New Guinea
p. 57 · Read in the full issue
German Administration in New Guinea
11/TR. W. R. HUMPHRIES, now a Resi dent Magistrate in Papua, was a patrol officer; and in 1917 he made a notable journey through the unknown interior, from Central Papua to Morobe, in what was then German New Guinea.
He then wrote Patrolling in Papua, in which the following passage occurs: “While at Morobe, I had an opportun ity of learning something concerning the German system of administration in New Guinea. Of course, I had not passed through 200 miles of the Territory that formerly was German without forming some first-hand impressions on this sub ject: but I made no investigation, and naturally some of them were wrong.
“I found, however, that I was justified in my belief that the Germans had con centrated their efforts on the coastal dis tricts, where administration presents no serious difficulties. Morobe itself is a striking instance of this. The lavish ex penditure of money on the station and the intense administration in the adjoin ing districts, only emphasised the neglect visible in the interior.
“No stations were established away from the coast, on the mainland, and this accounts for the German’s ignorance and neglect of the vast regions beyond, which were for the most part a closed book to them. I venture to say that one of the
first acts of the Australian civil admini stration will be to carry civilisation in land, among the hordes of savages there, who are in need of and worthy of en lightenment.
“Much has been said of late concerning German thoroughness, especially by tour ists who have visited Rabaul—the show capital of the Germans. But, so far as New Guinea is concerned, it is a super ficial thoroughness at the most.
“The tourist and other travellers in the country are fully justified in their ad miration of Rabaul: but it should be ap parent that it is only, as it were, an attractive .cover for an expensive book, whose pages the Germans have left blank.
“German official thoroughness in the coastal districts of New Guinea sprang from no bright altruistic feelings towards the people who own the land; it was born only through a love of comfort and ease.
“So if I were asked where the German administration failed, I should, I think, be justified—putting all sentiment aside —in pointing at least to the neglected and uncontrolled interior.’’