Can We Hope to See the End of Wardism

In New Guinea?

WHEN the Sydney jury declared three men not guilty of con spiracy in the Timber Lease case, a certain reflection was cast upon Mr.

E. J. Ward, Australian Minister in charge of the Territories of Papua and New Guinea. Because, if those men were not guilty of conspiracy, an answer is demanded to some pertinent questions connected with Mr. Ward’s handling of the Territories portfolio.

We cannot say more than that, be cause the whole matter appears to be again sub judice—an Australian Royal Commissioner is goinp- to sub ject the circumstances of the alleged Timber Lease to another inquiry, and his investigations may extend into the domain of Territories adminis tration.

But there is no reason why we should not say now, frankly and pointedly, as 1949 opens, that every one connected with Papua and New Guinea is heartily sick of the fumb ling and inefficient administration established by the Chifley-Ward re gime, and hopes sincerely that it will be replaced by something of a dif ferent character before the end of .hundreds of officials in the Territories who have been carry ing on the Administration are not to blame for the conditions there. They necessarily take their inspiration and direction from the top. It is not their

fault if the top is addle-pated, and they are without the guidance of a clear-cut and soundly based policy.

AS soon as the military forces were out of Papua-New Guinea, Mr.

Ward went in with a policy and an organisation which he had been pre paring for at least a year. From 1942 onwards his policy had been clear— it was to kick the Big Firms in the teeth, discourage European enterprise in any shape or form, and subvert all considerations to that of native wel fare. Knowing nothing whatever abou£ tropical administration in a country of most primitive people, he sought advice; but, instead of going to the experienced administration officials and the pioneer Europeans, he shut himself away behind an extraordinary group of scientists, academicians and New Planners— well-meaning and honest but thor oughly impractical people, who were thrilled to the marrow at this unique chance of shaping, for the eager and unchecked Leftist Minister, a new paradise on earth for natives.

At this time (1942-45) most of the European population of Papua and New Guinea were “evacuees” in Australia, living virtually from hand to mouth, awaiting a chance to re turn to their homes, and desperately in need of a little practical Govern ment help and sympathy. The “PIM”

has a vivid memory of that unhappy period. Except that Canberra re luctantly allowed a dole to be paid to these people (“all such allowances must be regarded as a loan, and must be repaid when circumstances per mit”) the Minister deliberately ignored practically every appeal and representation that was made to him.

Mr. Ward, in the manner typical of the professional politician, now would virulently deny this accusation; but the record kept over the black years by Mr. E. A. James and his Pacific Territories Association is there for Mr. Ward’s confusion, if required.

So the new policy and administra tion, when they came into operation in 1945-46, held no surprises—the unfortunate Territorians knew what to expect. The Europeans—simply be cause they were Europeans, and. therefore, in the opinion of Mr. Ward and his New Planners, bred-in-the bone “exploiters”—were readmitted to their own homes with manifest re luctance; private enterprise was sternly discouraged; there was, for perhaps two years, little organised effort towards the rehabilitation of the European victims of the Jap invasion; while all official energy and a truly astonishing amount of Aus tralian taxpayers’ money were avail able without demur for the New Guinea natives, whose post-war con dition, in comparison with what Europeans had suffered, was quite good.

As the years passed, between 1945 and 1948, the rigours of the Wardist

system in New Guinea were modified considerably. That, probably, was due to two things. The Minister, with increasing knowledge, began to see that his full-blooded Socialist set up for Melanesian natives would not work; while the more experienced and better-balanced officials of the Administration slowly but surely got rid of the most objectionable features of the Wardist policy. Conditions are much better to-day than they were, for example, two or three years ago; but we still have with us the Pro duction Control Board system of grabbing all copra, under which the planter is paid from £l5 to £2O per ton under world parity; Government monopoly of coastal shipping, by which most of the Territories’ internal traffic moves; and the one-year system of native labour indenture, which probably is worse than no system at all.

APART altogether from the merits of the Timber Lease cases, the Territories have “had” Mr. Eddie Ward; they view without sympathy, and with a certain amount of cynical amusement, his present political em barrassments; and they see the arrival of another Chifley Minister of Territories (Mr. Chambers) with interest, but without enthusiasm.

In an administrative sense, for at least a year, Papua-New Guinea has been indeed a doleful picture. The post-war development of the Terri tories, in relation to the Wardist policy, had reached in 1947 a stage where consultation on the spot with the Minister seemed imperative. The Administrator, Colonel J. K. Murray, hard-working and sincere, obviously had reached an impasse, created by his honest attempts to implement Wardist plans which simply wouldn’t work. Throughout the Port Moresby departments there was a sense of frustration and defeat—and the situation was not made easier by Canberra’s delay in raising public service emoluments to take care of the fearfully heavy post-war living costs in the Territories.

Mr. Ward should have been in the Territories at the end of 1947. In stead, he remained stubbornly in Sydney and Canberra throughout 1948, trying so hard to avoid the political bomb represented by Jock Garden and the Timber Leases that he had no time for the Territories and their irritating troubles. Natur ally, conditions in the Territories have not improved. And the worst of them, perhaps, is the decline in Adminis tration morale.

We know nothing about Mr. Cham bers, the new Minister. He was a dental surgeon before he became a politician, and his experience of tropical Territories was gained when he served as a captain in a medical unit in New Guinea during the war.

If he is an honest politician, he will try to give Papua'-New Guinea a new lease of life by scrapping most of the Wardist policy and encouraging private enterprise in the development of the region. But that is unlikely.

He will not interfere with funda mentals, because Mr. Ward obviously

expects to return to his Territories post, when Judge Ligertwood has finished his inquiry. However, with the skilled assistance of Mr. Halligan —who knows only too well the things that are wrong with the Territories— Mr. Chambers probably will introduce a number of immediate reforms, designed to remove the Territorians’ worst grievances. But Territorians will remain under a cloud so long as Australia is under the ineffable Mr.

Chifley.