Invaluable Ex-Army Equipment Lost In New Guinea
pp. 55-57 · Read in the full issue
Labour Senator Is Critical of Administration
Constructive criticism of conditions in Papua-New Guinea was made in the Senate of the Australian Parlia ment, by Senator Reg Murray, of Tas mania, during the debate on the Papua- New Guinea Bill. Senator Murray has spent a good deal of time in New Guinea —he commanded a small ship there dur ing World War 11. He is particularly critical of the failure of the government to acquire from the Army, after the war, equipment that would have been most valuable in the work of the rehabilitation and development of the Territories.
The speech was lengthy. The following are noteworthy extracts.
PAPUA and New Guinea have grown in importance, not only from the point of view of defence but also from an economic point of view. I see no reason why the two territories should not even tually become the seventh State of the Commonwealth. New Guinea is one of the largest islands in the world and its strategic importance to this continent is obvious. In World War 11, at Madang and Alexishafen, I saw the Allied fleets assembled in preparation for the invasion of the Philippines. Those fleets, which consisted of hundreds of units, were com fortably accommodated in the harbours in that area.
I intend to be somewhat critical of the present administration of both Papua and New Guinea. I base my criticism on evidence which I gained at first hand dur ing my visits to those areas. They were not fly-by-night visits by air. During the period of my war service in those areas I had the opportunity, whilst serv
ing on small ships, to study conditions from the Fly River right up to Hollandia.
The impression I gained of the present administration of postal and telephonic communications was most unfavourable.
During the war all those facilities were organised and controlled by the military authorities. At present, however, postal and telephonic facilities in both Papua and New Guinea are restricted, being staffed by a few European and native officers under the direction of the Treasury. Postal and customs facilities are administered on a joint basis. Tele phone services in Papua are very limited.
Only one European officer is employed part-time on the telephone services.
After the war, two experts of the Postal Department were sent to New Guinea to organise postal and radio communications and they presented a very sound report.
They established schools at Port Moresby and other centres for the training of natives as linesmen and for other post office work. The natives proved to be adaptable and rapidly became efficient.
However, the communications organisa tion is now under the control of the local administration instead of that of the Postal Department, and has become loose, haphazard, and inefficient. The telegraph services are functioning under the direc tion of the Treasury. That is a remakable state of affairs, considering the technical nature of the work involved and the very high degree of skill and knowledge re quired to organise and direct a tele communications service. The treasurers of both territory administrations have been appointed as chief postmasters, and they exercise full control of postal and telephone services within their areas.
THE entire system of communications was maintained by the Australian Corps of Signals before civil administration was restored, with army equipment and facilities. As soon as the Army moved out. a chaotic situation arose with regard to stores and equipment. Neither the Com monwealth Disposals Commission nor the administration had enough technical officers to check defence equipment that was available for use by the administra tion. Because of that, the administration sacrificed a wonderful opportunity to ac quire large quantities of equipment and materials that could have been used in the territory.
I have seen valuable technical equip ment abandoned in the jungle to the ravages of the tropical climate, deteriorat ing rapidly because of the absence of protective cover. Large concentrations of mechanical equipment, including bull dozers and even small ships, were left be hind by the troops. There seemed to be no co-ordinated effort by the authorities to collect and make use of such valuable material.
The Commonwealth Disposals Commis sion or whatever body was responsible let the Commonwealth down very badly by neglecting to ensure that all such equip ment would be made available, as soon as the war ended, to the New Guinea ad ministration or to people who could have used it for the development of their properties in the territory.
Much valuable equipment was lost, stolen or left abandoned where climatic conditions caused such deterioration as to render a great deal of apparatus and plant useless before recovery could be effected. Many of the items that were collected were sold to commercial in terests, principally because the adminis tration was not aware that they were available. Burns Philp and Co., W. R.
Carpenter and Co., and other trading
S w^ nS kvfua S ble Wa and° f rehabilitate their plantations, seat representatives to the ter. Kory and actually t^i slands bef s re armed tion was not seised wih the importance of getting to work Quickly and the commercial enterprises acovlred mlllions Ol of Ss worth or at a m«S fra?tion of its o v iginal cost I could direct honorable senators to huge dumps of marine stores including anchor
Xffi clble in 4 pipfn- tanks
and goodness knows what’ else ’
When the narliamentarv delation to Japan visited Finschhafen in August last year I ss.w couipmcnt which could have been taken over by the administration and used for the benefit of the territory, still deteriorating in the jungle. . . . , . . . „ HERE has been a lack of planning for the rehabilita+ion of New Guinea. I am not attacking Mr. Ward on that account. I am merely referring to things that have happened. No Minister could
efflcienS wKhou!
visiting the terrltOTV and seS mndl l
tions for himself or sending res-tmSble
representative as observere on his Slf
Iphiss
r\ « * One of the principal weaknesses of the administration of New Guinea and Papua , at arises from the lack of pro- Sessional officers. Key executive men with Wlde ex P erien oe of public administration, accounting procedure and engineering are bacUy needed - The lack of knowledge of P ublic wo'ks engineering in the territory deplorable. A great deal of reconstrucc }s n f in the 190,000 square uiilcs of Now Guinea, and we need the services of the best available men to expedite the work.
