He’S Been To Nauru!

Minister’s List of Promises To

Complaining Chiefs

AS reported in April PIM, the Aus tralian Acting Minister for Terri tories went off on a hurried visit to Nauru at the end of March, because it was reported that the Nauru native chiefs proposed to complain to the Trusteeship Council about Australian Administration.

When he returned, about a month later, Mr. Chambers reported that he had made the following promises to the Council of Chiefs: • Construction of 250 houses, work on 12 of which has already begun. • A complete review of the Nauruan system of education, including advanced secondary training. • Clinical examination, in a drive to prevent and wipe out tuberculosis. • Expansion of the training scheme for medical staff and appointment of a dentist. • Review of wages and working con ditions of natives and Europeans. • The island’s sanatorium and lepro sarium to be improved immediately, and the hygiene and sanitation campaigns intensified. • The payment of war damage com pensation to Nauruans to be discussed with the Prime Minister.

The Council of Chiefs undertook not to proceed with their petition to the Trusteeship Council.

Mr. Chambers expressed the opinion that the housing and education systems on the Island were unsatisfactory, sug gesting that Australia was open to censure by the Council. He also said that the term of the present Admini strator, Mr. Ridgway, expires in August.

He said nothing about another appoint ment.

Editorial Note

THE implication apparently is that Mr Ridgway placed Australia in an in vidious position and that this en ergetic Minister, by devoting a whole month of his precious time to an unex pected scamper to Nauru, has saved Australia from embarrassment and censure by the lords of the Trustee Council. The facts are that: (a) the Nauruan natives, as a result of the royal ties they draw from Nauruan phosphate, are among the richest natives in the Pacific: (b) they are exceedingly well treated, and could not sustain any appeal to the UNO instrumentality—which should not be taken too seriously, any way; (c) the spectacle of an Australian Minister grovelling in this way to the Nauruan chiefs is not exactly elevating: and (d) Mr. Ridgway is an experienced officer of good reputation who should not be condemned out of hand by any pere grinating junior Minister who has never had one hour’s practical experience of tropical administration.

Mr. E. V. O’Brien, of Madang, NG, who had a strenuous time during the war, and who has not spared himself in the management of his five plantations since 1945, was taken south bv Mrs. O’Brien in April and placed in Helenie Hospital, Randwick, Sydney, to get attention to a wonky heart. Like many other old timers of the Territories, he refused to believe that the years take toll of every one. It is expected that a few weeks in hospital will put him squarely on his feet again.