Success Of P-Ng’S New Council

Encouraging Signs As Seen in Retrospect

From a Special Correspondent

P. Moresby, Dec. 12.

HHE first session of the Papua and L New Guinea Legislative Coun cil, which opened on Nov. 26 id extended over two weeks, proved lat even a miser’s portion of demo racy is superior to the best-inten oned bureaucratic government.

The three elected and three non- Eficial nominated members got in >me valuable work. Although, on le sheer weight of numbers they )uld actually change nothing pro- Dsed by the Administration, they illed the officials to account on umerous matters.

Mr. E. A. James, elected member >r Papua, made it quite clear at le official opening that he and' his mtemporaries regarded themselves 5 the official Opposition, and would mtinue to press for more elected lembers.

But there was nothing bitter or :rimonious about the debates, al lough their general tenure made very obvious that the non-official embers strongly disagreed with the ■overnment on many matters.

The working of the Council meant lat for the first time since the war le general public, through its rivate members, could require the dministration to disclose facts and gures on its various activities. The uswers in some cases were neither ) comprehensive nor as frank as mid have been desired: but we iust remember that the Adminis ■ation had had little time to get ito gear for the session and, irough lack of legislative ex erience. had scant knowledge of hat might be required. Neither *ason will be a factor at the next jssion.

Stabilisation For Rubber

Papuan rubber-growers may be Dngratulated on the formation of ae Council, for their spokesman.

Ir. Fairfax-Ross, was responsible Dr diverting a third of the new libber export tariff into a Rubber Reserve Fund. Since the Treasurer stimates that the new tariff will ield £60,000 a year, Mr. Fairfax toss salvaged a cool £20,000 an ually for the industry. His speech n the rubber industry displayed ppreciation of sound debating tac ics, and won Administration sup ort for his Rubber Reserve Fund mendment.

In these days when Tax-Collector leeve is looking twice at every hilling, and necessarily looking for acre internal revenue, it is no small ictory to skin £20,000 a year out of iis prospective harvest.

As Mr. Fairfax-Ross emphasised n his speech, such a Fund may well ►e needed to keep rubber-growing m a sound basis when the present ligh level of prices tapers off.

Non-Official Watchdogs

Mr. James quickly assumed the role of financial watchdog and strongly contested the Administra tion’s right to impose additional taxation without disclosing the Ter ritory’s over-all financial standing.

He did not get the whole of the information sought, but he did wring a few somewhat embarrassing figures from the Government mem bers. Undoubtedly, he will be even more searching in his questions when the Territory budget comes up for debate.

Mr. D. Barrett, member for New Guinea Islands, did an excellent job for the planters generally, and also had a lot to say on both gen eral Territory matters and specific problems in his own electorate.

Mi’s. D. Booth was curt and con cise in her statements, and achieved

the unusual parliamentary feat of ending her comments while her listeners were still pleasantly will ing to hear more. Out of all the members in the Chamber she tailored her statements to the mini mum number of words.

Native Apprentices

Several Government members were kept busy piloting Bills through the Chamber, most of them machinery legislation replacing old Ordinances which differed as bet ween the two Territories —Papua and New Guinea.

A long promised piece of legisla tion was passed to facilitate the ap prenticing of natives to skilled trades; and here, as with the Rub ber Tariff Bill, the non-official members got in a very important amendment, which secured out spoken support from some official members. This was on the matter of penalties for offences under the Ordinance.

The original draft laid down a maximum penalty of £25 for em ployers who defaulted on their obli gations under apprenticeship con tracts, but only a £2 maximum for an apprentice.

R is a strongly contested question whether the natives to-day are more cashed up on pound notes than pen nies, but certainly £2 now is no great sum for a native to forfeit.

With casual labour, unskilled, get ting 6/- a day, and only semi-skilled tradesmen jibbing at £l a day, no bright young lad is going to be

kept to his obligations by the pros pect of a £2 penalty.

With some official members vot ing for the amendment the penalty clause was jacked up to £25 maxi mum for both an employer and ar apprentice. That one Counci measure can mean the different between artisans and bungling amateurs in the coming crop o: native tradesmen.

It is a good piece of work for the natives themselves, since clearly with the development of the country, the demand for native tradesmen is going to increase ever above its present hungry level. A well-trained native tradesman wil really be worth good wages, anc these will enable him and his family to move to a higher living standard. But some real deterrenl is necessary if trainees are to avoid the pitfall of being tempted to aban don their apprenticeships for the temporary advantage of deadend jot wages.

It is a moot point whether the amendment would have ever seer the light of day had the Council not been established. The fierce light of hard practicalities has not always penetrated the conference room of the Executive Council, and certainly is often excluded from far away Canberra decisions.

Control Of Cocoa

Plantations

Mr. Barrett, like Mr. Fairfax- Ross, went home with a feather in his cap.

His Bill for the control of the cocoa-growing industry was based on the bitter lesson learned in the vast West African cocoa area.

Briefly, it requires registration of all cocoa growers, and puts a 500-trees limit on each registered plot. This means that the Agricultural De partment will really know where every cocoa tree is growing and can check on any disease. It outlaws half-forgotten isolated trees which might breed a disastrous disease before anything was known about the threat.

Some native growers may have to increase their holdings, or combine with others as part of a registered group, but that Is a small insurance policy against possible destruction of a highly valuable and fast-grow ing industry.

To Retain Territories

Ships

A Shipping Bill was passed to give the Administration some control over the sale of Territory ships.

This Ordinance requires that the Administrator’s consent must be obtained before any Territory owned or controlled ship can be sold to persons or interests outside the Australian Commonwealth or its Territories. The penalty clauses put teeth into the legislation, for an attempt at making an un authorised sale, or actual sale without consent, can bring a penalty of up to £5,000, and for the person or persons actually removing or at

apting to remove a ship there a maximum of two years’ imsonment.

Permission to sell a ship beyond stralia or its Territories may be used bv the Administrator.

The Native Members

•rnhahlv not pven the most int devotee of native renresenta-

Simogun 'SAgZ

irffl. s

native session where, they would th^HSm ae Twr I .iSSSR le h2 n « wlsdom native representation. ’he third indigenous member, rari Dickson, was obviously well advance of his two contemaries; but regrettably his stay Port Moresby was not featured any radio talk to his “constints” whereby they might have •ned from a member of their own e what all this government busis meant. imogun did not speak one word ouehout the session ougnout me session. alin made a short speech in the nmg ceremonies, and he spoke my later on, when supporting

Dickson on the need for better edu cation of natives, Merari Dickson’s speech on the education of natives was quite im pressive. He said that only a few natives thought of education as something beyond the mere ability to read and write—they did not see it; the £ atewa y to the professions 2? d to self-government. He urged Ms"

andTotor^hips^ 5 ' °do

Sssrs

themselves v and govern No "one bothered to point out to r °f self-government; that the Anglo- Saxon races have served an appren ticeship to self-government extend ing over 1,000 years, and that that apprenticeship necessarily developed out of literacy extending over many centuries.

The Legislative Council structure, so hurriedly prepared and erected. creaked and staggered at times in an embarrassing way, But the great point about it is that it functioned; that its imper factions can be removed; and that at lon & last !t P r °vides a medium tor bet ter understanding between the official and non-official classes, with whom the fate of this Territory rests.