Angau—And The Future

Territorians Must Expect a Long Period of Semi-military Government

BECAUSE a certain amount of civilian organisation entered Papua when a couple of score of rubber and copra planters were permitted to resume opera tions last month, some revision of the administrative machinery became neces sary. Since February, 1942, with the evacuation of all civilians, the adminis tration of “Australian New Guinea” (Papua and the Mandated Territory) has been entirely military.

Therefore, on July 14, regulations were issued in Canberra to authorise the Gen eral Officer Commanding, New Guinea Forces, to exercise all the powers and functions normally carried by civil ad ministrators in Papua and New Guinea.

Most people were under the impression that the GOC had held all these powers since he removed the civil administra tion early in February, 1942. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand how a lot of things were done. However, it mat ters little, Canberra’s passion for issuing regulations is one of the outstanding phenomena of the war; and if Canberra thinks another dose of regulations is necessary to the welfare of the Terri tories, let there be regulations.

THE Australian New Guinea set-up is now familiar to most Territorians.

ANGAU (the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit) is a section of the forces in New Guinea commanded by General MacArthur and, under him, by General Blarney. At the head of ANGAU is Major-General Morris, who was the original GOC in this area. Next to him is Brigadier Leland.

The ANGAU personnel now includes most of the younger administrative offi cials of Papua and New Guinea; and, while it is closely allied with the com batant organisation, its duties are purely administrative, in relation to the areas occupied by combatant units. Care of the natives is among its special duties.

It supplies the Army with all native labour required. It functions alongside of, but is not necessarily part of the combatant machinery.

A special branch of ANGAU has been created to control the plantations re cently re-staffed and re-operated; and this is called the Production Control Board, the chairman of which is Briga dier Leland, second in command of ANGAU. (It was fully described in “PIM” of June and July.) IT is unlikely that the Pacific war will end soon. It seems certain that the military administration will continue in New Guinea for the duration of the Pacific war, even if the Japs are pushed back far enough to permit civilians, gen

erally, to re-enter the Territories. There fore, Territorians would be wise to make themselves familiar with the foregoing organisation and delegation of authority: that will be their “Government” for a time —at least until the Japanese are defeated.

Probably, it will be found, as the war moves away northwards, beyond New Guinea, that administrative conditions which now are mostly military in char acter, will be relaxed, and that the old laws, administered by ANGAU, will come generally into operation.

As ANGAU has the authority of the superseded civil governments, and as ANGAU comprises mostly the younger administrative officials of the two Terri tories, the returning civil populations will not find much to object to. They merely will have exchanged one form of autocratic bureaucracy for another.

IT is possible that the military set-up under General Morris (ANGAU) will work better, anyway, because it will be able to exercise wider authority on the spot, and be less subject to Can berra interference. The factor which crippled the New Guinea Administration, and which (after the Lieutenant-Gover

norship was reduced to an Administra tor-ship) was threatening to cripple Papua, was Canberra control.

In theory, these Territories were gov erned by the Australian Cabinet, through a wise and sympathetic “Minister for External Territories,” exercising his authority through a Canberra Depart ment and Administrators at Port Moresby and Rabaul.

In practice, “the Territories job” in variably was given to an inconspicuous Assistant Minister, who knew nothing whatever and cared less about tropical administration. Some of them made a hurried tour of what they sometimes called “our Pacific islands,” and where they usually were “baffled by science.”

All of them, after a feeble effort or two, left the really important decisions to the Department officials. The latter, lacking guidance and authority, guarded them selves at every point, and did nothing

which could not be justified by “regula tions.”

Administrative officials appealed des perately to Canberra for authority to proceed with this, that and the other.

Canberra officials passed the requests on to the Minister. The latter, wholly at sea, either tried to get a Cabinet decision or passed the buck back to the Depart ment.

Such a system, of course, produced only a cynical self-protection on the part of the Canberra officials, and disappoint ment, despair and inertia in Port Moresby and Rabaul. This became worse when, as in the case of Rabaul, the chief administrative position usually was held by an inexperienced political appointee, who had neither the courage nor the knowledge to defy Canberra, and proceed on his own authority.

LITTLE, of course, is known about General Morris and Brigadier Leland as tropical territories administrators.

Therefore, it is possible to hope that,

out of ANGAU, there may come some thing in the way of administration which may be better than what we have known.

They have the authority: have they the knowledge and the vision?

The greatest danger of the present set-up is that the Territories may be saddled with a number of highly-paid but (in relation to tropical administra tion) incompetent and useless officials, who will hang on to their jobs like leeches when the time comes to change back to normal civilian administration, and introduce new life to the Territories