And Papua

Australia’S Record In N. Guinea

Demand for New Policy in Challenging Article

by F. W. Eggleston

yl N article by Mr. F. W. Eggleston, dealing with the manner in which Aus tralia is discharging her obligations in the Territories of Papua and New Guinea, has been published in the “Austral-Asiatic Bulletin”. As it is a valuable article, insomuch that it lines up most of the cognate facts, and offers some challeng ing arguments, and is of interest to all Pacific residents, we have taken the lib erty of publishing it.

It is a good thing that a man of Mr.

Eggleston’s ability and eminence should have dealt with this important subject, at a time when the question of whether European nations may properly hold undeveloped Pacific territories is being insistently raised by Japan. Nevertheless, we do not accept all Mr. Eggleston’s conclusions, and have ventured to say so, in places.

IN New Guinea, the handling of the natives has been very creditable.

This is, of course, chiefly due to Sir Hubert Murray, who had great imagina tion and insight and, though he took up the task without preliminary training, he soon knew all there was to be known on the subject, and applied his knowledge with great discrimination.

The fact that Australians are capable of appreciating scientific principles in these matters is shown by the fact that

when the Mandate Administration was formed, the staff took a pride in apply ing, with some significant exceptions in detail, the principles which Murray had laid down.

On the whole, developmental and eco nomic work on these islands compares favourably with any islands in the West ern Pacific and Indian Oceans, except Java and Sumatra, and possibly Fiji. (Editorial Note: We cannot let this pass. New Guinea, for 15 years, has enjoyed rich revenues—especially latterly, from gold. Yet, where is the develop ment, apart from that carried out by the gold companies themselves, in Mor obe? Where are the public works, the new agricultural industries, the new plantings in the old-established indus tries, which should be a feature of pro gress in a new country?) The New Guinea service was recruited immediately after the war somewhat hur riedly. Men now occupying the leading positions were soldiers and in some cases wireless operators without special educa tion or training for the problem of a tropical dependency. Yet they have done quite a good job.

It will easily be realised, however, that there are certain dangers in such a situation and, if we are really in earnest in our desire to administer these terri tories with credit, and to do justice to the indigenous inhabitants, there should be at reasonable intervals a review by some unofficial publicist of the situation and occasionally an official review by a Royal Commission. If this is not done in a responsible way we are almost cer tain to have an alternation between complacency and violent criticism, with a possibility of untoward developments occurring when least expected. Criticism evoked by sudden events like this is liable to concentrate very unfairly on individuals. (Editorial Note; Mr. Eggleston doubt less is referring to newspaper attacks on allegedly-inept Administrators. Can he deny that New Guinea, during most of the last 25 years, has been administered by men, ex-soldiers or ex-politicians, who never were trained for this class of work, and who had not previously had any experience of tropical administration?) The first requirement for a colonial policy is a due recognition by the Com monwealth Government of its responsi bilities. With this will come an organi sation suitable to the task in hand, and public interest and informed discussion will prevent any derogation from sound principles. It may be said that the responsibility has not been sufficiently recognised: indeed, up to a point, the success of New Guinea Administration has been due to the fact that, owing to lack of keen interest in Australia, those on the spot have been given a fairly free hand.

In Papua, there has been a marked tendency to give as little trouble to Can berra and make as few demands as pos sible. This is all very well when condi tions are static and finances are ade ouate. The economic and financial his tory of Papua in recent years shows, however, that the position cannot be left as it is.

Policy Wanted

THE essentials of a statesmanlike policy in relation to our tropical dependen

cies may be summarised as follows: (1) A competent department at Can berra and a full sense of responsibility on the part of the Government and the Federal Parliament for the policy pursued. (2) Ample financial provision for the territories. The old idea that territories must pay for themselves and provide their own capital must be abandoned. (3) The organisation of the territorial services so as to provide for scientific development of the economic potentiali ties of the territories and the expert handling of native problems. (4) A well-thought-out economic pol icy; the interest of the territories should be given at least the protection which Australian industries get, and special encouragement should be given to indus tries which have difficult problems of development.

