Hogmanay At

Mendi -

P-Ng Style

From Our Own Correspondent

Moresby, Jan. 30

ANOTHER fine job of work was done by District Services staff near Mendi Station (in the Southern Highlands) on New Year’s Eve.

Just as the District Commis sioner, J. S. McLeod, was doubtless thinking of living up to his name by celebrating New Year’s Eve in traditional Scots fashion, word came through that over 200 Mendi natives were engaged in a ceremony ante dating the Scottish practices by several centuries.

In short, they were “mixing it” with bows and arrows, and a pretty lively battle was in progress.

With a patrol of 14 native police, the DC hurried to the scene. There tie left half his force to guard a juickly established camp, while he ;ook the rest down to within forty pards of the 250 fighting natives.

Immediately, arrows commenced lying in the direction of Mr.

McLeod and his party; while, back it the camp, another group of Mendi lads attacked the camp juard.

The attackers on the main battle ield had shrewdly taken up a neat, iefensive position behind a garden ’ence of pit-pit, and to protect hemselves the patrol had to open ire. Then, as the pit-pit screen nade it impossible for Mr. McLeod ;o gauge the intentions of the ittackers, he took the patrol back o the camp, where the native police ;uard had successfully fought off he raiding party. The latter had ■etreated after one of their group lad been injured by police fire.

Anything might have happened he next day, for the stage was set or trouble. But the District Ser rices habit is to resolve seemingly nevitable violence by peaceful neans. With the right degree of ourage. diplomacy, tact and shrewd nowledge of the primitive mind, Jr. McLeod, like many other DS nen before him, soon had the ormer combatants sending in teace offerings of pigs; and a little ater he got the ringleaders from ioth sides to sit down in confer nce under his wary eye. The affair nded in a truce, and compensa ion payments between the warring tarties (with no animosity against he government for the unavoidable rounding of five natives), and ettlement of the original land dis inte which had. precipitated the ribal fight.

The government has been estab ished in the Mendi district only

about eighteen months —not long enough for the natives to have fore gone their age-old method of sett ling disputes in tribal clashes. The New Year’s Eve incident will help them to realise that the old order must go.

The incident itself was not re markable. What perhaps is not ap preciated, either in Australia or abroad, is the good work being done by Australians of the District Ser vices Department under extremely difficult circumstances. It is time the Commonwealth edged some of its overseas critics off the publicity stage by letting the world know just what is happening in the much publicized “under-developed” areas of New Guinea. If Australia’s record in these newly opened regions were

better known it would cut the ground from under noisy and unin formed criticism.

Miss Dorothy Kearsley of Suva, Fiji, was in Sydney in January en route to the UK for a holiday, Mr. S. Pratap, a Suva merchant and a well-known member of the younger section of the Fiji-Indian community, has accepted the post of General Secretary of the Indian Association of Fiji. It is believed that this organisation intends to use its influence to assist the Government of Fiji in creating a happier relationship between the three large communities in the Colony—Fijians, Indians and Euro peans.