£9,250,000 From Australia : Co-operatives Become Big
pp. 51-131 · Read in the full issue
S Ua-New Guinea Diary
£9,250,000 From Australia : Co-operatives Become Big Business : Fires loom As Public Enemy No. 1
Papua-New Guinea Legislative Council’s budget session this year will be held earlier than usual—commencing September 24. Australian Treasurer Sir Arthur Fadden sweetened the prospect in advance early September by announcing an Australian grant of £A9,250,000. y lng an
B is Australia’s all-time high i its annual gift to the com ined Territory—over £BOO,OOO than in 1955-56—and certainly than might have been reason expected in view of the fact Federal Treasurer Fadden was on a Mixture-as-Before Budget 256-57 (presented in Canberra ugust 30). lister for Territories Hasluck red Sir Arthur Fadden’s icence by announcing, Sep ;r 3, that P-NG intended to le emphasis this year on agri al development, particularly on ; agricultural development, to introduce a sour note into joyful proceedings, it can be hat P-NG natives fared better • hands of Sir Arthur than did ilia’s Old Age pensioners. A .tion of the latter metaphoric lained themselves to the steps rliament House, Canberra to or an increase in pensions. ~thur, at first too busy to see relented after 24 hours and ;ed” them lunch. But he did icrease their pensions—which the academic question as to s better off—the native NG r; or the Australian Old-Age ner on £4 per week? veil as Australia’s £9l million, will have its own internal le —over £3 million last year. a nice tidy sum for P-NG irer H. H. Reeve to parcel out. ever, as Mr. E. A. James, 3r for Papua in the Legis- Assembly, frequently points ■ is one thing to have this t of money at the Territory’s il; another to spend it all.
Budget waits on the Aus- Budget—then comes the ion, and the plans and tend er which half of the effective g year has already gone. At 10, what has not been spent nartly back into Consolidated le. pushing the P-NG Budget i of Legco forward (a month t year) this time-lag is, to stent, overcome, idier D. M. Cleland expects seting to last about a week.
Feam Up, Steam Off
>eople who have been steamed
ut their 99-per-cent.-complete
ospital which still was not
admitting patients, have been told that the reason for the delay is that the hospital entirely lacked steam.
Mr. W. Flemming revealed this at Lae Town Advisory Councils July meeting. He said the entire working of the hospital depended on steam and until steam boilers and a water treatment plant were installed the sterilising plant could not be used. Unsterilised household water could not be used because it would ruin parts of the equipment.
He understood the water purifica tion plant was on its way.
In Port Moresby a Public Works official estimated that the hospital would be handed over to the Ad ministration about the end of this month.
Hit Spot 9 Times
A mercy plane dropped anti tetanus drugs to a seriously-ill native on Nissen Island, midway be tween Bougainville’s northern point and New Ireland’s north-east coast, early in August.
All nine parcels of drugs landed safely on the tiny and remote island.
The First Million
Native co-operative societies are last becoming big business. Turn overlast financial year exceeded the 11,000,000 mark for the first time topping the previous year’s total by £40,000.
There are 224 societies with a total membership of 61,000 and a total capital of £333,000 compared with the previous year’s 198 societies,
54,000 members and £285,000 capri Papua has 128 societies, New Guii 96, but NG has 16,000 more me.i bers.
Stores oper a t ed by the operatives had a turnover of £slsc between April, 1955, and March ye ar. Copra the co-operatl handled was valued at £380,000.
Here’s another bright fact to w up the story: The societies last i paid £50,000 in rebates to memW
Meek And Wild
Because the Territory Tt Planning Board failed to refer U matters to Madang Town Advil Council, the council decided oc sit-tight strike.
Members resolved not to n
One of P-NG's most colourful natli sonalities, Sgt.-Wajor Bagita of thee Papua-New Guinea Constabulary on Aui marked up 40 years continuous servi.i the Force and became the only police the Territory with four coveted goll pinned to his police tunic.
Our photograph shows how, at polio quarters on August 10, Bagita, without the proudest man in Papua paraded Police Commissioner Normoyle and his fourth star.
