fraUaTstoik to stand'

Territories Talk-Talk

By "Tolala"

AUSTRALIAN Minister “Eddie” Ward came out of the NG Timber In quiry without a stain on his family escutcheon. But he certainly had a chip on his shoulder during the passage of the miners’ legislation in the Federal House. * * ♦ ONF rpniiv w to dmiip Pt «orr.P of NE reaiiy nas to smile at some of these publicity stunts nowadays launched QAt artLSf Austrahan Government to off se£ adverse criticism of administration in an ioS^ ir ?f r i??L Q i S ,? lpl ? ient of , cattle was some horses, goats

fraUaTstoik to stand'

Anyone would think that TNG had never known Australian livestock before the war, and that the present authorities were breaking new ground. That is far from being the case. There were some fi iP e .nerds of cattle on many estates in the Madang, New Britain and Bougain vine distncts, before the war. Statistics of ten years ago show total cattle in the Territory of 20,565, horses 1,309, mules 8, sheep 1,293 and goats 9,791. Where’s the experimental stage? * * * AND talking of statistics* In 1Q47 4ft Administration ™ ™r- 8 recentlv ttohsp iS£2 tly m • 1 ? ?°y se ’ nme natives are shown as convicted of sorcery.

Ten years ago, 77 were found guilty of this offence in the Courts for Native cnm . lnal comparisons were: #’i as agail l st }?5 ten yaars ag0 > spre a ding false reports 11 (28), threaten £LJiS a o 10 / U i r i,.. 50 (94) and inde cent at} pint a , i g d oclme indicates a more law native community—or less activity on the part of district patrols in taking

legal action - rm inclined to think the latter is the reason. * * * COMPARISONS are odious; but it is in- V teresting to get a glimpse at the cock-eyed trade of the Territory, and explain the economic set-up as it is at Present. In the good old days of 1937-38, Jemtory imported goods to the tune of and exported copra, gpld and other island products totalling £2,980,360. leaving a nice favourable trade balance of £1,369,393. In 1947-48, the story changes: Imports were valued at £3,105,098, and exports only £1,927,075—a balance on the wrong side of the ledger of . , Not so hot! Gold bullion exported for those periods totalled 410,058 oz. and 126,092 oz. respectively . . .Yes, com P arisons are odious - aren,,; the y ? * * * /\NE Sydney paper, publishing the gold v/ figures, showed them as 126,092,025 oz in the ’47-48 period, valued at £A815,570! Cheap golcf, eh? The decimal point, had become a comma—which would be a bit misleading for those earnest UNO representatives studying the report and accustomed to the metric system. * * * . a . , .. . .. AS a result of a letter from the Tanga Group—off the east coast of N. Ireu- land—Deputy Opposition Leader g arrison had something to say in the JJouse at Canberra about the “Cargo Cults” flourishing in Australia’s Trustee Territory. He suggested that Government should take action to nrotect the lives of whites up there P llves 01 Strange, how dangers vary in those Isles of the Blest, as the years roll on. in several of these island groups off N. Ireland’s east coast, 40 or so years ago th c biggest risk a white man ran was in being kidnapped by some of those hefty island females (whose numbers far exceeded the male population) and kept in

durance vile (?) for mating purposes, That would have been an interesting point for an Opposition Member to raise * n the Australian Parliament of those

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was no polwlot UNO S then to critic!se what governments dM or dft not do wnat governments am or aia not do. . a . * T NOTICE that recordings have been 1 made by the ABC Moresby station of some “sing-sings” around Rabaul. It is to be hoped that the recordings include that old-time sing-sing known as the '‘Solomon Islands dance.” The harmony in the chanting is certainly delightful. The best exponents in the pre-war years were the Matupi natives, who are—or were— wa» ‘heir melody-making. * * * i|NE of Minister Ward’s first jobs, now V/ he is back in office after the Timber Inquiry, will no doubt be to iron out some of the “anomalies” (good old new fashioned phrase for anything resembling a whinge) put forward by the Moresby Public Service representatives, who flew down to Canberra to put their case to act ing Minister Chambers. He “wanted to do all he could to help the delegation get satisfaction,” so the report goes. And that meant, no doubt, keeping the file for Eddie to deal with. If rumours are right it will not surprise me to see that the delegates get some satisfaction from Eddie.

It would be well-earned, * * WHAT with the coal strike and one ▼▼ thing and another, it is quite on the „ r cards that some Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford will work up the idea of floating a company to exploit the coal deposits in the Namatanai area of New Irelal “!* But Australian workers would probably declare it black,

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HARRY JACKMAN and Grainger Morris, Patrol Officers, are studying co-operative technique in Australia to pass on to their charges in the Territories at a later date. Report has it that 83 native co-operative societies have already been established. A spokesman says the formation of these societies will “teach the native to grow cash crops, like copra and hemp, and thus help the population realise the vast commercial possibilities of NG for themselves.” . .» . Yes. That’s the sort of blah that critical Soviet re presentatives will swallow . . . Perhaps. * * ♦ THE news of the sale of the SID Com pany, in the British Solomon Islands will come as a shock to some of the few old-timers who remember places like Berande and Manning Straits in their hey-day; and, despite change of owner ship, the shades of old managers like Jim Campbell, Phil Shelley, Alan Campbell and Robbie” will probably haunt the foreshores for many a year to come.

Berande was made famous first by that hospitable pair, Darbyshire and Harding, and later by Jack London, when he blew into the group in the “Snark,” and was inspired to write “Adventure.” . . , The Solomons without the SID will be like Sydney without the GPO. * * * lATEST target for Russia’s criticism at i UNO of Australia’s administration in the Pacific is Nauru, where ex ploitation of phosphate workers takes place “in the most slavish human con ditions.” Poppycock, of course! but it influences Australia’s policy in these Trustee Territories to counteract such charges, even though there’s not an lota of truth in them. The Australian Gov ernment is far too sensitive to this sort

of calculated criticism. Trouble is that Australia’s poor private enterprise has to pay the price of these palliative policies. * * * BITS and Pieces: Richard Chugg, the well-known Australian flautist, who has been heard over the ABC re cently with Raphael Kubelik, is a brother of R. C. Chugg, of the Territories Health Department . . .Commander A. W. R.

McNicoll, GM, son of the late Sir Walter, has been promoted to the rank of Captain . . . Leslie Anderson passed away at Cawa, Nadi, Fiji, on June 12.