The Month In Moresby

From Our Own Correspondent

Port Moresby. April 1.

THE sequel to a tragedy at Wana on November 30, 1950, was heard in the Supreme Court at Port Moresby during March when a young Euro-ean, Derek Massey Layfield, was found guilty of w? 6 Hg was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment without hard labour.

On the morning of the fatality, Layfield, whi was working* for a seismic survev party under comract to thf A™ traSn Ppfrnipnm Pnmnqnv in nf n boX e sc m ow C Ts?d y f,r wa trimpartii “explosives. Several natives were in the craft, and among them was one named Kadiri, suffering from a skin complaint. Noticing that the native was in need of medical treatment Layfield ordered the native coxswain to turn the craft in to the native labour camp. At the time Kadiri was standing near the rail facing the river, and as Layfield passed him when moving along the boat, he said he playfully slapped him on the thigh. Thereupon Kadiri fell into the water and was drowned.

In court native witnesses stated that the European had put both hands between Kadiri’s shoulders and pushed him, which sent him overboard.

Giving judgment, Mr. Justice Bignold said he accepted the evidence of the natives, but also accepted the accused’s statement that there was no hostility or vindictiveness in the action which caused Kadiri’s death. Pronouncing sentence, the judge said he had taken into consideration Layfield’s youth, his good conduct and the nature of the offence, and would

impose the lightest sentence he thought proper. . , , , Territory I ’on?y when

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™^^naren? P increase^to Native at

recent apparent increase in native at on women, A number of these cases have been through the courts £ Port Moresby over the past few months, was said , there were far too many the peace of mind of European resi . .. . . . . . . £°h nc] J d . ecided ask the Admin fto l3ok J nto • the qu p stlon and ake whatever action is necessary, Many people are asking if jail under the present conditions constitutes any real punishment for such offenders. To the native there is little stigma about im prisonment; they regard it merely as “sit down along government.” Tougher conditions for long term offenders might put some fear of jail into their heads, After all, leisurely gardening and the three essentials of native contentment, food, sleep and shelter, are unlikely to be real deterrents to crime, Soon after the Council raised the ques tion of offences under the White Women’s Protection Ordinance, the police an--, nounced an intensification of the drive to stop natives being out at night without a permit from their employees. Emo peans were asked to co-operate by giving on the “pass” the name of the native, the

date for which the permit was effective, and the employer’s name arid address..,. - A request was also made to householders to check their native quarters, yeriodically to ensure that no unauthorised natives were living in them.

Recruiting for t)ae p-ng volunteer Rifles opened at Port Moresby oh March 17, and by the end of the month 54 men had joined the unit, and another eight were waiting for their medical examination. (Continued Next Page.)

For weeks after the first Regular Army members of the regiment arrived in the Territory, nothing much happened. But things changed in early March when a new Commanding Officer, Lt.-Colonel N, P. Maddern suddenly arrived from Aus tralia.

Colonel Maddern says he is more than pleased with the quality of his Port Moresby recruits, and claims their edu cational and physical standards are well above the general average of CMP volun teers in Australia. He is particularly pleased that the average age of his Port

Moresby recruits is only 241 and again this is a great improvement on the com parable level among CMF members. He is still chuckling over the disgust ex pressed by three eighteen-year old ap plicants for enlistment who had to wait for their parents’ consent before they could be enlisted.

He is also getting a lot of satisfaction out of the high enlistment from the Com monwealth Bank staff in Port Moresby. Of the 13 men on the staff nine have joined the regiment.

Recruiting started at Lae on April 7, and at Rabaul will begin on May 5.

Every recruit is signed on as a private, and after three months basic training men will be selected for eventual promo tion to non-commissioned and commis sioned rank. rpHE Pacific Islands Regiment which is A to comprise full-time native troops as part of the Australian Regular Army, is also well started. Major Shields is now recruiting native instructors from among ex-NCO’s, and when they have completed a three months’ refresher course, general recruiting will start. The permanent camp is at Taurama near Port Moresby, on a wartime hospital site where there are plenty of very useful concrete foundations for the permanent campi quarters. These will save a lot of time and materials when construction begins on the permanent camp quarters.

ROUNA HOUSE, which had been run as a guest house, is now a fully licensed hotel, with the name of “Hotel Rouna.”

The licencee is Mrs. Dorothy Wood lands, who before going to Rouna was in charge of the Civil Aviation Mess at Port Moresby. Although the police did not op pose the granting of the license some Moresby residents are wondering if the existence of a roadside hotel will have any effect on the accident rate along the highway from Rouna to Port Moresby. It is not an easy road to negotiate in bad weather, and it is a death trap for indis creet drivers.

PLANTATION people and other Euro pean residents in the Rigo district now have a much improved road system- A Works and Housing team has

been putting in a lot of maintenance on Rigo roads, including one new bridge and repairs to several others. Grading and gravelling has been carried out, and timber stockpiled for routine repairs to bridges in the area.

COMPLIMENTS seldom come the way of the Works and Housing Department, but it is certain to be congratulated on the job done by its diver and ship wright at Pinschhafen, Mr. Jack Childs.

He has been the driving power and the main operator in salvaging a 100-ton floating dock from the harbour bed at Dreger This wartime equipment has been raised, moved to Finschhafen and re conditioned, and is now handling the slip ping of Administration coastal craft from the New Guinea area. Without this dock ships would have to be taken to Rabaul and there get into the queue for repairs at private slipways. Formerly quite a number of small coastal craft were re paired at the Finschhafen naval dock, but these facilities have recently been moved to Manus.

Mr. Childs had so much trouble with crocodiles nosing around when raising the dock, that he built a three-sided mesh cage to work in while under water. That, and a couple of police boys standing by with rifles finally beat the crocs on the occasions when they were particularly curious about the diving operations.