European police in Moresby, togetht a number of old residents, contributed I buying Bagita a radio set. He also a wallet of notes. The management <* Philp and Co. and Steamships Trading U gave him open orders for £5.
Photo: Papuami
until the chairman was ed in writing that all altera and additions to the Madang plan would be referred to and ved by the Council before be nplemented. uty Chairman Meek said acidly ihe council’s recommendations wn planning had been largely ;d since 1951. The Madang ;-market proposal, for in >, had vanished from the town ■ find that the staff surveyor to the town and plans it,” Mr. complained. “His plan has :en referred to the council but
has gone straight to Moresby.”
Later, In Port Moresby, the Acting Administrator said the Adminis tration was considering the appoint ment of a town planning board for each town. “Now that the main towns of the Territory are growing, it is not unreasonable that we should consider the altered circum stances,” he added.
Traffic Traps
Too few roads go by in the Terri tory but increasing traffic has brought the civilised concomitants of road safety and courtesy cam paigns. (Over)
soldiers in Port [?]y held their [?]l annual Minden [?]inner on August 1 [?]hich is certainly [?]g things a long back. August 1, was an important [?] the Seven Years' when the English the Hanoverians I up to resound defeat the French [?]nden, a Prussian [?]n Westphalia. It [?]irly safe bet that [?]ople - even ex [?]s - have ever of the battle. [?]r, the dinner was at success. Our [?]aph shows: [?]n Captain Blox
[?] Sub- Inspector
[?]; and Mr. P. V. Middleton, who were the 120 who attended it.
Photo: Papuan Prints.
>r one launched in Madang, ;h now has 448 registered cles and 1,039 licensed drivers, narrow roads and blind .ers, Mrs. Flora Gilmour pro d a trophy to be awarded the ling driver. janwhile, in Port Moresby, :e planned a campaign which d include visits by a Traffic ich officer to all schools, Euro . and native, to warn the chil of road dangers.
New-Blood Infusion
big crowd, including settlers in Western Waghi and Kainantu 5, attended the annual general ing of the Highland Farmers’
Settlers’ Association. The meet held in Goroka, decided to a the eligibility for member elected these new office rs; President, lan Downs; President, George Greathead; itary, A. Clark; Treasurer, W. :ley.
Egregation Cracked
0 formerly-hostile tribes in the omin area are becoming ed through their children, ►lishment of a school at the rnment station at Telefomin the zeal and personality of lative teachers are responsible, ginally, because of long ing tribal mistrust, the parents e children from the Feramin asked that they be taught by erent teacher to the one who t the children from the )min group. Accordingly, two ers were appointed, one for class. lough the school has been ished only since March, a icant change has taken place pupils’ attitude to one another the attitude of the tribal s. Mistrust has vanished and ihildren are joining together le common interest of the . and school work, ingements are now being made ablish at Telefomin a board chool to accommodate 40 to dents from the once mutually- Dnistic tribes. A European er will be in charge, with s as assistants. It is hoped to this school next year. all this is happening in an where, three short years ago, iatrol officers were murdered attack on their patrol. How it is not all sweetness and yet. A slight outbreak of >alism was reported from the recently—allegedly as “pay (See elsewhere this issue).
Trucked Across
1 commercial vehicles owned itive rural progress societies completed an overland cross om Wewak to Maprik, in the district, were the first con
ventional trucks to make the journey.
They did it in ten hours at an average speed of a little less than ten miles an hour, getting through without assistance, even at river crossings.
Two Administration Land Rovers were the first vehicles to traverse the Maprik-Wewak road, which was cut through to the coast at Wewak in March, 1955. They took 35 hours.
Coroner Saw Red
A fire in which a young native girl was burnt to death sparked off censure of the Administration by Rabaul Coroner Hall.
His finding was accidental death but he said the building, one of a number allotted to married native police in Rabaul, was totally in adequate by Native Labour Ordin ance standards.
Mr. Hall pointed out that four adults and seven children lived in the building of 60 cubic feet. For this number the regulations re quired a building of 3,000 cubic feet.