Many major war-time instahations cm Id have been absorbed by the civil administration for its own purposes For instance, large stores and barracks could have been used to provide accommodation for labour forces. A plan should have been prepared before the war ended so
that surplus native labour which had been engaged by the Army could have been diverted to civil reconstruction. The work could have been undertaken as soon as hostilities ended.
I have received disquieting information concerning the organisation of the police force. The training of an efficient native force requires a great deal of knowledge of the natives and their conditions and the ability to command natives effi ciently. ... A minor police official from South Australia was sent to the territory and he immediately promoted himself to the rank of full colonel. He also condes cended to grant the rank of lieutenant to his two subordinate officers, who had been working in New Guinea for many years. Appointments of that kind indicate a weakness in the administra ion.
The native police boys in New Guinea are very efficient. They understand local conditions and have done a remarkably good job.
I have been informed bv correspondents that there is a considerable degree of un rest and dissatisfaction in New Guinea as the result of some appointments that have been made to the administration.
IN matters relating to staff welfare generally, the administration has been weak and little interest has been shown in morale or the provision of amenities for Europeans. The Adminis trator at least should have the right to hire and fire. He does not exercise that prerogative at present. We must have in New Guinea men who have the ability to get on with some of those jobs.
I have had some experience with the New Guinea natives, and, although many Of them have a knowledge of pidgin- English, the language most used by the Papuans is Motuan. With a little prac tice, one can get by with ridgin, but Motuan is a separate language.
The natives are of high intelligence, and are capable of acquiring knowledge rapidly. We should get away from the idea that they are merely “fuzzy-wuzzies” who did a good war-time job. With skilled training, they could be of great assistance.
It is only right that they should be given a certain measure of self-government. Not only are there to be native village coun cils to safeguard the welfare of the natives, but also the Legislative Council is to have three non-official native mem bers.
There is an urgent need for proper co ordination of aerial and marine transport.
It must be borne in mind that there are scarcely any roads, and no railways The missionaries have done a fine job in New Guinea. They have improved the health of the natives and endeavoured to educate them. The spiritual guidance and material assistance provided for the natives have also been very considerable.
The zeal and promptitude of the mission aries, who were quickly on the job as soon as the military authorities vacated any particular area, provided a lesson in effi cient administration. They have made the maximum use of abandoned materials.
They obtained some fine small craft, which served to replace many of their old vessels, and they were able to pur chase a number of Army landing barges, which are particularly useful to them.
THERE are tremendous potentialities in New Guinea and in Papua, parti cularly the areas around Port Moresby, Samarai and Milne Bay.
Samarai is the “pearl of the Pacific,” and during the war it was used as a rest and rehabilitation centre for the United States servicemen. Milne Bay has one of the finest ancnorages in New Guinea.
Everyone knows of the importance of gold in New Guinea, but it is not generally known that just inside Dutch New Guinea, 4,000 barrels of oil are produced daily from one area. Any one who is familiar with the topography of Borneo and the Malayan Archipelago must realise that New Guinea is located in one of the world’s greatest oil belts, and I forecast that in future years discoveries of oil will be made in New Guinea that will prove of tremendous importance to Aus tralia.
On the island of Karkar some of the finest cocoa in the world is grown. Kapok, which went off the market during the war, is now being produced near Madang, and in the vicinity of the Rai coast.
Rubber, which is also an important strate gic material, is being grown in the vicinity of Port Moresby. With co-ordinated con trol I think that we could eventually make ourselves independent of overseas sup pliers of strategic materials. One of the finest sources of potential wealth in New Guinea is the Bena Bena Plateau in the hinterland, situated at a height of 4,000 feet. Potatoes, English roses and gladioli flourish.
A great pest is the gaint snail, which was brought to New Guinea by the Japanese during the war to provide food for them. This snail at times measures 6 inches to 9 inches across the back, and has a hard shell. If at night time a light is shone in the plantation these creatures can be seen crawling around. They are very hard to eradicate.
New Guinea is very similar to Ceylon and I am astounded that more has not been done, particularly in the higher al titudes, to grow tea. Some years ago, the Australian Government brought a tea ex pert from Ceylon. I should like to know the result of his efforts, and where he is now.
In my opinion, there are excellent op portunities for the re-establishment of ex-servicemen there. Many have already been established on the land, and in busi ftpss in Australia. I consider that some )f the plantations offer excellent prospects
for a very good and comfortable living for ex-servicemen, provided, of course, that plantations have been surveyed and got ready for them. Whilst some areas in New Guinea are very unhealthy, others are not as hot as north Queensland.
The re-organisation of the two terri tories should take place as soon as this measure becomes law. There should be co-ordination of control. If there had been a co-ordinative plan, blue-printed and ready to be put into operation as the Army moved out of New Guinea, mil lions of pounds’ worth of valuable equip ment and gear that was lying in the jungles could have been utilised in hospi
tals and for rehabilitation purposes. That would have been preferable to allowing that equipment to become the property of the highest bidder, and to those who had the foresight to send men to New Guinea to “pick the eyes out” of what was avail able before the Army moved out. We are now actually forwarding to New Guinea goods similar to those that have been allowed to be overgrown by the jungle.
Mr. and Mrs. W. Christian have left Norfolk Island for NZ on their way back to Pitcairn Island.