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pp. 5-6 · Read in the full issue
What Mr. Ward Is Doing With Australian Territories Problems
ONE does not know whether to curse Mr. Ward, or commiserate with him. (For the information of non- Melanesian readers: Mr. Ward is the strange political personality who was “wished” on to the Australian Prime Minister by the Labour Caucus, and to whom the Prime Minister, in freakish desperation, handed over the care of the Australian Paciflc Territorles.) He is so full of plans—and he is so pointedly ignored by the real b ° s of he Tpmtories » ANGAU.
Mr Ward knows nothing of the problems of tropical islands admmistration, and he has had no practical Consequently l he either bring?
Governmental nroblems of the Terri tones the catch-cries and rule-ofthumb methods evolved by countless relays of Trades Hall secretaries; or he depends absolutely upon his permanent officials in Canberra who apply to afl Questions the Ufeless Ind
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StlCk 0f strict Departmentalism.
The Australian Territories to-day are faeed with the following proble “ s ’ . . • How and when will civil admmistration be restored: and, as a necessary sequence, when will European civilians be allowed to return, and the common activities of planting, mining, trading, etc., re-established? • To what extent does the Government propose to co-operate with
European civilians in re-establishing good relations between them and native labour, already gravely dis turbed by war conditions? Or, alter natively, how does the Australian authority suggest that the Territories activities be carried on, in the absence of an adequate supply of native labour? * what is t 0 be the system of administration in the future? The o ld system? Or a combination of the two Territories? How is it proposed to protect, in the new set-up, the rights and privileges earned by the members of the two public services UP t 0 th ® monient of the invasion? Is intended to in some tangible fashion, in relation to the Territories’ future the men of both Territories who entered the com want m near combatant services
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an if have achieved £o much and suffered so greatly? Or are they to be lumped in with Australian troops, to stand in line with them in relation to all war bonuses? what artuallv is the nolicv of th * in^re lation to the future development of these Territories? Does it propose to encourage private enterprise under pro per control’ Or is it giving serious thought to the plan of the professors, wbo want to make the Territories a c i ose preserve for the primitive Melanesians? Or has it—as so many suspect—some hare-brained scheme
for the development of the Territories along socialistic lines, using Govern ment officials as directors, accepting the advice of anthropologists and so forth, and smashing at the profit motive with a big stick, wherever private enterprise has the temerity t raise its head. rPa snn<; the utterances of pOR those reasons tneutte * M studied with almost jfttpntinn And thev arrive P^e SSllv he is eminently fair, reasonable, moder flnri au ick-thinking man. People who iudg g Mr Ward 0 n his published state ments on Territories affairs find effect upon their blood pressure very bad L et us look over some of the g e announcements. For instance: Establishment of an inter-departmental committee to prepare plans for regulating and controlling the reconstruction of devastated or damaged areas in Papua and New Guinea has been approved by a sub-committee of Federal Cabinet. It will comprise representatives of the Departments of Post-war Reconstruction, Transport, External Territories, War organisation of Industry, Treasury War Damage Commission, and Directorate of Research, representing the Army.
At present, Territories affairs nominally are’controlled by a sub- Committee of Cabinet—three or four Ministers who, between them, ha\e never seen the Territories for more than a few hours. The Departmental sub-Committee appointed by the Federal sub-Committee is made up merely of harassed and overworked Departmental officials, few or any of whom have any practical Knowledge
of the Territories, and most of whom are definitely ignorant of and un sympathetic towards trade and com merce and private enterprise generally.
About October 22, Mr. Ward an nounced: A committee would be set up imme diately, comprising a legal member, an officer of ANGAU with previous experience as a District Officer in the civil adminis tration, and an anthropologist with par ticular knowledge of Papua and New Guinea, to decide the basis upon which compensation will be paid to the native population for death, injury, or damage from causes due to the war. It is expected that this committee will take into account the communal nature of native village life and determine compensation on a tribal rather than personal basis.
Territorians read the announce ment with mixed feelings. At that time, they still were fighting for recognition of their claims for com pensation for indirect war damage (since granted)—yet the Government was preparing to compensate the natives. Upon this Committee, as upon other similar Committees, there was no representative of the real people of the Territories—the planters, traders, miners and missionaries, whose long years of hard labour had made occupation of the Territories possible.