The regulations also laid down that such buildings should be of iron, fibro-cement, weatherboard or wallboards. The one destroyed was made of native materials. It was regrettable that a similar structure was being built to replace it.
Mr. Hall said the Crown, and therefore the Administration, was not bound by the Native Labour Ordinance. But, he protested, “this
attitude hardly sets an example to other employers of native labour.”
Gardens “Filched”
Rabaul botanic gardens had been gradually filched from the people, Mr. J. L. Chipper charged at a meeting of the Town Advisory Council. He pointed out that parts of the gardens had been taken over for the native market, by the Public Works Department, and for the Government Compound.
Reflecting the growing concern in Rabaul about this parkland, the the meeting adopted a resolution asking that trustees be appointed and funds made available to re establish it.
Harbour Mix-Up
Two native canoes, one carrying a European passenger and a native crew of three, were damaged by the
MV Bulolo as she left Port Moresby on August 4.
An angry complaint of having been run down by the ship is under stood to have been made to the Crown Law Department but the other side of the story will not be known until the Bulolo forwards a report to Port Moresby’s Harbour Master.
The natives are reported to have said they were fishing off Paga Point when suddenly the Bulolo was on top of them. The European grabbed the mast and hung on.
Two of the natives dived overboard and swam to a smaller canoe nearby
but, just as they reached it, tH was swamped.
The Bulolo lowered a lifeboK which towed the larger canoe to tf wharf.
Flying Footballers
New Guinea native soccer playe' are going places—by air. Ty Madang teams chartered a Dako aircraft and flew to Goroka, whe. they played local teams.
Both Madang teams were beatt but all players on the field gaves splendid exhibition of clean, opq football that kept a large crowd' European and native spectators their toes.
Miss Elizabeth Jack (pictured), nursing Sister at Port Moresby hos pital, has announced her engagement to Mr. W.
D'Arcy, of the Depart ment of Works. They will marry in October.
Photo: Papuan Prints.
Apex Club Formed
i expanding organisation of ig Australian professional and less men, whose aims are fellow and service to the community, ad to the Territory with the lation in Port Moresby of the Apex Club outside the Aus an mainland. i president, Mr. W. Carter, s to see in time similar clubs 11 P-NG main centres.
School’S In—And How
bool was in with a rush and ly bursting at the seams in Kainantu area of New Guinea.
Administration official had told g crowd of natives that the school at the station was theirs, ey took him at his word, ied through the classrooms, sat he desks, apparently enjoyed mere physical presence in >l. ndreds of inquiries for enrol ; were received from, or on If of, people whose ages ranged 5 to 30. e enthusiasm of the youngsters ;o great, it was saddening that r had to be turned away for ime being. They will not be led until additional staff is d to the area next year.
was in full swing in Port Moresby in August with the Manu Manu people offenng 50 canoes for sale at .? okl> Hanuabada and Porabada.
Manu Manu has been the centre of the Motuan canoe-making in dustry for centuries. The long process of building starts with the felling of the logs in the rain forests between the Vanapa and Doura rivers, whence they are floated down Gaily Reach to the village of Manu Manu.
There the work of shaping the hulls and preparing spars and outriggers goes on throughout the year
July or August Sice for an im g assembled canoe is usually abin't £A2O, plus a certain numbed of tn shells which are valued at a thing from £3 to £l4 1 y ’ qwnPTnnDMo T
Shorthorns, Long Hops
, Another step in the sorely-needed development of the Territory’s cattl e industry was taken last . moi }th when two Dakota aircraft landed at Kokoda with 27 head of £, Shorthorns consigned to the Kok °da Pastoral Co.
(Continued on p affe m>
young prize winners at the Combined Fancy Dress Ball held in Port Moresby [?]st 17. Patricia Russell as a Balinese and lan Searle as a Judge.
Photo: Papuan Prints.
first group of a mob of 80 to make the trip, the cattle down from Cairns, inspected resby and landed at Kokoda n the one day.
T Time In The Town
3 became Public Enemy No.
