Outline Of Australian Policy In Papua-New Guinea

Combined Territory Now Passes On To A New Stage Of Administration

THE Papua and New Guinea Bill, which gives formal authority for the ad ministration, as one unit, of the two Territories named, was rushed through the short February-March Ses sion of the Australian Parliament, and is to become law almost immediateiv.

This means that the Provisional Admin istration, which has functioned since June 24, 1946, Will end, and the combined Territory now will have the same cons.i tutionai and legal status as was enjoyed by the separate Territories of Papua and New Guinea prior to the Japanese in vasion of January, 1942.

It may be recorded, as a matter of in terest, that the Administrations of both Territories were suspended on February 12, 1942; that they were under Military Administration until 1945, when all Papua, and that part of the New Guinea main land south of the Markham River, were restored to Provisional Civil Administra tion; and the latter was extended over the balance of New Guinea* on June 24, 1946.

During the past 2 h years, the authority for Australian control over New Guinea has been transferred from the Mandate of the League of Nations issued in 1921, to the Trusteeship of the United Nations, issued in 1948.

It appeared that all the requirements of the new system *nad been made in the Papua-New Guinea Bill which was intro duced to the Australian Parliament in 1948; but some mischievous members ol the Trusteeship Council in 1948 criticised the Bill; and Australia, being extremely sensitive in such matters, withdrew the Bill in December last and altered it in certain directions. It was this amended Bill which was introduced late in Feb ruary, 1949, and passed through Parlia ment on March 10.

IN his second read ng speech, the Acting Minister for External Territories, Mr.

Chambers, made a number of interest ing statements relating to New Guinea, and some explanation of policy (reported below); but the expected fiery debate concerning the administration of the Ter ritories did not take place.

The reason was that the Minister for Territories (Mr. Ward) whose pol cy and administration were to have received very severe criticism, allied with a demand for a Royal Commission of inquiry, is at pre sent himself the subject of an inquiry by another Royal Commission, under Mr. Jus tice Ligertwood, in connection with which the activities of Mr. Ward in relation to the Territories are more or less under review.

The Speaker of the Australian Parlia ment therefore held that any references — especially of a critical nature —to. Mr.

Ward’s administration of the Territories were sub judice, and therefore not per mitted.

This, of course, took all the sting out of the debate and. although some mem bers made thoughtful and constructive re marks on Territories conditions, the dis cussion was generally ignored by the newspapers.

An adequate report of the debate has not been made available to the “PIM” in time for this issue, £ut it is hoped to publish a summary in next issue.

THE Minister explained that in order to meet the criticisms of the Trus teeship Council the following altera tions had been made in the Bill as originally presented to the House: —

(1) Sections 8 and 10 have been re cast to emphasise that although the two Territories will be governed under Ad ministrative Union the identity and status of the Territory of Papua as an Aus tralian possession and the Territory of New Guinea as a Trust Territory shall continue to be maintained. (2) As the majority of the members of the Trusteeship Council felt that there might be a danger of the boundaries of the provinces, for which provision was made in Section 11 of the original Bill, being so defined under that Sect on as to result in the obliteration of the boun daries of the trust territory thus pre judicing the maintenance of its separate identity, the section has been omitted. (3) A suggestion that provision be made for a definite assignment of representa tives in the Legislative Council to the inhabitants of the Trust Territory has been accepted and is embodied in Section 36 (4) of the present Bill.

THE Minister, in leading up to an ex planation of policy in relation to Papua-New Guinea said: “I quote these basic objectives as set out under Article 76 of the Charter of the United Nations: “(a) to further internat ; onal peace and security; “(b) to promote the political, economic, social and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the trust territories, and their progressive development towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circum stances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, and as may be pro vided by the terms of each trusteeship agreement; “(c) to encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion, and to encourage recognition of the interdependence of the peoples of the world; ana “(d) to ensure equal treatment in social, economic, and commercial matters for all Members of the United Nations and their nationals, and also equal treatment for the latter in the administration of jus tice, without prejudice to the, attainment of the foregoing objectives and subject to the provisions of Article 80.

“The present Bill is designed to effect an Administrative Union between the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea and to provide a permanent Administration for these Territories which will in future be called the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. . . .

“Apart from the provision relating to the Trusteeship Agreement the present Bill follows in principle the Paoua Act and the New Guinea Act under which the former separate administrations func tioned and performed notable achieve ments within the limits of the finances that were available to them.

“mHESE are, however, significant de- X partures from the provisions of those Acts, the principal of which are: — » Part IV—Division 3 —Provis on for the establishment of Councils for Native Matters and Native Village Councils. • Part V —Division 2—Provision in the Legislative Council for three non official members to be elected and for three non-official native members to be nominated. (The Legislative Councils of the former Territory of Papua and the

Territory of New Guinea comprised only nominated members and no special provision was made for native members). —Division 3—lnterim Legislative powers of the Governor-General. • Part Vll—Special provision for pro jects to promote the development of the resources of the Territory or the welfare of its inhabitants. • Part Vlll—Provision for the training of staff for the specialised task of carrying on the Administration of the Territories. . . .

“A step towards the ultimate objective of self government for the inhabitants of the area is being taken in the establish ment of Advisory Councils for Native Matters and Native Village Councils. The latter will be the nursery from which will be drawn the members of the Advisory Councils which will function on a dis trict or perhaps regional basis. In time, the Advisory Councils should provide native members for the Legislative Council which will be empowered to make laws for the Territory.

“The legislative provision for the establishment of village councils and ad visory councils for native matters is some thing entirely new for the Territory and the step has been taken as a result of experiments and trials over some years in the functioning of village councils.

