[?]Erritories Talk-Talk

By Tolala

m TNG to Tonga

lie addition of a couple of els is all that Jock Campbell Is for his new address. Word pm came to hand the other paying that he is headmaster of fTonga High School at Nuku a, where he has some 120 Is of many nationalities.

E-war Rabaul residents will pnber Jock, who was well pn in athletic circles and a hpion sprinter when not ;ed in teaching. [married Margaret Hay, whose er met a tragic death when his er lighters sank off the Ings some years before the ck and Margaret, with their [ children, appear to be well Ihappy in the Friendly Islands.

pnal Appearance and

pge

I more than one occasion I have \ reference here to the manner iich the Germans in their time Id white prestige in NG, and

f personal appearance counted

d much, a practice that seems, days, to have gone into the rd. is is a fact commented upon by Barrett, MLC, in recent times.

I other day I received from m Younger, up in Bundaberg but an old Solomons pioneer has been mentioned in the tain Keller” argument, some )graphs of the old Siar irded to him by Captain Haug ermany (the cove who started

the Keller debate) who was skipper of Siar as far back as 1908.

One photograph shows the officers and crew of this old Neu Guinea Kompagnie’s vessel and the snappy uniforms, worn by crew members of 47 years ago, give an indication of dress consciousness shown by the Germans to maintain prestige.

Although not approving of the idea of squeezing dark forms into European clothing, I certainly agree with the idea of making ship’s crews distinctive —something which our own companies, and often Government ships, seldom worry about.

Incidentally the old Siar, which was taken over by the Australian Administration in War I, eventually became a hulk in Rabaul Harbour, and in 1925 was purchased by Captain Jimmy Duncan as a house boat and was also used as a store ship.

It was sold to WRC later and became a coal hulk, and again later was purchased by Captain Duncan, who beached it alongside the jetty of his Rapopo plantation. Siar was often used by him as a sleep-out when he suffered attacks of asthma.

Well dive-bombed during War II by our aircraft, there remains now little of this Islands vessel, once the pride of the NGC fleet.

Native Clothing

While on this topic of putting natives into European clothing, take a glance at the more advanced non- European races of the world and the pride they show in wearing their own national dress. In their natural state, and often on ceremonial occasions, you will find Asians and Africans appearing proudly in their picturesque costumes, which adds to rather than detracts from a cosmopolitan gathering.

Why then do we give such encouragement to our own charges in P-NG to don trousers, shirts, ties and so forth?

At a meeting of the Legislative Council at Moresby. I was impressed with the dignified appearance and bearing of Simogun, MLC. He wore a white shirt and lavalava. It was also pleasing to note that the Police favour the lavalava as worn by the pre-war Papuan police, and not the khaki shorts adopted by the TNG Constabulary in the ‘3o’s.

A Nolle Prosequi It was a beau geste on the part of the Administration to record a nolle prosequi in the case where ADO Allen was committed for trial following the Bainings inquiry or,