Outside Aid To Sweeten The Ng

inviting Mission Sports

Native In Transition

Although a great deal of publicity attended it, it is un ikely that anything concrete will result from the recently •eleased report of the UN Visiting Mission in respect of New 3uinea.

SPATE of Australian newspaper editorials followed the release of the report in New York and tone of these varied in flavour n the sentiment that “Australia good reason to be pleased;” to belief that the Mission was be-

“patronising.”

uch items of the report that e received in Australia from erica were clearly out of context, the vagueness of the language jloyed threw Australian editors > even more confusion than it isual for them to display over igs New Guinea. u p rpnnr f in nar f he report said, in pa t.

The Commonwealth Governit is spending largely of its ley and manpower in New nea but its resources are not unted. The tremendous difficulties ae to geographical features—of linistering NG would challenge nation, even the richest and ;t technically advanced.

The people of the Highlands of the interior are impressed

with the wealth and the technical know-how of the newcomers, but have no sense of inferiority. They believe, and the mission heard them say so, that in spite of the differ ence in colour they and the Aus tralians are brothers, and they ex pect to be treated as brothers. • The international community has a special responsibility to help the administering authority in all possible ways to meet this challenging task of absorbing the primitive societies into the modern world without hardship and without unhappiness.

The third item, above, although couched in the vaguest terms, has stirred the commentators to their greatest efforts. While some in terpret it to mean that the United Nations will now weigh in with millions of £’s for “development,” others take the view that it is an invitation for the Trusteeship Council to interfere and meddle with what Australia is trying to do in Terri^ory.

Our own guess is that, whatever

the Visiting Mission meant by the words, translated into deeds it will not amount to very much. Further — • We agree that Australia has a tremendous job and a tremendous burden in the development of New Guinea; • We agree that if a few gift millions and the necessary labour could be provided for the building of roads bridges, wharves, schools and hospitals, etc., Australia’s task could be lessened; • But we don’t agree that out side aid or swift development (meaning native development) is the sole solution to the problem.

The Mission is frightened that if the now friendly and co-operative native of the interior is not swiftly shown how to become just as ad vanced as the European he will sour.

This is as maybe; if anything has been proved by various approaches at colonial rule over the past three hundred years, in the British Commonwealth or out of it, it is that, no matter how the transi tion from Stone Age to civilisation is accomplished, the victim is likely to be soured in the process, anyhow.

The primitive native of the in terior of NG desires, as the mission noted, to advance along the same lines as the European. Unfortunately, there is no known way of admin istering the required knowledge as one would administer a couple of pills, and therefore to suggest that material aid would more than partly solve the problem is to provide a superficial answer to the difficulties that face Australia in the Terri tory.