Let us take these in order.

Commonwealth Responsibility

IT can hardly be suggested that con ditions in Canberra are satisfactory.

The Territories section is a section of the Prime Minister’s Department in variably put in charge of an Assistant Minister who is looking for promotion.

Whenever the vacancy occurs he is pro moted, and there is a change.

The staff is a small one, composed exclusively of clerical officers, whose ability is shown by the fact that they carry on the administration effectively though they possess no qualifications for the technical problems involved in the government of tropical dependencies.

The worst feature of the system is the lack of interest and apparent sense of responsibility shown by members of the Federal Parliament in regard to New Guinea problems. One would think that the nature of the problems would induce some intelligent member to make the Territory the subject of special study, but I know of nobody who has done so. (Evidently he never heard of the late “Texas” Green, who made up in sound commonsense, what he lacked in scien tific knowledge.—Ed. “PIM”.) The only members who are active in Territorial matters are men who are in touch with vested interests there. These get an at tention which they do not merit; policy is influenced in irregular ways.

An instance of this was the choice of the road from Wau to Salamaua, spon sored by one or two powerful bodies. The influence exercised by the Labour Union on the mining fields is most unfortunate.

This body is concerned only to serve the

interests of the white employee, and has no enlightened conception of native policy or interest in native welfare. We are ceasing to regard the Australian Labour Party as idealistic, but I was not prepared to see such a completely self-regarding attitude as I saw in the New Guinea branch. (Editorial Note: This, if Mr.

Eggleston will permit us to say so, is untrue and unfair. The editor of the “PlM”—who spent twenty profitless years on the daily press, reporting the ut terances of all kinds of public bodies, and “public men”, or commenting on same— attended a meeting of this Wau Labour Party, and talked, later, with several of its members. Afterwards, he wrote an article praising the un-Labour-like breadth of vision of this body in relation to all questions which arose, and said it could more fittingly be called the New Guinea Progress Association. Mr. Eggle ston is either prejudiced against Labour generally, or was singularly unfortunate in his Labour contacts in Wau.) It seems clear that the status of the Territorial Section should be elevated and have a department head of professional standing, capable of advising the Govern ment in the problems, economic, social, ethnological and educational, involved in the government of a tropical dependency.

I do not say that he can be an expert in all. but a man of learning and culture will be able to appraise values in these denartments of knowledge.

An efficient department at Canberra would overcome the difficulty, which is at present felt, that New Guinea, Papua.

Nauru and Norfolk Islands are all treated in watertight compartments. The officers of New Guinea and Papua hardly ever meet to consider their common problems.

This has been dimly felt by Ministers at Canberra, and has inspired several sug gestions for amalgamation, which came uo against legal obstacles. But the dif ficulties of isolation can be mitigated by intelligent) policy at Canberra.

Whether experts in agricultural and in dustrial economics should be stationed at Canberra or the territories is a moot point. They are needed most in the Terri tories. but I am convinced that there should always be an officer, seconded to Canberra from one or other of the Terri tories for a turn of duty, to give the administration and the politicians some sense of reality.

Financial Aid

rr\HE British policy always has been that X a colony should itself raise its own

capital on its own assets. In the earlier stages of economic expansion, during the XlXth century, this was permissible, but the economic changes of the last few generations have made it impossible, and Britain has had the unpleasant experience in some of her colonies of seeing her colonists living at a deplorable standard of living.

She has now supplemented her policy of niggardly grants in aid by a policv of capital advances, and a sum of £50,000,000 has been set aside for this purpose.

The nosition in our Mandated Territory is that the gold mining industry is so prosperous that no grant in aid is necessary. But the gold mining industry will probably cease to be profitable in 20 years’ time, and a good deal more should be done to make provision for this eventuality by public works and agricultural development. (Editorial Note: The “PIM”, and other critics, have been urging this very thing for at least ten years, but without result. It will require a lot more than Mr.

