Tmr rtroconf

The Economic Sun is Shining in SOME Parts of the Pacific

niL present economic conditions in Western Samoa described elsewhere in this issue give a true picture of the opportunities that exist now, whereby Territories of the South Pacific may quickly enjoy post- W w p r ospenty western Samoa is selling copra at around £25 per ton, f.0.b., and cocoabeans at nearly £lOO per ton. Everythmg that can be produced in the Jr’acmc Islands to-day is in keen de- Western al ? n ? with other Pacific Terrifmm S ’ 18 much benefit there- S fr.. o bamoa to-day is them coin nnn has a reserve of more Now Wn A . T TprHtAHo C n 6 Aus trahan Pacific nolitios one ‘ ey ! d tn can do thPv bnH i f Uni fi e - which if vlppq nnH - T 1!? 1 own of S fvfp na i^ Unr f Stncted ope ration pcnnnmips IaWS u f na . tlo ? ial mounHnp r H be f4 Joy f n S the^splvp<;^nn?«?ifn/ t frp^ ( fv, eX ps riCatl^

burdPni £ - the A nancial

thP wnr mposed by the evasion and It is tnip that iqao

economip wiJi L the

turps ’ Panifc? ?£ lltl w 1 s i r ? c : Territorv nf wpw a r^iJ? B Mandated Dieted ior re T COm ’ nese Lmf in- S; T£ e Japa ' toown niit p ’ n f 2vLJ hB , y Y er ?

Xt Ld been g built up g by Eurola 0 n settlers in the orevious sf) vps been destroyed The losses suffprpd by planters and y p amers ana traders, missionaries

and miners, shipowners and officials, were enormous.

But the people of those Territories were not completely unfortunate.

Australia, fearing invasion, accumu lated a War Damage Compensation Fund of £14,000,000. Australia did not suffer invasion, and practically the whole of that money was made avail able for the compensation of the Territories people who had suffered war damage between 1942 and 1945.

WHEN the war ended in September, 1945, the position in New Guinea and Papua was this: Damage and loss estimated at about £12,000,000 had been suffered in the Territories: but the whole of that sum was available, if required, in the Australian War Damage Compensation Fund. Lined up in Australia, literally dancing with impatience to return, were thousands of displaced Territorians, eager to work and to restore the productive ness of their plantations, mines and trading posts. Throughout the world there existed (and exists) not only a market, but a clamant demand for everything that Papua and New Guinea can produce—and especially copra, cocoa, rubber and gold.

It seemed that nothing could pre vent Papua and New Guinea from entering a trade boom which would do much to compensate those people for their great losses and sufferings during 1942-45.

But what happened? The two Territories found themselves in the grip of a fanatical regime, controlled

by political tub-thumpers and directed by economic-theorists; and both Ter ritories to-day are floundering in a morass of muddle and frustration.

Instead of opening the two Terri tories to individualism and private enterprise, and providing adequate labour and transport, and saying to the experienced and eager Terri torians: “You now have an open go— let us see what you can do for deve lopment and progress,” the Australian Government clamped down upon the Territories a system of rigid control that has partly paralysed private enterprise, handicapped production and is throwing upon the Australian taxpayers a financial burden which Las yet to be seen to be believed.

Following a line of deliberate policy, the Australian Socialist Government has taken charge of all transport be tween the Territories and Australia, and within the Territories them selves; and of all major merchandism S operations, so that the costs of production in New Guinea, and the amounts paid for produce, are fixed by Government officials. This seems to have been part of a plan for ham stringing the big trading companies.

Tb e Australian Government intro duced a native policy which has fieprived the Territories’ industries of l abo m*’ and a shipping policy which Las deprived traders and miners and planters of adequate transport—in fact, under the Government control, the small coastal shipping in the Territories has more or less collapsed. wh ° ( a year a *° foresaw thto great opportunity to restore produc tion in the Territories, and so com pensate themselves for their tragic losses, and were clamouring in Aus

tralia for permission to return, to-day are hesitating and asking each other whether it is worth going north while these appalling political and economic conditions obtain.

MEANWHILE, the Australian Gov ernment, in the manner typical of all Socialist bureaucrats, is. creat ing in the Territories an elaborate administrative machine in which costs appear to receive no considera tion whatever. Departments of Health, Education, Agriculture, Public Works and so forth are being created and staffed regardless of expense.

The principle that there can be no sound economic progress in any tropical Territory unless some re lationship is maintained between expenditure and revenue seems to be entirely ignored in the present set-up.

One gets the impression that any high official who tried to assist and encourage private enterprise would be burned at the stake.

T TNQUESTIONABLY, these Terri tories in the past did suffer the evils of neglect, maladministration and monopoly. Undoubtedly, there was need for reform in several direc tions.

The non-Labour Australian Govern ments of 1920-40 must take as much blame for the present deplorable conditions in Papua and New Guinea as the irresponsible Socialist Adminis tration now in charge. If non-Labour Governments had done their part properly in the Australian Pacific Territories, the present Labour Gov ernment would not have been able to defend its present policies there by insisting that need for drastic reform did exist.

The natives did not get a fair deal under the non-Labour Governments.

The lack of educational and medical facilities for natives was scandalous.

Some of the conditions to which European planters and miners were compelled to submit savoured of monopoly—that is undeniable. A great deal more could have been done to encourage sound pioneering talent in the development of the Territories by private enterprise.

The shrewd politicians of the Labour regime were clever enough to see that this gave them an oppor tunity to defend the introduction of Socialistic instrumentalities, and a revolutionary policy in relation to the natives. By emphasising the errors and shortcomings of non-Labour Governments, they are able to im pose laws and conditions which, in other circumstances, might not have been tolerated by the Australian public.

ALREADY, New Guinea settlers are beginning to feel the economic pinch. They may escape Australian income tax, but they are getting the full blast of indirect taxation.

The Australian consumer of wheaten foods generally pays on a basis of £l2/10/- per ton for flour. That is because the Australian Government insists that wheat shall be sold to the millers at 3/1U per bushel—the dif ference between that and world parity

being made up by Governmental sub sidy. But flour and wheaten products for Papua and New Guinea cost £25 per ton—the miller, in making flour, etc., for export, must pay 9/1U for his wheat. The Australian pays about 2/- per packet for his tea; the Terri torian, nearly twice that figure. The same system applies to soaps and various other articles in common use.

For all such purposes, the Australian Pacific Territories are foreign soil.

The Australian Government fixes the price which planters shall be paid for their copra and rubber; fixes the freights which shall be charged for the carriage of their supplies; decides whether or not they shall have labour; decides whether they shall travel.

So far, only the planters have felt directly the cold breeze of practical Socialism. The fortunes which they fondly believed they were going to make out of world demand for their produce are fading into thin air. The Australian Government, through the Production Control Board, is getting a lion’s share of the high prices— and that, probably, will be frittered away on muddled transport and extravagant administration.

The goldminers perhaps will be luckier. Their industry, lacking machinery, labour and transport, still awaits rehabilitation. Months must elapse before gold in any sub stantial quantity will begin to come out of the Territories. By then, per haps, some change may have come over the Australian political set-up.

The Territories know, now, that they can expect nothing from Aus tralian Labour. But can they expect anything better from Australian non- Labour? On past records, they can not. And the Opposition leaders, although the general election is only a few weeks away, have given no indication that they have any kind of policy in relation to Territories administration.

Fiji, Samoa, French Oceania, Tonga, Cook Islands, New Caledonia—all are doing very well, and are encouraged by the rising sun of economic activity.

Perhaps they can spare a thought for unhappy, war-battered Solomons and harassed, hag-ridden New Guinea.