Muddling

New Guinea Picture Of Industrial

Survey of Present Position by Planters' Association

A FAIRLY complete picture of the con fusion and difficulties which beset the planters who are trying to re-estab lish themselves in the Australian Man dated Territory of New Guinea is pre sented by the following report (issued formally by the Hon. Secretary, Mr. W.

R. B. Thomas) of the annual general meeting of the New Guinea Planters’

Association, which was held in Kokopo on February 15.

Little comment is needed—except to add that 90 per cent, of the difficulties being encountered by the unfortunate planters may be traced directly to the muddling inefficiency of the Socialist policies introduced to the Territories by the Australian Minister in control, Mr.

E. J. Ward.

There is a shortage of supplies and shipping. This is because Mr. Ward de cided to drive privately-owned shipping out of the Territories, and make all sea transport there a Government monopoly.

The planters have not been getting world parity for the limited amount of copra they are able to produce. This is because the buying, storing and shipping of copra has been made a Government monopoly. Where, pre-war, these services were efficiently provided under competi tive conditions by large private firms, they now are carried out less efficiently by a Government instrumentality, which pays the planter what it likes and is re sponsible to no one.

There is a crippling shortage of labour.

That is due to the ill-informed, preci

pitate action of Mr. Ward who, in 1945, wiped out the old-established indentured labour system, and put nothing in its place.

The numerous public servants in New Guinea are doing their very utmost to assist the Europeans in the heartbreak ing task of rehabilitation; but they are handicapped in all directions by the policy and the administrative structure created for them by the blindly-thrust ing Mr. “Eddie” Ward.

The following is the report of the Planters’ Asosciation secretary: THE twenty-first Annual General Meeting of the Association was held at Kokopo on February 15, 1947.

Eighteen members attended the meeting which, considering transport difficulties and the general disabilities under which planters labour, was a very good attend ance.

The inward and outward correspond ence occupied much of the time of the meeting. Satisfaction was expressed by members at the keen interest manifested by so many of our members scattered throughout the Territory.

Election of Executive and Committee- The following members were elected for the ensuing year: President: Mr. Dyson Hore-Lacy.

Vice-Presidents: Captain J. Duncan and Mr. V. B. Pennefather.

Committee: Messrs. J. T. Allan, W.

Washington, E. F. Bishton, W. T.

Thomas and F R. Wilson.

Hon. secretary: W. R. B Thomas.

The following is a resume of matters dealt with at the meeting.

(Continued on page 55)

Subscriptions—lt was decided that for the present the subscriptions be £l/1/per annum, pending the recommendation of the Committee as to an annual sub scription.

Correspondence

The following resolutions, carried at a previous meeting had been conveyed to: 1. The Prime Minister of Australia: “That the Prime Minister be requested to instruct the Custodian of Expropriated property to forego his claim against war damage compensation in those cases where purchasers have undertaken or will undertake the rehabilitation of their properties; and that he revert to the system of repayments of purchase price which existed at January, 1942, as from the Ist January, 1948; or, alternatively that he regains his equity by direct re parations against the Japanese Govern ment.”

“That this general meeting of the Planters’ Association of New Guinea re quest the Commonwealth Government to amend appropriate acts and regulations to enable (a) the recasting of war damage insur ance on plantation assets in the Terri tory of New Guinea, on a replacement value, as at 30th November, 1946, instead of 1942 value, particularly in relation to buildings, plant, equipment and growing trees. (b) Recasting of values to provide that: (i) value of destroyed coconut palms to be leased on the average price of copra for the 22 year period prior to 1941, in stead of (as at present) on the value of copra as at January, 1942; (ii) compen sation for coconut palms, cocoa and cof fee trees to take into consideration loss of income from crops destroyed during the replacement period, which in the case of coconut palms is 10 years.”

2. The Minister of External Territories: “That this meeting of planters view with alarm the report that the Produc tion Control Board is ceasing the supply of plantation requirements, and that this meeting request that the Production Control Board continue these supplies until the 31st December, 1948, at least.”

The foregoing correspondence had been acknowledged and promises made that enquiries into the matters raised would be made and that the Association would again be communicated with. To date, no further communication on the above subjects had been received.

The following letter had been ad dressed to the Controller, War Damage Commission, Sydney: “The Planters’ As sociation of New Guinea desire to ask if the Commission would consider allowing the cost of erecting temporary buildings to be included as part of the cost of clearing plantation properties. The build ings are a very necessary factor in the initial steps towards rehabilitation and, if this request can be granted, would be of considerable assistance to planters.”

