Jews
pp. 8-9 · Read in the full issue
Refuges For The
Fiji, New Hebrides or Central New Guinea
THE High Commissioner for the West ern Pacific, in common with other British Colonial Governors, has been asked by the British Government whether there are any areas in the Paci nc Islands, under his care, which might be regarded as suitable for settlement bv Jewish refugees.
The territories under the jurisdiction of Sir Harry Luke include Fiji, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Solomon Islands Tonga and the British share of the New Hebrides. It can be said, from a quick survey, that there are opportunities for well-organised and properly-supported settlement by Europeans, in Fiji itself in the southern islands of the New’
Hebrides, and, to a limited extent, in Tonga.
Australia has been very urgently ask ed to make provision for Jewish refu gees, and is preparing to receive a cer tain number of thousands per annum A plan has been brought forward to set tle communities of Jews on Melville Is land-just off the coast of Australia near Darwin—but that is a low-lying, hot and humid place and, however fer tile it may be, it is scarcely suitable for kind of settlement contemplated.
It is surprising that no one has direc ted attention, in this connection, to the large plateaus recently discovered in Cen tral New Guinea. Here are lands of great fertility, well-wooded and well watered, an almost limitless expanse of wide valleys, lying at an average height of 5,000 ft. This region is near the equator; yet, owing to its elevation, it has a pleasant climate, quite suitable for Europeans. It definitely would represent better country for settlement than the southern islands of Fiji or the New Hebrides. And its settlement, for the protection of Australia against Asiatics (for that is the urgent aspect of New Guinea development), by Jews driven out of Central Europe by German ter rorism, would be a kind of poetic jus tice —for Central New Guinea was a German colony between 1888 and 1914.
The New Hebrides
Australia always was expected to col onise the British section of the New Hebrides; but always has neglected her obligations in that direction in a very
shocking way. The result is that, to day, European settlement there is al most wholly French. The British planters have either departed, or sought French citizenship, which gives encour agement and practical help to settlers.
The fact remains, however, that large areas of land in the New Hebrides be long to Australia —a gift made to the Commonwealth, over 30 years ago, by Sir James Burns, the founder of Burns* Philp and Co. Ltd. Surely, this is a suit able time in which to look the New Hebrides situation over, with a view to a little active co-operation between the British Government (which wants to help the Jewish refugees), the Austra lian Government (which has large areas of New Hebrides land upon its hands; and the Jewish organisations which are prepared to finance and help their dis tressed countrymen.
Problems Of Settlement
Someone will say: But how will they live? What will they produce? Where is their market?
Isn’t there fallacy behind those all too-common questions? The true pur pose of settlement is to place a man and his dependants upon land of such an area, and under such conditions, that they can provide directly for their own requirements in food and shelter. That was the method of the original, suc cessful settlements in Australia and New Zealand. Those people lived off their own little, primitive farms; and the few necessities that the land did not provide, were provided, at first, from a very small cash allowance made by the Governments and, subsequently, from the very modest sales they made of the products of their farms.
It was only during the past quarter century that attempts have been made to establish farming settlements on an other scale —“gentleman-farming”, it is called —the basis of which is the produc tion of large quantities of foodstuffs or raw materials for immediate sale. That kind of settlement generally fails. The other kind—the settlement of peasant farmers close to the soil —usually is suc cessful; and it provides, moreover, the basis for a very sound economic struc ture for the nation.