Eggleston’s mild and reasoned advocacy to get action in Canberra. Rabaul waits always on Canberra —and Canberra usually forgets that Rabaul even exists.

Sir Hubert Murray, at Port Moresby, would not wait —he often took his own line, and ignored Canberra —and everyone, including Canberra, now agrees that he was a great administrator!) Papua has little gold, and her finances are difficult. The Federal Government makes a grant of £4O-£45.000 per annum.

Even with this the administration is starved. There are certain new develop ments, such as the military establishment at Port Moresby and the search for oil. which are helping, but unless oil is found or new industries developed, the future of Papua is not at all promising. The ad ministration is not able to do much develoning, the mileage of roads is in finitesimal and a comparison with the medical service in New Guinea shows up the Papuan service in a bad light, not withstanding the noble service of the Papuan personnel.

The district offices are insufficiently staffed.

It is nrobablytrue that both Territories are really poor in natural resources and their reaction to capital expenditure would not be satisfactory. But their stra tegic importance to Australia is immense.

Whether they are* an asset in this respect, or a liability, we cannot allow them to fall into the hands of a hostile power.

We therefore must snend money on them and economic development will reduce this cost, even if it does not return full interest on the capital.

The Commonwealth should therefore be prepared to assist both Territories with capital advances —Papua, now, and New Guinea immediately the gold shows signs of working out. This should take the form of a well-devised public works policy, the provision of equipment for ports and shipping, the construction of roads and the like. In New Guinea, more public works might be done out of revenue while the gold is so lucrative.

Administration

THE services in both Territories are performed by a body of loyal public servants who have been highly suc cessful in most of the work they have done. They have secured triumphs in exploration and pacification, and the small loss of life, whether of white or black, is a great testimony both to the skill displayed in overcoming great natural obstacles and the spirit in which the enterprise is undertaken. The cadet system in New Guinea, which ensures a modicum of ethnological training, will improve the scientific standing of the staff.

There is no cadet system in Papua.

Selection of staff is made in the Territory, or from applicants of higher age, with experience elsewhere, and thus urged on to ensure efficiency.

But, however the staffs are recruited or trained, there can be no assurance of real success unless the direction is assisted by expert advice from trained scientists, There is a distinguished anthropologist in Papua, but none in New Guinea. The impression one gets in New Guinea, in the native services, is administrative efficiency, but a lack of scientific guidance; the impression in Papua is scientific direction, but a starved administration.

The result is that in Papua, though development and pacification is retarded, the labour problem is well in hand and an excellent and just code of regulations in force. New Guinea must, on the other hand, face a crisis in the supply of native labour.

Owing, on the one hand, to the pressure of mining and trade union interests

and, on the other, to lack of scientific appreciation of the population problem labour has been over-recruited and the supply is likely to be insufficient. The New Guinea labour regulations are dis tinctly inferior to those in Papua in protecting the natives, and the rates of pay are much too low, especially in the mining industry.

In New Guinea, there are enlightened district officers who are aware of these problems; but, as they rarely meet each other and are not encouraged to express their opinions, no satisfactory tradition is being built up. In fact, there is a severely administrative point of view in the department, and few men of scientific influence.

New Guinea is rather unfortunate in that the great German Missions, Catholic and Protestant, maintain themselves from the profits of commercial enterprise and their influence on the labour ques tion has thus been compromised. Their influence on education has been equally

significant. The only genuine native education is in a few Government schools; there is no specific education adminis tration in New Guinea and no expert, the Chief Secretary administering the service which exists.

In Papua, on the other hand, the Missions co-operate with the Government and submit to expert inspection, with the result that there is a considerable amount of native education.

