Magazine Section

Territories Talk-Talk

By "Tolala"

A CENTRE, better known to Territor ians than to any other section of the community, folded up at the end of last month —namely, The Aus tralian War Damage Commission. Con troller Battersby, who actually has car ried out a huge and difficult job in a splendid way, despite the opinions of a few disgruntled claimants, goes back to Queensland and his insurance interests; while Mr. Les Roberts (better known for many years as Assistant Secretary for Lands at Rabaul) takes over the reins in the box seat, to wind up the few straggling outstanding claims.

Funds amassed by the WDC verge on the £l6 millions mark; claims and interest amounted to about £lO millions; and, after expenses are deducted, about £5 U 2 millions are still reckoned to be lying in kitty. There has been some speculation as to how this surplus will be distributed, seeing that it was derived from premiums paid by Australian pro perty-owners as war insurance. It is to be absorbed in a reserve fund for the payment of Australian war gratuities.

This is probably as good a way out as any. A pro rata rebate would have given everyone a headache, and war gratuities sound much better than Consolidated Revenue. * * * SOME people have the idea that native war damage - “compensation” in Papua and New Guinea is being paid through the WDC. This, of course, is incorrect. Australian Post-War Re construction is the milch-cow for that particular expenditure, and it comes directly out of the pockets of Australian taxpayers. * * * ACCORDING to a well-known Sydney columnist, whose information is usually reliable, a “clandestine round-robin” is going the rounds among NG Europeans praying the Common wealth Government tqi pass over NG Administration to either Britain or the United States. If this be so, then it is not the first time such a step has been suggested as a means of side-stepping the Ed-Wardian “new deal.”

I can’t see Britain eager to shoulder more responsibilities in the way of show ing the torch of civilisation to dependent dark races. She has her hands full for some years to come. The US was cer tainly interested in Manus, but from a purely strategic viewpoint only. It has no territorial expansion policy; though when Dewey is elected next month (as no doubt he will be) there might be a change of policy.

But a US native policy in NG might not be so popular, after all. with white interests, bearing in mind the fact that the experience of the US in the Pacific has been gained solely from its contacts vhth the Micronesian and Polynesian peoples, and the Americans know little of the ways of the more primitive Melane sian.

Perhaps, after all. the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.

EARLY next year the more or less isolated Aitape area will be in the news for a few days at least—perhaps for longer, if anything goes awry—when the 3,000-tons bomb dump at Tadji is touched off. Geo-physicists reckon that New Guinea’s guinea-pig may have some interesting results.

Anything may happen. Some of the old bores put down by the oil-searching companies around Matapau might start something; or there might even be a repetition of the big guria which buried half-a-dozen villages in the Aitape district back in the 1930’5. Anyway, Director of the Sydney Observatory is. to be thereabouts with a score of seismograph recording stations dotted over the landscape. The Aitape dump is less than half as big as the amount of explosives used to wipe Heligoland off the map in April ’47. But the earth’s crust in New Guinea is considerably thinner than on the other side of the world. * * * —. T A COUPLE of months ago I mentioned the Papuan lad who wrote to a Melbourne Football Club and scored a free football; and I deplored cockeyed charity towards natives well capable of paying. Recently, a Sydney columnist quoted a somewhat befuddled letter addressed to a Sydney firm from an Indian in Fiji concerning pouches. The native wording resulted in the Indian receiving free tobacco pouches. This sort of thing can easily develop into a racket by sophisticated dark-skins and, as I said before, gives them a false impression of Western economics.

