care less actions on their part.

“Such a policy, where contact with white and black was made, was not difficult to be carried out by the settlers then. The majority were members of the old Prussian school, who had been accustomed to dis cipline from their earliest days. These are factors to be remembered in case one is inclined to be critical of conditions as they were then and as they are now.”

In conclusion, Mr. Thomas referred to the present conditions: ‘‘To-day, as we glide up Mango Avenue, with its spreading trees, in our 1936-model automobile we must realise the changes which have taken place during the last quarter of a century.

This side of St. George’s Avenue was then waste land, deep in kunai grass. The flourishing hotel of the town was the Lloyd Hof where now stands Gascoigne’s double storey building. The native cemetery oc cupied that land near where our new wharf now stands.

“And now . , . electric light, wireless broadcasting coming from the capitals of the world to our very rooms, and across on the mainland the world’s most up-to date aerial freight service. Commercially we have leaped ahead, but it is useless to quote figures in support of such a state ment —our commercial prosperity is well known. Socially we have changed local conditions to be in line with the more civilised centres of the world and we should count this as progressive. The wonder ful work of the Health Department has turned Rabaul into an ostensibly healthy town, almost free of the mosquito pest which brought in its wake much fever in the old days.

“We have home-life, a flourishing Euro pean school, well-organised sporting bodies, and frequent steamer communication with Australia, the East or direct to Europe.

Every modern so-called convenience is ours. There is little which modern science can provide that we have not brought into our midst: whether such luxuries have made us happier or more contented with life than we used to be in the early days is problematical. Pioneers should never be permitted to compare the present with the past, for in their opinion there are never any better days than the old ones.

That is what old Peter Hansen told me back in 1912.

“Let us remember,” added Mr. Thomas, “that we, doing our work here to-day, are the pioneers of to-morrow, and may those who follow in our footsteps be able to think kindly of us.”

Mr. R. M. Watson, who recently arrived in Apia by the Maui Pomare to take up the position of Chief Judge of the High Court, is not unacquainted with Western Samoa. As a member of the advance party of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, he first landed in Samoa in August, 1914, and when the military authorities assumed control of affairs was appointed Acting Judge of the District Court. For three years he held this posi tion before re-enlisting for active service.

Joining the N.Z. Crown Law Office after the war, he was engaged for three months as a special draftsman on the Code which is now the Samoa Act, 1921. In Novem ber, 1919, he became first Chief Judge and Deputy Administrator in the civil govern ment of Western Samoa, and remained there until 1921.