A YOUNG patrol officer, Mr. H. E.

Clarke, returned recently from a trip into uncontrolled territory in the Purari area, with an arrow wound in the head. This apparently was not a serious injury, but later he went into hospital with an attack of scrub typhus probably contracted while on the patrol.

It appears that Mr. Clarke, with five native police and a line of carriers, walked into a clearing where three little hill natives let fly three arrows at the patrol.

One nicked Mr. Clarke’s head but the other two missed their target, perhaps be cause the native police were quicker on manoeuvring tactics.

Now, another patrol under an ex perienced officer, is up in the Purari bow and-arrow country, to contact the wild men of the hills.

Meanwhile, Mr. Clarke has recovered from both the arrow wound and the scrub typhus attack.

DURING March the Territory had a brief visit from a member of the House of Lords, Viscount Bridgeman.

He is a director of the Union Bank of Australia and is making a series of visits to the bank’s branches in New South Wales and Queensland. Over the Easter week-end he took the opportunity to see a bit of Papua and New Guinea. A short visit to Lae, a half-day at a rubber plan tation in the Sogeri district, and a quick run around Port Moresby comprised his programme.

He commented that as a member of the House of Lords he had a special interest in Commonwealth countries, hence his flying trip to the Territory.

THE Port Moresby Advisory Council de cided at its March meeting not to seek statutory powers but to con tinue functioning in an advisory capacity for another year. The discussion on this question was closed to the Press.

The Administrator, Murray, who had been contacted on the matter for his views, attended the meeting and addressed the Council members.

A recommendation was made that Colonel Murray should consider appoint ing additional council members from the suburban areas of the town.

AFTER the very heavy rains during the early part of March mosquitoes have become a pest at Port Moresby.

Normally, the Moresby variety have the good taste to leave people alone in the daytime, but the new crop has no trade union rules and makes non-stop attacks 24 hours a day.

THE Commonwealth Government has called tenders for the construction of an international-standard airport at Malahang to replace the present Lae aerodrome. This will be a major con struction job and it will take at least two years to complete. Malahang is about five miles from Lae. There is to be a runway of 5,700 feet, with an over-run of 200 feet at each end, and a landing area 6,100 feet long and 500 wide.

MR. R. A. COLYER, of Colyer Watson New Guinea, Ltd., made a trip around the Territory during March

in connection with the current plans to develop a Kenaf fibre industry, Mr.

Colyer is working very closely with the Agricultural Department, and has already

made several trips to America to get the latest information on Kenaf growing and processing. On his March survey he was accompanied by Mr. W. L. Sanderson of Elder Smith & Co., the Bridge St. ship ping company, who said that he was just “taking a look around the Islands.” (See article re Kenaf elsewhere in this issue.)

Professor F. M. Keesing, Who Is

the Senior United States Commis sioner on the South Pacific Commis sion, visited the Territory during the latter part of March and early April. He is a world authority on Pacific races, and is Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University, California. Now on a year’s leave from his university post, Professor Keesing is looking into current problems affecting Pacific Island races.

MR. S. ELLIOTT-SMITH was sworn in as Acting District Commissioner for the Northern Division on March 12, and is now tackling the problems aris ing out of the big transfer of native com munities from around Mt. Lamington.

Mr. Elliott-Smith resigned as Deputy Commissioner for Native Affairs in Wes tern Australia, to return to the Terri tory. A pre-war Papuan Administration officer, he retired a few years ago and after a spell growing grapes at Mildura took an appointment in Western Australia.

But apparently the pull of the Territory was too strong, and he is back on his old stamping grounds. He has an extensive knowledge of the Northern Division native communities, and his wide experience will be a tremendous asset in dealing with the very difficult problems which face the Administration in that area.

TIOUR Papuans went to Brisbane from J 1 the Territory last month as guests of the Queensland Red Cross Branch, and to express their people’s thanks for the assistance given to natives w ho suffered in the Mt. Lamington disaster. While on this three-weeks’ visit they were in charge of a former Port Moresby resident, Mr. Tom Gough, who retired from the Territory police force a few months ago. Mr. Gough is now working with the Red Cross in Brisbane, and there is probably no one better fitted to handle the job of looking after the four natives, and seeing that their stay is made both enjoyable and instructive.

The Red Cross arranged to teach their four guests something about Blood Transfusion methods, and generally give them a broad picture of what the Red Cross means in the life of the community. The four Papuans are Elliott Elijah, a Trobriand Islander who has had a very good education, and who distinguished himself by his bravery during the disaster. He was the only native who volunteered to accompany the European rescue parties into the devastated area on that fatal

Sunday. And even when told to go back as it was thought another eruption might occur almost immediately, Elliott refused, saying that if the Europeans were staying, he would stay, too. He did a grand job of work and showed exceptional courage and loyalty in the face of unpredictable danger, and amid scenes of terrible tragedy.

Another member of the party, Timius, is also a very fine type of Papuan. He is a Native Medical Assistant whose work is outstandingly good, and who has earned a lot of well deserved praise from Euro pean medical officers.

When the eruption occurred Timius was working at his Medical Aid Post near Gona, and he immediately hurried to Cape Killerton to help treat casualties brought from the Higatura area, The third member of the party is Lahui Aki of the Hanuabada Red Cross Auxiliary, and the fourth, Willie Gavera.

After the eruption they had a plane trip to the Wairopi evacuee camp to distribute household and personal requirements donated by the Hanuabada Red Cross members.

Professor C. Marshall, of the Depart ment of Geology, Sydney University, re turned to Sydney recently after five weeks in BSI. He organised a survey of BSI mineral resources, undertaken by members of the University Geology School. He thinks that strategically im portant minerals may be found in the Solomons.