The Controller of the War Damage Commission has not acknowledged this letter.

Three radiograms had been despatched to the Minister for External Territories requesting urgent advice and assistance regarding shipping facilities between Rabaul and Australia. It was pointed out that there appears no prospect of a ship to Rabaul for a considerable period whilst Moresby, Lae and Madang have a regular service. It was also pointed out that essential supplies of meat, flour, vegetables, benzine, etc., were un available at Rabaul, The Minister had replied stating that enquiries would be instituted and action taken. (The Merkur is to sail from Sydney for Rabaul at an

early date with supplies for the Army at Rabaul, and it is appreciated that space has been provided for a considerable quantity of essential supplies for civi lians.)

Advice From Production Board

Two letters were received from the Rabaul Branch Manager of the Austra lian New Guinea Production Board. The meeting was very appreciative of the in formation contained in the letters. For

the information of members of this Association the text of each letter is as follows: “The following notes may be of interest to vour members- *.' . „ Copra storage—Kavieng. The Board has a Cyclone building, 150 x 100, at Kavieng, awaiting erection. A representative will leave for that centre by first vessel and construction will commence immediately after his arrival.

A “Copra storage—Kokopo. The Board has secured permissive occupancy of an area of land on the waterfront, east of Vunapope. It is proposed to erect two Sydney Williams huts on this site as soon as negotiations can be completed with contractors. Copra will be received into this depot at Rabaul price.

“Monthly returns—copra. It would be of great material benefit to the planters and the Board if planters would ensure regular monthly returns are sub mitted showing produce on hand and estimated production for the ensuing month. The Food Control people in Aus tralia continually seek production figures to facilitate their Australian and world distribution. Locally, it is of great bene fit in arranging routing of vessels, ~X T , , „ , , “Native labour figures. The Board is constantly stressing to Canberra the in adequacy of labour supply. Your returns give the necessary data to enable us to present a concrete picture. , , fU 11 " plan f ters . that ™ ust u Wal l * for c £ e^ ll: no u, es / rom P ° rt Moresby before being able to operate against copra delivered to Board ware houses. This is not so. Copra is passed to credit of individual accounts immedi ately it is scaled into Board warehouses.

“Labour. It is thought that your mem k6ls would be interested to learn of the progress of the Board’s recruiting scheme. As you are aware, the Board’s Recruiting Officer left Rabaul early in December. Mr. Robinson has indicated that he has over 100 boys waiting move ment. A vessel, the Kelanoa, was des patched from Rabaul on Monday, Feb ruary 10, 1947, and is expected back here about February 20 with the first recruits.

A second 300-tonner is scheduled to leave for the Sepik to pick up a further batch early in March. Mr. Robinson’s reports are so far optimistic, but the Board will be in a position to give more definite information on return on the Kelanoa.

Report To Prime Minister

A file of correspondence was received from Mr. C. I. H. Campbell, of Rau plantation, Bougainville. Mr. Campbell’s splendid efforts on behalf of the Terri tory generally and the planters in par ticular are greatly appreciated by the As sociation. It was resolved that the hon. secretary convey to Mr. Campbell this Association’s sincere appreciation for his good work on our behalf.

For the information of members gen erally, the following is a copy of a let ter written by Mr. Campbell on behalf of planters to the Prime Minister. Later, Mr. Campbell interviewed the Adminis trator and gave him a copy of this letter: Rau Plantation, Bougainville.

December 22, 1946.

His Honor the Administrator,

Port Moresby.

Your Honor, — At our recent interview you were good enough to say that you would write to me regarding points raised. As the interview was sought on behalf of planters generally, I shall be grateful if you will send copies of your letter and of any further correspondence thereon to the Acting-Secretary, Planters’ Association of the Territory of New Guinea, c/o Production Control Board, Rabaul, as mail communications between this plantation and Rabaul may be uncertain for a time.

For your information I enclose a copy of the letter to the Rt. Hon, the Prime Minister, which was shown to you at the interview.

The main causes of anxiety amongst our members are:— (1) Inadequate immediate labour supply for rehabilitation, maintenance and production; and the increase of unit costs to over three times pre-war figures; without any definite indication that increased prices of products will be main tained to enable us to meet the extra costs.