rpNG’s old PMO, Knight Raphael X Cilento, certainly gets about. His HQ now are in NY as OC UNO Relief Workers. Latest developments have taken him to Haifa, where Arab and Jew refugees face a grim time. Lady Phyllis (well-known also to Territorians) has joined Sir “Ray” in NY this year, taking with her daughter Diane and son David, Artist Margaret, who won an Art Travel lmg Scholarship, was already camped in the Big City when they arrived, * * * /r Aiißir-Tr pfrronnvt 0 IVf AURICE PERRONNET, owner of a coconut plantation on New Britain, , according to a recent Sydney Sun- Paper, was a news feature on ac (f° un £ f J? 1 pparent indifference whl ? h inadvert ently left m a telephone booth. Said one report. There must be an awful lot of coconuts in New Britain, T An <* S0 1 tl e impression remains that Islands planters, in these days, are on a par with the Rich Uncle from Fiji of fifty years ago. Their reputation for free spending is probably the cause of this, Which reminds me of old Peter Han sen, when he was known as King of the French Islands (the old name for the Witu Group) in the real good old days, Peter did things in the grand manner when he came to Sydnev on holidays: Frock coat and top-hat. But his favour ite celebration was to take the Tivoli ballet out en masse for an after-the-show supper, with champagne. Fortune was not smiling too sweetly on him in his latter vears, but he had no regrets. “I have lived.” he used to say. And he had. (Continued next page)

Anthropologist ian Hogbin (can it Ho Bin, please) sailed last month for England. It has not been offi cially announced, but it is presumed in certain quarters that he will spend some of his time in the Old Country as a lecturer at some of the English univer sities under the newly-organised ex change system recommended at the conference of Universities of the Empire held at Bristol and Oxford. * * * FOR reading: Quentin Reynolds has written a factual story of interest to Territorians. Title: “Seventy Thousand to One”—all about the experi ences of jin American airman who bailed out over New Britain during the war, and remained hidden with the natives for nine months. A book of war historical interest. * * * THE Grim Reaper has been busy with his scythe in the last few weeks and, as is his custom, his sweeps invar iably take our old-timers in threes, in quick succession: Wally Digby, well known Morobe goldfields identity, passed over in a Lewisham private hospital; Jack Spence, another goldfields person ality, died at Lidcombe; and now G. St.

Clair Low, accidentally killed at Moresby.

Then came the sad tragedy when Lieut.- Commander Hugh A. McKenzie, so well known amongst the Coast Watchers, passed away at Concord hospital; Planters’ Secretary W. R. B. Thomas went to his rest in Namanula hospital at Rabaul; and Peter Forster (husband of Nari Campbell) died as a result of burns in Bougainville. . . . May they all rest peacefully. ♦ * * BITS AND PIECES: lan Innes (son of Mr. and Mrs. Allen Innes) and his good wife are receiving showers of congratulations on the birth of twins.

Mrs. Innes was Gwen O’Keefe, of Mel bourne. lan spent his childhood in NG and did a good job in the air during the last war. . . . Dr. and Mrs. Michael Read have returned from England. He takes up a position at the PSA at Mosman. . . . Drummond Thomson, of Numa Numa, Bougainville, is down on leave, spending it in Sydney and Mel bourne. . . . Assistant CLO Watkins hurried back from leave in WA to catch “Bulolo,” only to find he had to cool his heels in Sydney owing to the ship’s sail ing being delayed. . . . Colin Darby shire, of the Moresby Titles Office, is flown on leave with wife and daughter Robin. He aims to return in January. . . . Harry (Red) Murray is in Sydney on leave from Bali plantation, which he manages for Harold Coldham. .

Wally Tait, well-known stevedore from Moresby, is down on a spot of leave.

With boom prices for the copra of their productive island, prosperous Rotu mans are now taking holidays in Suva, The owners of the inter-island ship “Yanawai” (Burns, Philp) had to an nounce that the ship due to leave Suva for Rotuma on September 3, could take no passengers on the return voyage— which includes calls at Vanua Levu and Taveuni ports—because it had been booked out by Rotumans. This means that more than 80 islanders went to Suva The Rev. R. A. Donne, who has been rector of Holy Trinity Pro-Cathedral, Suva, for 3% years, is returning to Aus tralia. Mr. and Mrs. Donne were fare welled by a large gathering at the Parish Hall, when Mr. F. E. M. Warner, People’s Warden, made them a presentation.