Rag-Time Shipping In New Guinea

Government Service Is Chaotic Plea For Private Ownership Again

By Colonel H. T. Allan, O.B. E., Tovakundum Plantation, Rabaul

THIS is an endeavour to set out what is actually happening in New Guinea at the moment in reference to ship ping and sea transport.

Before the war, there was an inter island shipping service, maintained mostly by the big trading firms, to bring produce up to the main centres to connect with oversea shipping lines.

In addition, many private people owned their own vessels, which they chartered as opportunity offered, or ran private services in the different areas Also, many plantations had boats which were used for recruiting, bringing in native foods and trade copra, trochus shell, etc. The natives also owned many boats, mostly sailing cutters which they used for trading, social visits, etc.

In all, the Territory was adequately serviced, and it was a comparatively easy matter to move from point to point, or to bring recruited natives quickly to the place of work and, when finished, to re turn them home.

As a result of the Japanese invasion, all shipping in the Territory was either destroyed or seized by the Army or Navy and removed elsewhere. So that when the war finished, New Guinea was com pletely devoid of shipping.

It is true that the Army held a large reserve of small craft which could have been the nucleus of the shipping required to rehabilitate the Territory. In Moresby.

Milne Bay, Labu (Lae) Madang, Wewak and Rabaul there were many craft no

longer required by the Army. In March, 1946, in Rabaul alone, there were 132 boats in the Disposals Park, with which the Army had finished.

BY this time, the Government, in its wisdom (which means the CSIR and other satellites) had decided to break the menace of the big firms and to allow no vessels of over 25 tons to operate. As a result, the policy was not to sell any boats at all at a time when sea trans port was the first requirement for re habilitation.

For over five months the boats in Rabaul lay rotting at anchor. Many sank at their moorings through sheer neglect (as happened also with the luggers in Moresby)—all this at a time when Rabaul was becoming peopled by returning planters who wanted to get out to their properties.

Tnese people were willing to pay any price for a boat, so that they could get a move on; but, through lack of trans port, they were forced to remain in Rabaul, at £1 per day at the PCB hostel, for months on end. And every day they were able to go down to the “park" and see the boats they required slowly rot ting and eventually sinking at their anchorages—with valuable landing barges being driven ashore by the south easter and disappearing under the sand.

The Government created the great “Directorate of Shipping’’ to provide all the transport required. They neglected

to enquire of any practical man who had lived in the Territory as to whether this was a wise move.

Ships were scheduled to start running in October, 1945. In June,l946, a largely • attended RSL meeting in Rabaul was assured by Mr. Thurston, then Director of Shipping for NG (or some similar appointment) that the ships were on their way and that in a few w r eeks our diffi culties would be over.

It is now June, 1947, and the latest

from the Directorate of Shipping is that they hope to have all their ships here and running by the end of December, 1947.

THE problem of the rehabilitation of New Guinea is an immense one. It would still be of great magnitude, even if we had a sympathetic Govern

ment resolved to put the place back on its feet as soon as possible, and which would be willing to accept the advice of those who have spent their lives here and who, presumably, should know what is required.

The first requisite is sea transport. The planter, or miner, or missionary, or any

one eise, has first got to reach his area.

Until he can do this, and transport suf ficient supplies to maintain himself, noth ing else can happen.

The missions, who have more combined experience than any one else, quickly re alised this and, in every case, their first step was to purchase a vessel, or vessels The Vunapope mission bought the Waimana, a fine three-masted schooner’

Bishop Wade got some work-boats and a trawler; the Lutherans obtained two or three 300-tonners; the Madang Mission got 300-tonners, and the Seventh Day Adventist started with the old “Ambon ” and since have brought up or are bringing another eight 87 ft. trawlers.

These people have really saved the day for New Guinea, in spite of the Gov ernment. Realising our needs, and appre ciating what sea transport means, thev hv V ?hi )a f t n ally the sap caused failure of the Government plan and the lack of private boats.

AU missionsj have transported planters and their goods—usually without charge —and have done it very willingly.

LATELY, a few privately owned boats have appeared and they are filling the gap.

Charlie Blake, Colver Watsons, Dick Arrowsmith, Dyson Hore-Lacey, * Harold Koch, Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore, and a few others have managed to get boats, and these are gradually getting supplies out to people.

These boat-owners have been given a license to operate (irrespective of the tonnage) by the Directorate of Shipping but have been told that this licence will be cancelled by December 31, 1947 because by then the Shipping Board will' have all its trawlers up here, and will b( e able to supply all requirements. That will be the day!

REVERTING to rehabilitation, and to sea transport being the first require ment: it is suggested that the logical order is as follows: (1) Sea transport. (2) Native labour. (3) Supplies for labour, planter, and buildings. (4) Export of produce from plantation to port to pay for same.

It will be seen that nothing can function unless (1) operates.

Many planters have had the experience of being landed at their plantations with a couple of months’ supplies. They com mence with plenty of labour available.

At the end of two or three months their supplies run out; the labour leaves be cause no food or issues are and the planter is in dire straits because he cannot get any cash until his copra is delivered into the PCB warehouse.

Here are some instances: • Harold Coldham returned on the “Reynella” and went out to Ins place at Bali, near Witu. Before leaving Rabaul he arranged with Vic. Maxwell (manager, PCB, Rabaul)—one of the bright spots in an otherwise dud show—to have three months’ supplies sent out bv the first ship. As Bali has plenty of labour and can produce up to 80 tons of copra per month, it is one of the important places if we want coora quickly.

