In Defence Of The
pp. 45-47 · Read in the full issue
Small Ships
(A Letter to the Editor) DURING recent years, criticism has been directed at the small ships operating in the Papua- New Guinea area. By way of a change, something may be said in favour of these vessels. At the risk of appearing peculiar, I will attempt to justify the existence of the ships emploved in clearing the Papua- New Guinea plantations.
I have been closely associated with small ships in this area for six years, and have commanded several. I can present an angle that has too often been disregarded.
While a considerable number of the Europeans employed in these vessels are Southerners, with no great interest in the Territory, the majority of them are genuine Aus tralians, prepared to do their job as well as they are able, with the means at their disposal. Nobody is more concerned than these men that the facilities are not all that could be desired.
The planter’s main worry is the accumulation of copra at the plantations. He should remember that many of these vessels were taken over from the Armed Forces and, in order to assist the planters in their rehabilitation, were operated (at freight rates which originally were so low as to be al most ridiculous) far beyond their capabilities. I know of one vessel, powered by a Ruston Hornsby engine, which by the maker’s directions, must be overhauled every 2,500 hours, which has more than 7,000 operating hours to her credit, and is still not able to lay up for an overhaul. Under such conditions, an engine may surely be forgiven if it refuses to function perfectly, and results in the laying up of the vessel.
I would like to draw the attention of the planters to the fact that men are hard at work aboard this vessel (to quote her as an example) both on deck, and in the engine room, in order that she may remain in operation, and assist the planters to get rid of their copra.
DAMAGE by seawater appears to be another bugbear of the planters. I have no hesitation in saying that it is most exceptional for copra to be damaged while in si ?}P’ s hold by seawater, and that the “leaky bilges” are, in almost every case, fully controlled by the ship’s pumps. Damage by seawater, while the copra is in the vessel’s surfboats, is another thing a .ud many cases could be con siderably lessened if the planters employed more care in the loading of these boats while they are ashore.
It has been my own experience to witness plantation natives stumbling through the surf and depositing bags of copra which are already wet, into the boats.
Most certainly, the boats leak; and as they are of necessity continually driven aground on coral reefs to load, this is not to be marvelled at.
The point might be brought up here, that a ship is not responsible for her cargo until it is at the ship’s side; but if this ruling was adhered to, very little copra would leave Papua-New Guinea plantations. I am under the impression that it is the responsibility of the planter to get his copra to the ship’s side, and the use of the ship’s boats is a
courtesy, and by no means an obli gation.
W e have inexperienced native labour aboard ships, and consequent mishandling of winches and boats.
Incompetent labour is a condition general in the Territory at present, and is by no means confined to ships. Little reflection shows that a Sepik Kanaka cannot be trans formed, in the narrow radius of time allowed by the Native Labour Ordinance, into an expert winch boy or seaman. Every planter has his own troubles in this regard.
T ACK of consideration is shown by 1j most planters to the masters of vessels, in regard to the mark ing of reefs in their anchorages.
Most plantation anchorages are en cumbered with reefs, and in the majority of cases, planters disregard the efforts of a vessel attempting to enter their anchorage, even though the vessel may obviously be in difficulties. But they are only too ready to complain, should the ship depart for a better-marked or safer anchorage. I have, on more than one occasion, arrived off a plan tation after dark, and have been forced to lie off and on all night in full view of the planter, when canoes with lights aboard could easily have shown me the way in.
This is not true in every case. Some planters mark their passages most carefully, but it is the exception rather than the rule.
I do not wish to argue that the Papua - New Guinea Shipping Service is a model of efficiency. But I am endeavouring to dull the barbs levelled at it by planters who are only too ready to criticise—and not constructively—the efforts of an overworked and poorly equipped arganisation.
Many planters, owing to high prices of island produce, are at a peak of success to which they are not accustomed, and may have ob tained, as a result, a distorted view of Islands events. It would do no harm were they to reflect upon just how much of their prosperity is due to the efforts of the men who bring them their ships, inadequate though
the service may be.
I am, etc.,