Mr. Ward's Arcadia

And What an Old-Timer Thinks About It

Letter to the Editor YOUR Mr. Ward has stated that, pre war, the New Guinea natives had to work 55 hours per week, under in denture; whereas, under his merciful regime, they now work only 44 hours weekly, and no indenture —and they have no difficulty in getting boys.

It is quite true that the Administration do not employ indentured boys—but many of the boys they do employ think they are indentured. I was employed myself by the Administration for a few months, and I saw the system in opera tion. Police boys, doctor boys, driver boys and other technicians, when being engaged by the Administration, were given a paper to put their thumb print on. Thus the boys go through the same formalities as they do when signing a contract of service. They are led to be lieve that the paper that they put the thumb-print on is a contract, whereas it is only a record of service.

There are about 400 boys employed by the Administration here in Madang, do

ing what 50 boys would have done under pre-war conditions. I notice them going lazily to their work at 8 a.m. each day. They cover in two hours a distance which, pre-war, they would have walked over in 20 minutes. This is not surpris ing, seeing that so many of them stay up all night, gambling. You should see them cutting grass! I imagine that the average labourer employed by the Administration does about 10 hours’ work per week, in stead of the 44 hours Mr. Ward talks about.

With that labour force, the town should be in good order. At the present time (July, 1947) it is not. The road that was built by the Army is in a poor condition; the small culverts and bridges are broken; there is long grass all over the place; many bomb craters are not filled in and are a breeding-place for mosquitoes.

Thanks to Mr. Ward, there is no such thing now as labour discipline, or white man prestige. Anyone with any know ledge of a coloured country knows that such conditions will lead only to chaos.

I notice the effect of Administration labour-line laziness and cheekiness upon the labour employed by private persons— these natives tend to become lazy, and in solent, and unmanageable, too. What else can one expect?

I saw an outrageous thing here re cently. A jeep was being driven along a main road out of Madang—it had a European driver, a white passenger, and a native. Without warning, an Admin istration jeep, driven by a native and carrying two Administration officials, turned out of a side road and smashed into the private jeep. The native driver admitted that he did not slow down or take precautions: yet the charge against him was dismissed. Why? The only reason we know is that native drivers are in very short supply. The private owner had to have his jeep repaired at his own expense, and his injured passenger had to pay his own hospital bill.

This country is being run now at a cost of millions per annum to the Aus tralian taxpayers, the natives have been ruined, and industry and commerce are in a chaotic state. We fought to get rid of the Jap menace—we now have a wouse one here, of our own creation. Few of the old-timers here can see any future in New Guinea, and I think there soon will be an exodus. I suppose that is what Mr. Ward wants.

Ward-ism is only a passing phase—but the evil that he has done in this country unfortunately will live long after he is politically dead and buried.

I am, etc.,

Disgusted N. Guinea-Ite

Madang, August 8..

Mrs. W. L. McGowan was a “Montoro” passenger last month, proceeding to Port Moresby, Papua, where she will join her husband, who is an architect in the Public Works Dept.

Felise Betaz, a former clerk of the courts in Noumea, Bourail and Vila, who when New Hebrides Frenchmen rallied to Free France refused to recognise the de Gaulle Government was shot as a traitor in France on June 11. The main charge against him was that, in July, 1944. at a French court-martial, he had urged a sentence of death upon three members of the Resistance who were subsequently shot at Marseilles. Betaz who was 67 years of age, was arrested under the Sautot regime and held at Camp Est on He Nou, Noumea harbour. He was later allowed to leave for Indo-China with other anti-de-Gaullists, and had reached France via Saigon. He was not a New Caledonian, but came from the Pas-de- Calais region.