Territories Talk-Talk

By Tolala

cenic Abominations

The type of tropical toilets otting the Western Samoan sea lore, as depicted in the photograph i Mav FIM (p. 23), first caught iy eye as the BP boat made up to le wharf at Samarai, Papua, and jurists, hanging over the rail to Imire this beauty spot (The Pearl : the Pacific, I think it was called iem. asked: “But what are all lose funny little house over le water?” This was some years ;fore Doc Lambert (God rest his iuli launched his anti-hookworm impaign in TNG.

My own opinion, as a layman, as that this particular type of trine was of doubtful hygienic due in areas where rice was ashed not far distant, and bathing rried out in blissful disregard of e proximity of the local sanitary rvice.

However, they invariably proved iod fishing grounds. nother Inquiry Demanded It’s hard to say who started this pular idea of “demanding in iries” into This, That and the her Thing. Could have been udleigh-Ruxton & Co.

Anyway, if anyone has a chip on > shoulder it seems to be the esent routine to want an “official 3uiry.” The promoter receives a :tain amount of press publicity : a while and then it fades away.

A certain J. W. H. Miller, “chief spital engineer in the Territory” hatever that may mean) broke ;o print last month demanding public inquiry into various itters affecting the Territory’s blic Service. He reckoned such inquiry could save the Australian cpayer millions of £’s a year and ease 50,000 Public Servants, lat the Public Servants would do en released from whatever they re to be released from is not ted.

Jut if Mr. Miller’s statements are rect (and I have no reason to ‘Stion them), it would appear it conditions, especially in the nworks Dept., are anything but at they should be.

Jut then, who does expect -eminent concerns to be run on nomic lines these days? That )e was given away years ago. ;n the Auditor-General has sed some critical remarks about le of the Territory’s Depart uts. lany of Mr. Miller’s complaints r e not been unknown to ritorians for years and if this tleman is instrumental in omplishing what he says he then he will have rendered d service.

But if tall poppies in Australia flourish unchecked how can one exnect to eradicate them in PNG?

No Land Shortage?

If one can judge from Minister Hasluck’s statements in the House, replying to Members of his own party on the availability of land for white settlers in P’NG, all should be well.

On May 18. he said grazing and farming land could be bought through the Department of Lands in Moresby; also that the supply exceeded the demand.

This sounds too good to be true, and one cannot but wonder where and what it is. In this scientific

land selectors are a bit oosey” and worry about soil lysis and all that sort of ig. bit different from the old days ;n a good anchorage was the ; consideration in selecting a itation site. Possibilities for a i air strip are now a primary ight. tlenecks and Bureaucrats msion between official and -official sections of the PNG rlation seems to be on the in se. Every now and then this aosity flares up occasioned, illy, by some tightening of tape regulations, bureaucratic bast and blundering bottlenecks, :h all add to the burdens of t life.

Dst apparent friction at the snt moment appears to be erning customs work and its idiary minutiae; Land and the n getting any, and Housing, its nee and high cost when tually acquired. would almost seem that since ;al reports, levelled at some of PNG government departments ecent months, authority’s re n—in order to placate audit als and ensure that every rtmental officer is like Caesar’s —has been one of ham ging these officers to such an it that realistic procedure and non logic in dealing with a ly-patient public have been ficed for veritable police state itions. ne of the tactics adopted by mment office staffs are liscent of a Sydney Trammies’ lation Strike.

Clash of Cultures Another example of bad publicity fer PNG appeared in the Sydney Press last month. The heading “Whites’ Cruelty” drew attention t(p an address given by Anthropolo gist Murray Groves to the Moresby Scientific Society, dealing with his experiences after living for seven months in a village not far distant along the coast west of Moresby.

The Sydney Press emphasised his remarks of native complaints of rough treatment” they received from Europeans while working in Moresby. They were harshly

spoken to, rudely brushed aside in stores and shops and “European overseers handled them inconsider ately.”

Such statements may be quite apropos for local consumption in Moresby, though I doubt very much whether they would succeed in improving the manners of those referred to. But certainly no good purpose can be obtained by publicising such remarks in Aus tralia, where the public’s knowledge of PNG conditions is so limited and cock-eyed that certain sections will only too readily make political capital and interpret such behaviour

P-N-G Air

Pageant

Papua - New Guinea had its first Air Pageant on May 14, when eight aircraft took part in a demonstration of aero batics, formation flying and fire-fighting at Port Moresby. On the ex treme right of this photograph is Mr.

Justice R. I. Gore, who, with 2,000 other Euro pean residents of the Territory (some having come in chartered air craft from other parts of the Territory), watched the fly-past. —Photo by Papuan Prints.

as being general throughout Territory.

I should think no one will reE such publicity more than Muj Groves himself, for his backgra should give him a keen insE into the value of good and publicity, having been conne« with the Territory since a cl (His father is Bill Groves, H Director of Education).

No one can deny that there some harsh-spoken, rude-manntj Europeans, usually new-chums, quite sure of themselves and either curse or caress a native..

The solution appears to be rr careful screening of those entef the Territory and then prr tuition in handling native ployees. It is not everyone whr a suitable resident in a b( country.

Camilla Wedgwood

Goes to Rest I was sorry to hear of I Camilla Wedgwood’s death month, for she certainly filler niche in New Guinea’s modern. and exercised an influence over* future directors of native destii in PNG.