The medical services in New Guinea are magnificent, and could assist the very much inferior services in Papua if there was sufficient liaisons between them. (Editorial Note: The statement that New Guinea’s medical services are “mag

nificent”—presumably, native medical service is meant—is astonishing. Com pared with the service given in other South Pacific territories, the medical work among natives in New Guinea and Papua is small, poor, and uninspired. That is not the fault of the medical officers, but is due to lack of money and absence of an administrative policy. There is nothing in the Australian territories to compare with the splendid NMP service, now operating and expanding in all the other South Pacific territories.) This curious alternation of efficiency and inadequacy between the two terri tories shows that a reorganisation in both is very much needed, and if there was

real interest in Canberra, and expert ad vice, it would not be allowed to be delayed.

Economic And Developmental

Policy

THE economic problems of both terri tories are somewhat similar. New Guinea has its sold, which should be made to pav for future organisation.

Anart from sold, all the economic ac tivities of both territories face difficulties.

There is a good deal of rubber land in Papua and probably a great deal could be found in New Guinea.

Conra is. however, the main cron in bearing, and its future is dark. The Nor wegians and Japanese are massacring the whales, and they probably will be all gone in a few years. Then copra may revive but the difficulty about copra is that coconuts will grow on any coral strand.

There is in New Guinea at the experi mental farm at Keravat. a startling development in breeding outsize in coco nuts which may lift production onto a different plane, but generally speaking, it seems desirable to get into alternative crons In the meantime, the conra producers are in dire straits and it is essential to do something to retrieve them. The wheat growers in Australia are able to extort terms because they have votes.

Many of these produce on marginal country which can never produce wheat at a profit. We should regard the copra producers as just as much our concern as the wheat growers.

In any constructive scheme, the great firms like Burns. Philp and Co., Car penter and Co., etc., should be called upon to bear a part. It is somewhat dis turbing to see these companies maintain ing their dividends while their clients are so badly hit. In a world constructed as ours is. we cannot afford to treat New Guinea as if free trade existed. We should assure New Guinea production its due place in the Australian market. Rubber and other crops could be definitely en couraged if stable prices in our protected markets could be assured them.

Lastly, an agricultural nolicv should be laid down, based on native activity and native lands, designed to produce crons which would supplement and widen the native consumption, raise their living standards and enable them to develop a higher social organisation. These islands are not very rich, as a whole, but there are fertile patches at different elevations, and thus great opportunities for diver sification.

These ideas for a long range develop mental policy are the suggestion of one interested in the territory and in the proper discharge of the responsibility of the Commonwealth. They should be a matter of expert examination. There is probably not an officer of the adminis tration who does not realise the necessity of such inquiry, but as it is, they work under a sense of frustration, unless there is more interest in Australia.

Comment By Experienced

Administrator

PTIHAT is the end of Mr. Eggleston’s X. timely article. We invited a Svdney man, deeply experienced in Pacific administration, to comment, and this is what he says:— I agree with much that he says, but his article shows that he is theoretical rather than practical, and that his knowledge of the Territories is limited.

Our chief obstacles to quicker develop ment and progress are set out by him, but he beats about the bush in stating them and omits some. However, it is a great thing to have a man like Mr.

Eggleston try and stir up Australian opinion.

Dutch officers and others interested in

native matters have stated that New Guinea’s Native Labour Ordinance and Regulations are outstanding in merit.

The native labour problems of Papua are small compared with those of New Guinea since there has been so little development of Papua. New Guinea had Mr. Chinnery (said to be an eminent anthropologist, and trained in Papua) there until three years ago, so it cannot be said that they had not had an anthropologist. In fact, some there think that they had too many.

New Guinea’s officers, as a class, probably are ahead of Papuan officers in education and in scientific training.

In addition to attending lectures and passing an examination in Anthropology at Sydney University, officers of the New Guinea District Services have to study and pass examinations in the following subjects before promotion to Assistant District Officer: — (a) Law (Powers and Duties of Jus tices; Criminal Law and Procedure; Evidence; Contracts; and General). (b) Native Administration (covers several subjects). (c) Medicine and Hygiene. (d) Mapping. (e) General Administration (covers several subjects).