Port Morefeby, police there ting damage so far this year irly £75,000, with the biggest ak that at No. 1 Customs n the waterfront, e January 1, brigades had been out to fight five in properties, board ships, seven started by cal faults, 135 in grass or biggest in grass burnt out an about a mile wide and five long, starting behind the Department at 4-Mile, run along the entire length of ; Strip and carrying on Is Waigani swamp, where it 5 became too hot a subject le authority to handle Administration heads, police s all pitched in with fervent s to watch that cigarette ake all precautions.
Othercare Mileage
le nursing sisters of the s Health Department’s in welfare branch get around, travelled more than 40,000 n the Territory last financial aring for native mothers and n.
The 27 European sisters and their native trainee-assistants covered 37,000 miles by road and 3,000 by sea, (the total (representing 6,000 miles more than in the previous year.
They had travelled mainly in Land Rovers but nowadays in most centres they have new mobile clinics and are using these.
Leg Lost, Life Saved
An 18-years-old Australian who visited Papua for a fortnight’s working holiday lost his left leg there. But for two native truck drivers the loss might have been his life.
With two other teenagers the youth, Keith Collins, of Bentleigh (Victoria), was in a jeep which skidded and overturned on the gravel surface of Brown River Road, near Laloki River.
Collins, sitting on the front seat, right-hand side, was thrown out.
As the jeep came to rest after over turning, the rear off-side wheel crushed his leg.
The truck-drivers, who had been following the jeep, helped to lift it off the maimed victim. One of them, Moses Raho, put Collins in the cabin of his truck and rushed him to Carter’s garage at the 4-Mile, where Mr. Vic Carter transferred him to a car and took him to hospital. (Over)
[?]eption followed the wedding of Mr.
Cochlin to Miss Alice Beacom at Chapel, Port Moresby, on August 11. [?]hlin is on the staff of the Kila Animal [?]ne Station.
Photo: Papuan Prints.
Doctors amputated the leg above the knee.
Master Builder
An unusual feature of an area school recently opened at Pagwi, Sepik district, is that it was built by the headmaster (Mr.
Hammersley), assisted by villagers.
The buildings consist of two class rooms, four dormitories, a store room, a kitchen and a dining hall.
There are also dwellings for Mr.
Hammersley and two native teach ers.
District Commissioner S. Elliott- Smith officially opened the school, the first of its kind in the area.
Fight For Phone
Wau people have found an ally
in the Legislative Council’s woman member, Mrs. Doris B<J in their all-out fight for a Bulolo 24-hour telephone sen Operated previously by a pri company, it closed down after 1 ness hours when the Administrs refused to subsidise the servic:
Mr. Jaroslav Malik, well-known Port Moresby photographer, greets his fiancee, Miss Ingeborg Bocker, upon her arrival in Moresby on August 11. She flew from Germany to Hollandia by
Klm.
—Papuan Prints photo.
e is now a phone link be the two centres only during is hours, none at all on holi : at week-ends.
Booth dubs the taking-over service by the Administra itrograde. Her main point: and Wau are active mining where serious accidents can [f medical aid is needed from centre there may be serious sefore one doctor can com te with the other.
Administration replies:
■ circumstances exist in many in Australia, so what’s all juting about? Although the ontinues it looks as though, Port Moresby officialdom n.
Ar Risks Of Peace
time ammunition is still ; peace-time casualties. Ex by heat, a .303 bullet struck Moresby native fireman in t while he was fighting a e. The wound was not seri t it was a narrow escape. :k held both ways after lunch, on August 14, I Rover left Lae for Goroka laving travelled down from ighlands to the coast the s day in less than 11 hours, sd alongside hgr husband was Mrs. Judy Downs, be to be the first woman to town the long, winding road, back with them was their oy son. le, Mr. and Mrs. Downs said ruck no trouble on the way
down, were hoping their luck would hold until they reached Goroka. It did.
Yam Session
Both the living and the spirits of the dead whooped it up last month in the Trobriand Islands, home of the giant yams, where August sets the stage for one of the most colourful annual festivals en acted in the Territory.