I met her first in the be Thirties when she came to TNO do some practical field-work; apart from the theory of ant'; pology she had been studying; some time at universities.

The blue blood in her own v (she was a daughter of Bs Wedgwood) opened many a so door for her, but that di register with Camilla. She alv remained the keen student s first hand data, although perl a trifle biased by governm policy after War 11.

I remember debating “What s We Do With New Guinea” withr over the ABC at one time. I good to know that her name be perpetuated in a schooll Goroka.

All Papuans?

I was somewhat intriguedf notice in a May issue of “SF F 3 the heading “Rabaul Papv< Decorated” and then followed a* of eight “New Britain people*; receive Loyal Service medals, every instance the New Brr natives were referred to “Papuans.” Other similar referee appeared in the same paper, , eluding a letter to the eo praising the “Papuan communr and groups” for their suppor - : the Flood Relief Fund.

There are some folk in oflf quarters who frown on the usic the word “native” as applied) the indigenes of Papua and Guinea and such reference ; “Papuans” when describing nati of New Guinea, makes one wok whether there is a move on

to class all Territorian indigenes as “Papuans.”

If so, then there are plenty who will take a dim view of such a step, and not the least of these will be the natives themselves —when, and if. they come to realise it. Cer tainly. ethnographically the term is correct as applied to many of the NG natives, but not all.

I hope it’s a journalese and not an officialese appellation.

Digging up Old Ashes External Affairs Minister Casey fobbed off an attempt last month n the House by Mr. Howse to have :he papers regarding Manus and [ISA’s attempt to use the base luring the Chifley regime. Said 2asey: “I do not consider it good practice to revive old controversies, aarticularly those concerning mother country. The melancholy >tory of Manus Island is pretty veil known to Members and the mblic generally.”

The Minister’s remarks remind me of the Chifley stand to stifle nquiries into the Fall of Rabaul ncident. J.B. then “would not ■ake up old ashes” and refused to sxDlain Australia’s part in allowing labaul, its garrison and residents o be so “expendable.”

It is only by knowing the facts >f previous blunders that we may lope to avoid tragic repetitions. If iur present-day strategists are jappy about the present position hat is more than I am. )ld T-NG Links Pass On I was saddened last month by the assing to their rest of two well nown old Territorians. On May,'7, t Cronulla, Reg. Lander died sud enly from a heart ailment and on lay 17 Mrs. Gladys Clark also

passed away in Sydney as the result of heart trouble.

Reg. came to T-NG for the Expro board in the early Twenties, after having been away with the AIF.

Longan, Matty Island and Witu plantations all came under his care for a while. He was with BP at Kiep when the Japs came in and just managed to get away. After War II he managed estates on New Ireland and down Buka way. A good cove who knew his job.

Mrs. Clark was the widow of R.L. (Nobby) Clark, MLC, and many years president of the TNG RSL in Rabaul. She joined Nobby in Rabaul in 1921 when he was in charge of the Exproboard Work shops. She was a popular hostess and took a very active part in Rabaul’s life up to the time of the Jap occupation.

Son John and daughter Margot are in Sydney while another son, Bob, is in England. She will be sadly missed by many old NG friends in Sydney.

Remembering

The Coastwatchers

A news item given out to Aus tralians at the end of May over the ABC told of the unveiling of an obelisk in Buka-Bougainville in memory of the Coastwatchers.

Administrator Cleland performed the job and the well-worthy Paul Mason was present amongst others.

The ceremony must have brought back some vivid memories of the war years to Paul, who was one of the outstanding Watchers in Bougainville and a big cog in the wheel which won the Coral Sea battle.

The point to note, however, is that no mention whatsoever was made in Sydney newspapers of an

event more deserving of publicity than many another incident which was headlined.

Neither Australia nor P-NG wants to forget the great work carried out by those Coastwatchers.

For, the way things are shaping, and as sure as God made little apples, such a body of brave men

will be needed again and it is to be hoped there will be some Paul Masons among them.

A Buka Maid Carrying a four-column heading, a large photo of a “NG Belle,” smoking a newspaper cigarette,

appeared last month in a Sydney afternoon paper. The modernistic caption read: “Nine Inch Cigarette and Blue Nylon Panties. City ‘Good Fella’ to NG Belle.”

The arrival in Sydney of Bob Hope or Marilyn Monroe could scarcely have occupied more space.

It was all because a Buka “hehin” arrived in Sydney with her Master and Missus, the Mackenzies, who own Tulaen plantation on Buka Island.

A point missed by the Sydney journalists is that Lalin, the hand maiden in question, is the daughter of old Gallus, the “kukurai” (chief) of Petats Island, which lies just across the channel from Tulaen.

What a heading missed! “Princess of Petats in Nylon Panties.”

Bits and Pieces Dr. Norman Fisher, wife and son William returned last month from a year’s stay in Bolivia (South America) where the Dr. spent a special leave from his job as Chief Geologist with the Commonwealth Bureau of Mineral Resources advis ing the Bolivian Government on mineral development. He was No. 1 Geologist and Vulcanologist of T-NG, 1934-46. . . . Administrator Cleland’s son Robert, marries Miss Julie Kessel, of WA, this month at Moresby.

t Complaints continue about tb quality of Western Samoa’s copi and cocoa exports.