Suspended fishing by dynamite, etc. (2) Uncertainty as to the policy of the Gov ernment regarding the supply of adequate labour for Government activities, private enterprise (pre-war commitments) and domestic require ments. (3) Inefficiency of present inter-island shipping arrangements to meet the requirements of the Territory for communication, conveyance of re habilitation and maintenance stores, and trans port of owners, employees and labour. (4) Disorganisation of storage and delivery facilities for inward cargo from Australia, caus ing delay in trans-shipment to outports, and necessitating long and expensive waiting in Rabaul (£1 per day at hostel, plus sundry ex penses). This adds considerably to the already high cost of rehabilitation, and further de creases rehabilitation value of war damage compensation. (5) Insufficient berthage accommodation for overseas vessels, causing long delays and in creased costs. (6) High cost of rehabilitation, generally, due to: — (a) Shipping and handling costs. (b) Fares, freights and costs of essential stores and equipment. Surcharges in Australia, etc. (c) Long delay at Rabaul, etc., of out-station people (e.g., ‘Reynella’’ and “Duntroon”) at considerable expense. (d) Exclusion of out-station people from the opportunity to acquire desirable heavy equipment, owing to the inadequate lifting power of the winches of inter-island vessels. (e) Depletion of war damage funds for per manent rehabilitation by the necessity to erect temporary buildings, thus leaving reduced funds available for erection of permanent buildings when suitable mate rials and transport become available and labour for their erection, and the fact that these permanent buildings will probably be a higher basic cost than those on which compensation was assessed.

These are all causes of the feeling of in security, uncertainty and depression mentioned in the letter to the Prime Minister. (7) Anticipated reduced general efficiency and reliability of labour due to limitation of con tracts to one year, and the lack of information as to the policy of the Government re free labour, or “imported labour” who may desire to remain with employers after the termination of the contracts: and uncertainty as to whether local District Officers may not discourage “im ported labour” (other than locals within 25 miles) from remaining as free labour; and for what period and under what conditions. (8) Absence of any provision for returning to their employers contract labourers who absent themselves from duty. Formerly, “deserters” were recovered by the Administration and re turned to employers, and their contract periods were extended accordingly. Imprisonment or fines or other penal treatment were not asked for—only performance of the contract. Without

some such provision the contract becomes in effective, except as against the employer. (9) The charging of import duties upon re habilitation equipment (not clothing and food — always dutiable) and especially tools and neces sary plantation equipment. This further reduces the rehabilitation value of already insufficient compensation on post-war costs; which is the basis that actually operates in purchasing and transport to the properties.

Yours faithfully,

C. I. H. Campbell.

Referring to the opening paragraph of Mr. Campbell’s letter, it must be ex plained for your information that to date (Feb. 15, 1947) no communication has been received by the Acting-Secretary, Planters’ Association of the Territory of New Guinea.

General

Matters discussed and resolutions passed are briefly outlined as follows: A newspaper report of a meeting of the South Seas Regional Conference was read to the meeting. The meeting de plored the apparent lack of a thorough knowledge of the situation in New Guinea by the Conference, also that the Conference so far had neglected to avail itself of the advice of experienced resi dents of the Territory. It was decided to make out a case for the European re sidents and planters in New Guinea and forward same to the appropriate auth orities.

It will be of interest to members to know that several Papuan natives were present at the Conference and that they “preferred to co-operate in matters re lative to New Guinea until such time as they could take over the government of the country, rather than that blood should be shed.” That, at least, appeared to be the meaning as read from the newspaper report.

It was decided to make representation

to the Minister of External Territories for adequate shipping facilities to handle the production and supply requirements of the Territory.

It was decided to request the Minister for External Territories to ensure that adequate hospital facilities be made available for the European population at Rabaul, Kavieng, Madang and Bougain ville areas. The Minister’s attention should be drawn to the fact that there are little or no hospital facilities in the Territory.

It was resolved that an endeavour be made to have the excessive handling charges on cargoes at ports within the Territory reduced to a reasonable figure.

W. R. B. Thomas

Hon. Secretary.

Rabaul, Feb. 15, 1947.

Eminoni Raivoka and William B. Tog anivalu, arrived in Brisbane recently by the flying-boat “Coriolanus” from Fiji.

Their destination was Gatton Agricult ural College (Q’ld.), where they will take a course in agriculture, after which, they may go on to the Brisbane University.

They are both scholarship winners, sel ected from 80 Fijian candidates. Last year, Raivoka studied agriculture at St.

Bede’s College, Canterbury. New Zealand.

He did not, however, complete the course.

He studied law instead. But on his re turn to Fiji, he decided to apply for the scholarship. The object of the scholar ship is to introduce modern agricultural methods into Fijian agriculture. His family are dairy farmers in Fiji. The selection of young Fijians for a special course in agriculture is part of an im portant new plan now being developed by the Fiji Denartment of Agriculture.