The Editors' Mailbag

The ‘Tonks’ of NH

A resident of Santo writes afigrily to say that the conduct of the Ton kinese in New Hebrides is “scan dalous.” He says that the Adminis tration knows that they sell alcohol to the natives, that they overcharge for their jeeps, and that they rob the natives in their shops, but nothing is done about it. Our correspondent adds that some attention should be given to the report that Europeans have financially assisted Tonkinese to establish themselves in some of the more notorious places of busi ness.

Simple Solution!

We like the solution of the Fiji- Indian problem offered by Lau planter, J. S. K. Borron, in a note received recently.

“They say that the Indian birth rate is the trouble,” he writes. “In Australia, to encourage the birthrate, they pay a bonus for every child beyond one. Why not, in Fiji, dis courage the birthrate by placing a tax on every Indian family for every child over one or two?”

Should be simple—and effective.

Useful Territorians

A note from Brisbane:—Here just now, on long leave after 17 years with Papuan and New Guinea Administrations, is Police Inspector (Captain) Ron C. Clammer, who collected a DCM and MM in World War I. During World War II he established and ran training depots for police at Edie Creek, Bena Bena (Highlands) and Bisiatabu (back of Moresby).

At the Fiji-Queensland football match Ron met New Irelander Tom Boski, one of Education Director Bill Groves’s best native helpers.

Tom is here for special medical treatment.

A Coffee Absurdity

To-day, I paid 8/- per pound for coffee and, in quality, it is not in the same street as the coffee grown and ground at the Catholic Mission Station on Yule Island, Papua (writes an old Territorian, now liv ing in Australia). When are the Canberra Moguls going to produce, instead of hot air, enough Papua- New Guinea coffee to meet Aus tralia’s requirements? Why fight to

get overseas exchange to buy coffee when all the coffee we need can be grown in our own Territories? It’s a mad world!

Addresses Wanted

Does anyone know the present address of Bob Corney, once well known on the minefields of Papua, or of W. T. Hughes who, a long time ago, was ARM at Samarai, Cape Nelson, and elsewhere? If so, PIM would be glad to pass the ad dresses on to a writer, who wants their help in checking old-time facts.

We believe that both men are alive and well, somewhere.

The Catch in Papua Rubber

A reader writes happily from Moresby to point out that the arrival of a Malayan rubber expert to ex amine Papuan plantations indicates that Canberra is really serious about encouraging Papua’s senior industry.

One cannot help quoting Captain A. S. Fitch, Papuan rubber pioneer who, in a letter in Sydney Morning Herald of August 1, aptly suggests that if the Government wants to get a dividend out of the cost of bring ing an expert from Singapore, it should start by wiping out that in iquitous export tax on Papuan rubber of one penny per pound for every 6d over 2/6 per pound in the sale price. He also suggests that re ceipts from rubber should rank with gold insofar that they should be free from income tax.

Under present conditions, Aus tralia is not likely to find investors wildly enthusiastic about rubber pro duction in Papua.

Federation for Defence

The( French Judge in the New Hebrides Condominium, M. Philippe Comte, was a little surprised to see, on page 110 of the June PIM, a summary of personal opinions he had expressed in a conversation with two French friends in Sydney—he did not know these statements had been reported. Actually, they were published in a Sydney newspaper and, as they were unusually inter esting—especially on the subject of the future defence of the Pacific— they were summarised for publica tion in PIM.

M. Comte says his opinions were correctly reported, but he wishes it

made very clear that he spoke as a private person, and not in any way as a representative of the Condo minium Government. In the article we said: “He (Judge Comte) advo cated a Federation of all European nations with possessions in the Pac ific.” Apropos of this, M. Comte writes: “I have been for a long time a strong advocate of a European Federation in the widest sense of the word. But in this case I spoke of a much more modest problem—that of a Federation, or Federal Organisa tion, including all Pacific Territories of European Powers.”

Plan and Develop—or Else!

“I do hope our new Governor is the strong man we have been wait ing for for so long,” writes a rathei depressed coconut planter from Fiji, “Why cannot we have some real development in this Colony? W« want better harbour facilities, better hospitals, more roads, more encour agement of primary production, in cluding rice and green vegetables Even if we have a population of half a million in 20 years, everything will be all right if only administrat ive and commercial interests will plan wisely now.

“It’s all nonsense to say that Aus tralia cannot support 20 millions and New Zealand 5 millions, anc Fiji a million—it can be done, ii only the politicians and civil servants will start planning now. If the} don’t do it, the Chinese and thf Japanese will come swarming dowr over these empty spaces, and wil show us that these lands can suppotf not 10 millions but 200 millions!

“Why don’t we wake up?”

Flogging Called For

“Too many offences of the ‘peep ing tom’ variety, by natives agains white women, have been reported ir recent months,” writes an old resi dent of Papua. “Magistrate Sanson] has just committed, for sentence, £ native who had been convicted of ar offence, gaoled, and then returned tc his village, and forbidden to retun to any town area. The police pickec him up, working as a domestic a Five-Mile, a Moresby suburb. He i; a bad type.

“Officialdom has been far too easy with native offenders in recent years< and, in the same period, native crime has much increased, and the ‘coons’ themselves have become much cheekier. There is only one punishi ment for such types—flogging, ano sound flogging.

“It is bad enough that these dainty officials of the post-war period shoulo

treat the primitive native offenders as if they were white men, and give them merely a well-fed term in gaol; but it is far worse when such weak ness and ignorance expose our wives and daughters to such types. Gaol means nothing to them; but prompt treatment with a good whip will soon put a stop, not only to the ‘peeping toms,’ but to this growing army of petty thieves.

“There has been a serious growth in petty crime lately in Moresby, Lae and Rabaul, and we old residents are getting restive. A bad type of native criminal, who finally received the death sentence for sex crimes, has been kept in Bomana Gaol for six months, ‘awaiting the Administrator’s pleasure.’ Failure to deal with his case does not make the task of our police and judges any easier.”