That’s the time of the year when the yams (some of them 10 to 12 ft long) are harvested and stored in the big yam houses that are a feature of every Trobriand village.
Portion of the harvest is hung on the walls of village houses as
an offering to the spirits of the de parted, said to live on Tuma, island of the dead. When the harvest is stored the spirits return to their villages and join in the three-week festival.
Then the villagers decide that the spirits have had enough and. with a beating of drums and blow ing of shells and whistles, they drive them back to Tuma.
Mine Break-Through
An important underground con nection, the break-through of the two main No. 6 Level entrances, was made at New Guinea Gold’s Upper Ridges mine early in August.
[?]. Costello and Miss P. Wood were at the Roman Catholic Church, Port on August 18. They are shown at [?]ption that followed.
Photo: Papuan Prints.
rh portals of these entrances, niles apart by road, are just ilf a mile apart underground yh long, winding tunnels, the ction was perfect. :kmen have driven nearly ft of underground workings ; mine so far.
Guinea-Pig Goats
iculture Department officers laying about with killers —to the mysterious cause of death ;ow in the Port Moresby area, t-mortem examination dis features which could not be d to any known disease and, ;ting snake-bite, they tried out >an on a goat, a death adder nther goat. alts were conclusive for the i-pig goats—the taipan’s victim n 27 minutes, the adder’s in it not for the experimenters, er animal revealed all the oms the cow had shown. i the Papuan black snake is suspect. Efforts will be made pture one for use on a third cts of the bites of such dear pets as the small-eye snake :he whip snake will also be d.
Iducation’S Growth
artmental figures tell a story eady progress in the vital tion field. They reveal that at 30 the Administration schools i throughout Papua and New ia—l67 primary, 11 post ry, 1 secondary, 3 technical, 6 sr-training—had a total at nce of 10,662, representing a : cent, increase on the 1954-55 the 230 receiving teacher ng, 200 will finish their courses » end of this year and become ble to join the 477 teachers ly in the field. addition, 600 Territory chil are receiving secondary educa in Australia, while a further re undergoing correspondence is.
Boy-House Loot
t Moresby police set out in mid st to track down a stolen ;r pen and pencil. The result ished them. m one boy-house they re -3d clothing, jewellery, writing •ial, a camera and dozens of articles, including about 20 of various makes. Total , £2O.
Kerema native was arrested charged with theft. ; the police still have un ied business on their hands — are still searching for the ial pen and pencil.
Patrols Back
o more patrols have returned eir bases with difficult missions
accomplished. These, setting out from the Eastern Highlands and the Madang district, traversed areas on both sides of the Bismarck Range.
One, led by Patrol Officer N, F.
Fowler, found in the Ramu Falls area about 8,000 pepple, living mainly on the steep mountain sides. Mr. Fowl°r said the valley
New Britain District Commissioner, Mr. J. R. Foldi, performed the ceremony when Mr. H.
H. Watkins was married recently in Rabaul to Miss N. Wilson. The group above, taken after the ceremony, shows (left to right): Mr. W. Flynn; Mr K. Jacobson (best man); Mr. Foldi; groom and bride; Miss M. Arbuthnot (bridesmaid); Mr. J. Shaw. Photo: C. H. Meen.
floor was usually only a few hum yards wide, with the mount rising to 8,000 ft and in some px to 10,000 ft.
The other (from the Madang? trict) was only the second pt ever to have gone into the Sir Valley. Its leader (Patrol Of Holloway) reported that the naf in the Aibe areas were particui friendly. The patrol often met going about their everyday 1 ness armed with bows and an but at no time did the natives o weapons when they visited patrol camps.
Mr. Holloway took back with: 33 native trainees who volunte for work at Aimome.
Brief Interlude
Two American mineswee Surfhird and Waxwing were du make a goodwill call at Moresby on September 7 am sweep away with their 11 offi and 160 men on the following The “skedool” listed a visit to ! win first.
