New Guinea's Advantage

Over Australia And the Future of the Territory

SOME rather derogatory references to Autsralia’s record in New Guinea appeared in an Australian newspaper , and a forthright reply was sent to that newspaper by a well Tcnoivn New Guinea planter, Mr. D. S. More-Lacy.

Only part of that reply was pub lished. The full statement was as ; folloics: TF the New Guinea Treasury can balance its comparatively small budget every year and generally end with a surplus, this in spite of low taxation, surely this is something to be proud of in itself, without making invidious comparisons with the highly-taxed, debt-ridden, over governed States of the Commonwealth.

The article complained of is unfair to many of the people who have laboured and given of their best to make New Guinea what it is.

A slighting reference to a past and able Administrator does not come well from a democratic newspaper. In any case, the onus is on Canberra to give New Guinea the best available, and having done that, to refrain from forcing unwanted and superfluous legislation, such as the Shipping Bill, on the country.

To give only a few figures: Income tax is nil; gold royalty is only 5%; copra export tax is on a commensurate sliding

scale; cocoa and coffee export tax is nil; import duties 10% ad. val. almost all round; agricultural leases 6d. per acre per annum; public debt nil.

A fair criticism might be that building in Rabaul has often been at the expense of opening up and developing the country, agriculture and roads being the Cinderel las of the budget.

In spite of Australia’s lack of interest in New Guinea, not to mention the depres sion, the country has made considerable progress, and the annual trade turnover is now in the vicinity of £4,000,000. Aus tralia’s share of imports into the country last financial year was near the half million mark. Papua, with its trade turn over of little more than half a million annually, can hardly be said to have made the same strides, although it is realised that they have had less luck in the matter of recent gold discoveries.

The great distances and lack of com munications make the amalgamation of the two Territories out of the question, and it is hard to see what good can possibly come of hitching a young and progressive country to a more backward one like Papua or the Solomons, even supposing it were possible for Australia to do as Japan did, and tell the League that the mandate is no longer such, but a nossession.

Foresight is certainly needed, but not the sort that gave Australia three dif ferent railway guages, nor yet the sort that laid out Sydney. W. M. Hughes had foresight when he demanded the New Guinea mandate for Australia at Ver sailles, and one can argue in passing, that the strategic reasons he then had in mind still exist.

The Germans apparently did not have foresight when they laid out Rabaul in a region of volcanic activity, although they probably reckoned that the wonderful harbour, which to date still exists, offset to an extent the risk of eruptions. Who could foretell the San Francisco earthquake?

Under the circumstances it may be advisable to shift the capital to Madang. but this cannot be done overnight and someone has to pay. If this is done gradually over a period of five to ten years, the cost could probably be met by a slight increase in taxation. In the meantime, if no further eruptions take place, Rabaul can continue to be used, but not developed, and for this reason the sooner it is cleaned up the better, which is just what the authorities are doing.

When one considers some of the other mandates, one has every reason to be proud of the management of New Guinea, from practically every aspect, native or European, goldmining, aviation or plant ing, especially considering the short 18 years since the war, and the lack of skilled personnel in the first place. But it should be realised that what has been done is mainly owing to the men on the spot, and not to Australian politicians or the League of Nations.

It is to be regretted that when a calamity like the recent eruptions over takes the capital of Australia’s most important Territory, certain Australian weekly newspapers can find only abuse

and unpractical suggestions.