Native Policy
p. 22 · Read in the full issue
Sir Hubert Murray on Native Policy "We May Have Gone a Little Too Far"
SIR HUBERT MURRAY, Lieutenant- Governor of Papua, was likened to i - L P rd Lugard, of Nigeria, and the latter s pupil Sir Donald Cameron, of Tanganyika, by Dr. H. lan Hogbin, when presiding at a luncheon arranged in his honour by Pacific Islands Club members at the Carlton Hotel, Sydney, on Feb ruary 23.
Both Lord Lugard and Sir Donald Cameron are regarded as outstanding native administrators, and recognised authorities throughout the Empire on Col onial problems. “Because of his long ex perience and eminent gifts”, said Dr Hogbin, “Sir Hubert takes rank with them!”
Those who attended (including leading Sydney business men), were interested to hear an important statement from Sir Hubert; “In a place like Papua one has to deal with Europeans as well as na tives, and the latter need just as much protection as the Papuans. I have al ways endeavoured to hold the scales evenly between both peoples. Because one is pro-native, there is no necessity for one to be anti-white. I contend that one can be both pro-native and pro-European!”
There was sometimes a danger that an administrator, he said, might be carried away by his duty to the natives and for get what he owed to the European mem bers of the same community. “I do not say that it always exists”, Sir Hubert added, “but one has to guard against the possibility”.
Sir Hubert recalled the time when any person who took an interest in na tives’ cultures was regarded as a crank.
If employers clothed and fed their na tive employees in an adequate manner, it was solely in the interests of themselves: adequately garbed and housed natives were a better business proposition. But with the advancement of anthropology, the whole outlook had changed. “I am wondering whether we may not have gone just a little too far in looking after the natives”, he said.
Sir Hubert told some interesting and amusing stories of his early days in Papua.
Sir Hubert’s appearance at the P.I. Club was his last in public for some time.
Soon after, he entered St. Vincent’s Hos pital, Sydney, to undergo treatment for malaria. He left hospital on March 3, and is now resting in the country.