Magazine Section

Territories Talk-Talk

By "Tolala"

ONCE again the Bitapaka (New Britain) war memorial was, on April 25, the scene of a service to pay tribute to the fallen.

About 80 persons attended the Anzac Day Service there.

In pre-war days a Commemoration Service was held there on September 12, each year to mark the 'day Australia officially took over Deutsch Neu Guinea from the Germans in 1914. The selection of the Bitapaka site for a war memorial, it is interesting to note, was the result of the first outing of the newly-formed Automobile Club of New Guinea, in 1934.

It was the suggestion of the Club’s Treasurer (the late Mr. Tom Ellis Sr.) and its Secretary (Mr. Gordon Thomas) that an historic site be chosen as a ren dezvous for the thirty-odd cars, and no more appropriate locality could have been picked than that in the vicinity of where the first Australian soldiers fell in the 1914-18 war. Administrator Grif fiths realised its significance and made the chosen spot available to become the site of the present memorial. The memorial was designed by W. I. Mac- Gowan, of the Public Works Department.

Incidentally, it was MacGowan who designed the Automobile Club’s badge after competitive designs had been sub mitted.

I saw Mac. the other day in Sydney, on his way back from South Australia, and he proudly produced his own old Club badge, which had survived the 1937 eruption and looked as good as new.

It’s one of the finest car badges I’ve ever seen, with a statelv coconut palm in the foreground and Mount Mother and the Daughters in the background.

The Club might be resuscitated, if only to perpetuate the badge!

PIDGIN-ENGLISH gets around all right. Thus the “Overseas Daily Mail” of February 7; — This is how New Guinea natives learned about the royal wedding in their own pidgin-English newspaper: “Good feller news e come up long England. Long Friday November 20 Number One Piccaninny belong King belong you and me, King George Sixth long England, e marry. All e savee long this feller King all time e come up long house picture now you and me stand up (referring to the King’s pic ture shown in all movie houses). Now Number One Piccaninny belong e marry. Im he got two fellow picca ninny misses Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose. Now Princess Elizabeth e marry one Iona: feller man name belong Duke of Edinburgh. E hurrah much long this feller Princess.

“All same you an me belong long British Commonwealth feller.” * * * THE Lockheed-Hudson crash at Lae last month, in which 37 deaths occurred, was a grim tragedy re sulting m aviation officials’ attention be ing focussed on the old New Guinea cus tom of carrying natives as freight, which after all, is the only practical method to employ.

Cries to high heaven arose about lack of seats and safety belts, but of what use are these—rather are they a hinderance— when the crashed kite bursts into flames?

(In a recent air crash in Europe the sole survivor was the chap who wasn’t tied down with his safety belt.) If full fares are charged for natives it does not take a Solomon to realise that native labourers will be padding the hoof from the beach to the Fields and vice versa. * * * IN the House at Canberra (April 22) Minister Ward announced, in an swer to a question, that a Bill was being prepared to establish a permanent administration in New Guinea, replacing the present provisional organisation and that it “would give all permanent resi dents a voice in the administration of the Territory.”

Presumably another Legislative Coun cil along the old lines with its prepon derance of official bumbledom. What the “Permanent residents” should have, of course, is renresentation at Canberra, as the Northern Territory has had for years.

In the pre-war yeaTs, TNG, especially, had many and varied champions from the Opposition benches. One such notable advocate was the late “Texas”

Green, from the West. They certainly helped the business along and gave pub licity to local grievances, but the Terri tory should have its own Member, not have to rely on the representative from an Australian constituency, who has his own voters’ interests to look after. On more than one occasion Eddie Ward, then in the Opposition, had a few caustic re

marks to pass on the Administration of the Territory, and how things should be run. * * * THE kunai wireless tells us that quite a few of the old-time government officials are chucking, in their jobs with the idea of fossicking for the elusive ’weight up around the Wabag area. All of which embarrasses—as much as it is possible—the Powers-That-Be, for qualified men with experience are hard to find these days. But it was ever thus and. despite pessimistic reports from official circles, men will go after the nugget even as Cecil Levien did back in the late ’2o’s. * * ♦ IT certainly seems strange that with a fairly large population gravitating back to Rabaul—Europeans, Chinese and natives—that no steps have been taken to re-introduce the* very efficient yulcanological set-up which was operat ing in this area in pre-war days.

What is Norman Fisher, Vulcanologist and present-day Commonwealth geologist, doing about it? Echo answers: What?

In post-eruption days in Rabaul he did a good job with his installations of seismic instruments and daily checkings of danger areas. As Rabaul is on one of the most interesting seismic centres in the world, observations should be con tinued, if not for the safetv of the in habitants, then for the collating of scientific data. It’s a wonder the CSIR does not take up the matter.