PCB fulfilled its promise and sent the supplies out in a Shipping Directorate boat which was going to Witu first.

Whilst the boat was at Witu. the Ship ping Directorate ordered it to go pn to Moresby. The captain, a new-comer, of course, obaved orders and went to Moresby, passing within a mile of Bali, which was the direct route! He did not call at Bali because he said (it is alleged) that he did not know the anchorage, and did not think that it was important.

Tho result was that Coldham’s essential supplies went on to Moresby, about 600

miles away, and the plantation was left up in the air.

Luckily, Vic Maxwell is one of our old hands and was able to wangle (through private channels) a duplicate set of stores —which he could ill-afford— and the day was saved. • Then, in the case of New Ireland: A planter, who had been there ten months without a ship, was anxious to get his copra in to the PCB warehouse in Rabaul, to recoup his outlay.

On New Year’s Day, when all his labourers were away at a sing-sing, or lotu, a 300-tonner, run by the Directorate of Shipping, arrived off his place unan nounced and without previous warning.

The captain wanted his 75 tons of copra loaded immediately, and was not im pressed when told of the difficulties.

In normal times, the planter would have been warned of the ship’s impending arrival at least 48 hours in advance and the copra would then have been waiting on the beach with sufficient labour to load it.

The result was that the ship sailed empty, the planter did not get his, cash and, as far as I know, the copra is still there. • When I was in Kavieng at the end of March last, two Directorate of Ship ping 300-tonners arrived within a few days of each other. The first, which was only routed for Kavieng and return to Rabaul, landed a lot of cargo for all ports down the east coat to Namatanai, 180 miles away, and some cargo for Kavieng.

The second one, which was to proceed down the east coast, calling at all ports to Namatanai, landed nearly all its cargo for Kavieng and then had to reload the cargo from the other ship for the east coast ports, • Again, Bill Chapman, one of our old inhabitants of the goldfields, decided (as I have done) that there is no future for independent gold-miners in Wau. He proceeded up the Markham to Kainantu and recruited 17 boys (no mean effort these days) to go with him to the new fields in Bougainville. Bringing them down to Lae, he booked himself and the boys by the “Montoro” to Rabaul.

The Directorate of Shipping, through its agents, took him and his partner to Rabaul, but refused, for no reason at all, to ship the boys.

The result is that Bill has lost his boys, has had to fly back to Lae to try to get some more, and is now completely de pendent on his good friend, Charlie Blake (and not the great Government Shipping Service) to get to Bougainville, as Charlie has his own private vessel.

AND there, I think, is the answer— private ownership of vessels. The individual owner has to make his boat pay, and will keep it running and give service and go anywhere. The Govern ment Service will not go out of its way to oblige anyone—the captains and crews are mostly newcomers to the Territory, underpaid by present-day standards, and they dont object to any convenient en gine breakdown that will keep them in port over the week-end.

In contrast, take Harold Koch, one of our oldest, most respected and popular private boat-owners. Before the war, Harold had his own properties at Arawe at the west end of New Britain. He ran ms boat for his own business, but it was his pleasure to service the whole of the south coast of New Britain, some 300 miles in extent.

Anyone along that coast, w r hether he was Administration missionary, company employee, private planter, or trader knew that he had only to signal Harold as he passed and whatever he wanted in the

ways of foodstuffs, cigarettes, liquor, or other essentials would be delivered on the return trip.

And it is in these private owners of ships that the answer lies. I have not touched upon recruiting or prospecting, native boats or other matters, as the sub ject is so vast.

But I do feel that the inefficient Gov ernment service is breaking down and that, despite the CSIR policy—or who ever else has thought it out—the old system of private ownership is already

here, and must develop, if the Territory is going to come good again as a pro ducer of urgently needed raw materials.

Mr. and Mrs. M. E. Babbage, of Kar oola and Tanwoa Plantations, Buka Pas sage, New Guinea, became the proud parents of a young daughter on May 29.

Mr. Babbage arrived in Sydney from Buka a day after the baby was born; he does not expect to be returning to his plantation until September.

P.L. Society Annual Meeting

THE annual meeting of the Pacific Islands Society will be held at History House, Sydney, on July 23, at 8 p.m.

Office-bearers for the coming year will be elected and a report of the Society’s activities presented.

New Members

New members who have joined the So

ciety recently are:

Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Baker. 1569 Pacific High way. Wahroonga; Mr. N. B. Casey, MBE, and Mrs. Casey. 113 a Carabella Street. Kirribilli: Mrs. Drew, No. 3 Colleen Flats. 19 Fletcher Street, Bondi; Mrs. A. H. A. Forrest. 81 Hope Avenue, Cremorne; Mrs. M. Fenner, 26 Pittwater Road, Collaroy; Mr. Thos. Horne, 50 Bancroft Avenue, Roseville; Mr. and Mrs. Nigel Kingsmill, Bank of NSW, Victoria Avenue, Chatswood; Mr. and Mrs. S, A. Lord, 14 Coolong Road, Vaucluse; Mr. W. McCreadie, Flat 1, 83 Sydney Road.

Manly; Mr. P. S. Macdermott, 36 Upper Clifford Avenue. Manly; Mrs. Mignon, 29 Eastern Avenue, Dover Heights: Mrs. Mallelieu, War rington Flats, Edgecliff; Mrs. Walker Flynn, 331 Parramatta Road, Haberfield.