The next announcement from Can berra was as follows: Arrangements are being made to recruit staff for the civilian administration of New Guinea to supplement the former staff and to fill vacancies caused by war casualties and retirements. The civilian administration will take over as soon as the military Government is withdrawn The service would be open to both civi lians and members of the Services. There is to be a School of Civil Affairs (Terri tories Administration) and a committee, to select students for same, has been set up.
IT was ascertained that the members of the Committee are: Mr. L.
Haylen, who was a newspaper re porter until he rode into Parliament on the Trades Hall nomination a year ago; Mr. J. R. Halligan, secretary of the Department of External Terri tories; Dr. K. S. Cunningham, “direc tor of the Australian Council for Educational Research.”
Here we have the same kind of set-up: unknown and (so far as Territories affairs are concerned) un respected people, plus a Departmental officer who necessarily calculates everything with his Departmental measuring stick. The world of real and practical affairs is rigidly ex- In any event, why this absurd plan? thousands of young men in t0 .u day ’ “'"Pared with hun dreds in the public services before the war. Surely ANGATT, whatever else it may be, is an admirable for administration officials, and surely there are plenty of men there to choose from. What can the "selected” men learn in this precious School that they are not now earning ln AN ?£ U? If they are not an y thm S valuable in exist AU ’ th6n ANGAU has no ri ght to On November 10, there was a
further announcement about this School, by Mr. Haylen, who appears to be chairman of the Committee: A school for selection of District Officers, Assistant District Officers, and Patrol Officers in New Guinea would begin at Royal Military Col lege, Duntroon, early next year. The course of lectures and studies would extend for 15 weeks, Ati first the school would be limited to 40 pupils who were former members of the Army, but later the school would take in members of the other Services and civilians. Those selected to work in New Guinea would receive salaries rang ing from £350 to £9OO a year. An interesting feature of the applications for admittance to the school was the intense desire of a large number of Australian Servicemen to go back to the country /Which they had helped to rescue from the Japanese for Australia.
This political blah-blah definitely suggests that the men of the Papuan and New Guinea public services are going to lose their seniority rights.
Surely, such an outrageous plan will not be allowed to go through without challenge. The only right and proper way to re-establish the civil adminis trations is to (a) provide adequately, if not generously, for all the surviving members of both services, preserving their well-earned seniority rights; (b) fill up the ranks with tried and proven men from ANGAU. This “School” looks like a cunning plan by politicians to ditch the senior men of the former services, and side-track any ANGAU men whom they do not like.
A ND, finally, we have this announce ment over the ABC broadcasting system on November 9: The future control of native labour in New Guinea and Papua will be talked over at a conference in Sydney on De cember 1. The Commonwealth Govern ment has already announced that it will do away with the indentured labour sys tem as soon as practicable. The Minister for External Territories, • Mr. Ward, said
to : day that the conference in Sydney was being called so that people who had experience of the New Guinea natives could put their views before the Govern ment and help to work out a new wav of regulating native labour. . As . we go to press, we have made inquiries, seeking some person with a practical knowledge of Territories affairs and conditions who may have been invited by Minister Ward to attend this “confefence,” but we can find none who has been so honoured On present appearances, those who are invited to the Conference will comprise Departmental officers, re presentatives of ANGAU, some right thinking missionaries, an anthro pologist or two, and perhaps a few trade-union members of Parliament.
Judged on a year’s performances, the last thing Mr. Ward will do will be to seek the help of the actual employers of indentured native labour. They, being exploiters, profiteers and fol lowers of private enterprise, must be ignored and discouraged—and, if possible, wiped off the face of the earth. ■jl/fEANWHILE, ANGAU goes happily ITA on its way. It has complete charge of the administration in Papua and New Guinea; the Minister remains merely a cipher; and the handsprings and somersaults, and committees and the conferences of Mr. Ward are regarded by the gentle men of the Brass Hats with—appar ently—indifference.
Mr. Fonse Parer, formerly of New Guinea, and now manager of the Plaza Hotel, Sydney, became ill in Newcastle, in October, and was admitted to New castle Hospital. He was en route to Dun gog for a holiday.