Shark Tragedy
“Kapa had just speared a and came to the surface. Sudc he screamed and the water n him turned red. We saw a big se swimming away. Kapa was 10 ft from the canoe, so we bro( it alongside him and pulled hie boat. As we were doing this* shark came back in for a se< attack but we chase him away a spear.”
That was how a Hula m fisherman, Kapa Renagi, a mai man with three children, fatally mauled by a 11-ft si while spear-fishing about 200 $ off Fishermen’s Island, in the Moresby area, on August 22.
Kapa was only a few yards 1 his canoe when tragedy oven him. On board were two c natives, one of whom, Kwara I told the story quoted.
Mr. and Mrs. J. Hawkins at the rec[?] that followed their wedding at Tourama C[?] Port Moresby, on August 11. Bride was J. Kennedy; the bridegroom is a DCA member.
Photo: Papuan
a remained conscious through e 60 minutes it took to take > the Native Hospital. Doctors put up a desperate fight to lis life but he died several 'as the third shark attack in oresby area within a month, ative, attacked a week previ off Paga Point, is still in al.
Irtisans Of Future
ng natives who make the at Port Moresby, Rabaul and ;chnical schools will not lack unities to qualify as the Terri tradesmen of the future,
agh the apprenticeship scheme
i only 16 months ago, Native nticeship Board chairman in says many requests have
been received from employers for apprentices. Buddmg fitters and turners, mechanics, shipwrights, welders and underground miners are among those in demand.
Seventy native youths already are apprenticed to employers in dif ferent parts of the Territory and loners 0 30 apprenticeship pro ' Technical schools in Port Moresbvand Rabaul now ha ie “out 100 Ttudent a s b whh n t°rom h two to three years’ training ready for absorption in industry. The one at Lae will have its first trainee* available at the end of this year. rRAMn TnTTR nTr nTTTV
Grand Tour—Of Duty
Administration officials believe Australians are taking a greater interest in Papua-New Guinea and employment in the Territory.
Applications have arrived from all States for positions in the Public Service and Selection Committee Chairman Groves will take a two-month swing through the
Commonwealth to interview the candidates As Director of Education in the Territory he is particularly well equipped to deal with 50 of them —they all want jobs in education
Drought, Then Deluge
Lae’s long drought ended in a ? eluge ' o Fi ve inches of rain fell bet A ween 3p m ’ Au S ust 6, and 2 a.m.,
“ Li day T2O IS
gwrther day ’ °
But conditions in the Wau district led to postponement of the Wau annual show , which now will be held on December 2. Wau’s 46.7inch rainfall in the yea r ended June 30, was the lowest recorded for 27 years,
Mail Totted Up
More than 9 million letters and parcels were handled by post offices in P-NG in the 12 months ended June 30—about 1,881,000 more than during the previous year.
Falkinder, MP, leader of a recent Parlia [?]y party that visited P-NG, lights a long of Chinese crackers to open the new Matupi Farm Community Hall near Mr. Ping Hui and Mr. Thomas Mow [?]. The Dragon Ball, which 450 people [?]d, followed the cracker-lighting cere [?] District Commissioner and Mrs. J. R. were guests of honour at the ball.
Photo: C. H. Meen.
forgetful people who omitted rite their own names and ises on the backs of envelopes I the Posts and Telegraphs tment much unnecessary e in trying to trace senders letters could not be delivered.
Incephalitis Probe
birds breeding in the Terri carry the mysterious brain ; encephalitis to Australia? are some indications that lo but Australian medical re er, Dr. S. G. Anderson, of the : and Eliza Hall Institute, to find a definite answer to lestion.
Anderson arranged to fly last by Qantas Beaver float plane dated Bulema Lagoon, near [y River, where he will con the investigation of the of the disease he began in ■uinea in July with his famous ;ue, Sir Macfarlane Burnett, immediate objective of their n then (see August PIM, page was to collect the type ol ito suspected of being a • of the virus.
Dld Hope Renewed
Dbe District Advisory Council jorted to have asked that be made available this ial year for a new District Post Office and Courthouse k
The old buildings have long had their day but the old bugbear, money—or the lack of it—has stood in the way of replacement.