Plea for "Breathing Spell"
p. 38 · Read in the full issue
for Papuan Natives
Letter to the Editor THE able and sympathetic manner in which “G.H.V.” wrote on “What Will Happen in Papua After the War,” in the December number of the “PIM,” can not but be applauded by all those who know Papua and the Papuans.
But it must be realised that Papuans possess no national complex. Questioned, they will casually admit that they are New Guinea boys; and that is the end of it. Therefore, medals worn by them for war service would not be a treasured possession unless they carried also some thing tangible for the wearers. The medals alone would not be the equivalent of a permanent reward. In a very short while, they would be only so many baubles.
As it may be expected that not more than about 5,000 male natives would par ticipate in the distribution of war medals (if issued to them) it may be suggested that each possessor be handed a gratuity of 10 - cash, every Christmas week, until his death.
This would involve an annual expendi ture. by the Government of Australia, of £2,500, or one-twelfth of one penny per person in the Commonwealth. In the course of the next 25 years this amount would gradually show a decrease— Papuans are not long livers—so that at the end of that period the annual amount of the gratuity would be infinitesimal.
This recognition of their services the natives would understand. The people of Australia could do no less as a gesture of their appreciation, and as a form of pre-insurance against enemy invasion of their own country. Acknowledgment, if any, should be made this year, as a prompt reward for a good deed.
The emphasis laid on the need for leaving the native alone for two years is significant of the times, and is not based solely on a plea for the re-estab lishment by the native of ravaged com munal interests. After all, only a com paratively small portion of Papua has been despoiled by the Japanese—the East Cape peninsula, and the Kokoda-Buna- Mamba districts. Yet so violently has
the concussion of war come to all the native inhabitants that they clearly will require a lot of time for communal re orientation. Otherwise, there will be a danger of the element of head-belong them-go-round being introduced, and their reaction probably would be calami tous. The hair-springs of native gov ernance cannot easily be replaced. This does not mean, however, that volunteers for employment should have obstacles put in their way.
In respect of further agricultural and mining development, there certainly should not be considered any new applications, from any source, until the expiration of one year after war in the Pacific zone has ceased. This would allow the residents of the Territory (whose interests should obviously have prece dence) time in which partly to restore their fortunes.
It is not necessary, after the war, that every Papuan should be a wage-earner.
Nor is jt desirable. He ought to be able (as indeed he always has been able) to please himself as to what he does in labour matters. Other than being expected, annually, along the coastline, to pay a tax, according to his means, he is a free agent, and should not be expected to have his life made into “one long demnition grind.”
In his proposal of a breathing-space of at least two years for the natives, one thinks that “G.H.V.” may well have con sidered the period to provide an oppor tunity for intensive medical work among them. The needs in this direction will be considerable, and should have prece dence in all matters, whatever their nature.
Melbourne, 30/12/1942.
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