“Since 1936 village councils have beer operating to a very limited extent in New Guinea, mainly round Rabaul, and they have been watched very closely by Administration officers who attended meetings of the councils and guided their deliberations. Village councils have been functioning in Papua for many years.

“As a result of thjat experience it is considered that the time has arrived that provision can be made to vest such coun cils with some statutory authority. This will be done by Ordinance, and it is realised that at the commencement and probably for some time (councils with statutory authority will be possible only to a very limited extent. . . .

“rpHE Legislative Council will not be X constituted for at least one year after the proposed Act comes into opera tion, and during that period Ordinances will be made by the Governor-General in Council.

“The proposed composition of the Legis lative Council will ensure the non-indi genous community of representation either by nomination or election, whilst for the first time the native inhabitants will have direct representation on the body that will make laws for the Territory.

“The judicial system is in line with the practice which obtained in each Ter ritory before the war and which has been continued in the Provis onal Admin istration. There is an important addition, however —namely, provision for the es tablishment of native courts and tribunals. . . .

“It is essential that staff should be ade quately trained for their specialised task of administering a dependent territory and, for the purpose, it is proposed to maintain a school which will meet th s need. . . .

THE repair of destruction caused by the war in the Territory will entail con siderable sums of money. Some of this was forthcoming from the Australian War Damage Scheme, under which com pensation was paid to non-indigenous resi dents of the Territories for loss and damage to property during the war.

Several millions have already been paid in this way and it is anticipated that when final payments have been made for Papua and New Guinea, the amount of war damage compensation will total ap proximately £9,000,000.

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“The natives of the Territory were not included in the Australian War Damage Scheme but, as they had suffered con siderable losses, a special Scheme was devised and funds were provided to enable compensation to be paid to them.

“In addition to the payments made under the Australian War Damage Scheme approval was given as a special measure of assistance for the payment, ex gratia, of additional amounts to cover cost of clearing overgrown plantations and for other purooses that were designed to assist in the rehabilitation of the copra industry.

“It v/as realised that this industry could make a valuable contribution to wards relieving the world shortage of edible fats and oils and the Australian New Guinea Production Control Board was given the task of assisting in the re opening of plantations and the general restoration of this industry.

“Damage caused to plantations during the war is estimated to have reduced the potential output of establ shed plantations and the maximum output of copra from Papua and New Guinea will be about 60,000 tons per annum. Pre-war. the maxi mum output was about 87.000 tons per annum. Current output is already in the vicinity of 45,000 tons. . . .

“Wharves and other harbour installa tions are to be rebuilt, aerodrome facil ties improved, and internal communications systems expanded to meet post-war needs.

The road from the coast at Lae to Wau, which was built for strategic purposes during the war, is being maintained.

“'I7ALUABLE research work is being Y undertaken at Government Agricul tural Research Stations which have been established in the Territories. Ex periments have demonstrated that cocoa, tea, coffee, rice and jute can be culti vated in certain areas.

“At Karavat, near Rabaul, 50 acres of experimental cocoa are under cultivation and tests are being made to determine the most suitable types. Distribution of seed to planters has already started. At this centre other experiments are being carried out in the development of the best

types of vegetables suited to different localities and for distribution amongst the natives.

“At the Agricultural Research Station at Aiyura which is located in the Central Highlands successful experiments have been carried out with the cultivation of tea and coffee, “Tests have also proved that rice can be grown, but research is still proceeding to evolve a type strong enough to withstand mechanised farming, which is believed to be essential to successfully establish the industry.

“The natives are at present in a primltive stage of agricultural development but it is believed that by education and instruction into improved methods of cultivation of such crops as coffee, tea, cocoa, cinchona, rice and fibres they will reach a stage where mutual trade relationships can be established on a profitable basis.

“To promote this development the Department of Agriculture will undertake expansion of existing experimental farms,

the establishment of new ones as areas are developed, stock breeding and an mal husbandry, native training centres and the provision of technical services which will be available to natives and Euro peans alike.

“Investigations have establ.shed that cattle and certain varieties of sheep and horses can also be successfully raised m certain of the Highland areas and fertile river valleys, “ , “rrtHE formation of native co-operative 1 societies is being fostered to assist in the development of native en terprises.

“Education will play a most important part in raising the standards of living and a scheme is now in operation designed to provide an education system adequate to the needs of the natives, “At Sogeri the Education Department has established a centre for the training of native teachers to primary standard in

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a number of subjects which include English, Arithmetic, Geography and Hy giene. Under the supervision of a Euro pean staff the natives will be trained at this centre so that they may return to their native villages to take charge of village schools.

“In addition to training as teachers, natives will also be trained for employ ment in clerical and other positions in the Public Service and industry.

“During 1948 approximately 50 natives completed refresher teachers’ courses and were sent to native schools throughout Papua and New Guinea.

“In the past much of the education oi the natives had been in the hands of the Missions. Our present plans provide for a vigorous programme of education in the broadest sense controlled and directed by the Administration. The Missions have performed very valuable service in the field of education and can continue to do so within the framework of the educa tional programme that is now in opera tion.

“Many natives whose war services ren dered them eligible are receiving training in arts, handicrafts and trades under the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Training Scheme.

EXPANDED and improved health ser vices have been inaugurated, and provision has been made for the ne cessary staff embracing 41 qualified medi cal officers including specialists in leprosy malaria, tuberculosis, venereal disease and other sicknesses common to the tropics.

“Natives are being trained as medi cal assistants, orderlies and hygiene workers at training centres through the Territory.

“It will be seen, therefore, that the Government has put into practical opera tion a policy designed to promote to the

utmost, the material and moral welfare of the inhabitants of Papua and New Guinea.”