Amalgamation?

Some Posers for the Experts in Australian Territories

NOW that the residents of the Terri tories of Papua and New Guinea are thinking seriously about the plan of amalgamating the two Territories, a number of practical questions are being asked which indicate the difficulties in the way of finding a modus operandi.

Here are some of the questions which have been asked and which apparently will provide the inquiry committee with some posers.

How can there be effective amalga mation when, under the terms of the Mandate, the revenue and profits of a country governed under Mandate must be used solely for the benefit of that Ter ritory?

How is it proposed to provide funds to allow the administrative machinery in Papua to be doubled —which would be necessary if the financial and adminis trative status of Papua were to be the same as New Guinea? Is it suggested that new taxation should be imposed upon Papua?

Will recruiters from New Guinea, where there is a grave and growing shortage of labour, be allowed to recruit labour in the Territory of Papua?

Under amalgamation, will the Chinese in New Guinea, whose growing numbers are now such a problem and a menace, be allowed to come over into Papua, and mop up the native trade-store industry in Papua, and drive European traders and artisans out of business, as they have done in New Guinea?

Will the mining interests in Papua be compelled to pay the heavier royalty on gold, and the heavy customs duties on mining machinery, which are imposed in New Guinea? Or as an alternative, can the mining interests in New Guinea ex pect to have lower royalties and lower customs duties to accord with present con ditions in Papua?

Do the facts that the New Guinea Administration is now being carried on at a loss, and that the large accumula ted surplus has disappeared, which ap parently make new taxation necessary in New Guinea, mean that Papuan inter ests also will be taxed to provide for New Guinea’s extravagances?

The most difficult question is that re lating to the Chinese. It is a fact that the Chinese population in New Guinea has displaced Europeans, instead of sup plementing European settlement and development; and a Chinese invasion of Papua would most certainly have serious political repercussions in Australia.