Territories Talk-Talk

By Tolala

i. in P-NG

irther to various remarks anent Winders report, recommending for the Territory. I see where 'erritorian from “far-off parts”

M. April, p. 18), refers to it as ;astic. If nothing else it is— fill be —a mere fantasy. What : the Administration powers of and recisions, plus Canberra’s -riding despotism, how could it ther than a bureaucratic gesture? bureaucratic gestures don’t a a thing these days. It would Dmething to include in the next rt to the UN Trusteeship Coun “Local Government has been ted to Port Moresby, Rabaul Lae,” and so forth. A despotic ire in a supposedly democratic try and that’s both ends and niddle of it.

Dead-End

f Now really does seem that Minister ick and his minions in his de nent have seen the light—in respects, anyway. They have led that all the advertising in world will not fill “dead-end ’ and that’s what they’ve been mg P-NG Service cadets up recently. e appointment of Dr. John her as Assistant Administrator, id of a chair-borne Canberra il. broke the ice. And now we Mr. Keith McCarthy going to i as Acting Administrator. And s a step in the right direction cognising the Field Staff as tial administrators. Such a ’ is as it should be, and I r suspect the PSA of P-NG iving a finger in the pie in g out the plumbs. It does not n the job. re are some knotty problems faced in Nauru for any Ad aptor: Diminishing phosphate ts, which have given the local s a high standard of living many years; and the eyes of are on the isle.

ily Hughes’

ie Minister Menzies, on his I at Moresby last month, is 3d to have had a tilt at the ational critics of Australia’s in NG and expressed himself latisfied with the progress be ide there, adding; “We are in ruinea to stay.”

Hughes, back in 1937, when ts in charge of Territories, 1 a stir in the political dove when he declared to the )led folk as he stepped out of ane on the Top Drome, at

Rabaul: “What we have we’ll hold.”

It was an answer to Adolf Hitler’s demand for the return of the old German colonies, and top-ranking Australian politicians of the Lyons Government went into a flat spin when they read the press reports of Billy’s utterances.

He may have thought he was safe from a “chiel’ takin’ notes” on a NG airstrip. But he wasn’t and Reg.

Halligan (Billy’s off-sider at the time), was anything but happy over the long arm of the Press.

That was an eventful trip Billy made. It inaugurated the air-mail service from Sydney by WRC planes and at the same time Billy selected Salamaua as the most suitable site for the new capital to replace Rabaul following the 1937 eruption.

A lot happened in the score of years which followed the Little Digger’s Visit.

Appeal for

Old Records

The New Britain Historical Society seems to be getting away to a good start. G. A. V, Stanley, who needs no introduction to cultured minds in P-NG, gave the inaugural paper to the Society’s meeting at Kokopo and dealt with the early navigators of the Pacific.

And no better man could have been selected to present such a paper. GAV’s hobby is bibliography and I would say he has the best col lection of Newguineania in exist ence.

The society has appealed to all

members of the public not to dis card old notes and diaries which may contain interesting data con cerning the early days.

There are still a few old-timers in the Territory who could help out in this matter and, at least, lend old-time documents to the society in order that they may be copied and the data recorded for future generations.

Mission societies of New Britain could well assist in this, if they so desired, by having photo-stats made of the records which now lie in the archives at their headquarters.

The Propaganda department of the Vatican must have some rare documents. Let’s hope that the appeal made by the NB Historical Society meets with the success worthy of such a cause.

Postscript: It looks as though Kokopo may be the cultural centre of New Britain, while the modern Rabaul is absorbed in chasing the elusive £ and endeavouring to dis entangle itself from the ever increasing toils of political thraldom.

SPC Review

As I write (at the beginning of May) the South Pacific Commission Review is taking place in Canberra where ten years ago I witnessed its birth at the hands of Dr Evatt, the then Minister for External Affairs, ably assisted by Eddie Ward, the Territories Minister.

It received a good Press then, de spite a bit of bickering here and there and Evatt’s pique at having to hold the sessions in the Grammar School instead of the House of Representatives—a matter on which the Dr. and the Speaker of the House, Rosevear, did not see eye to e y e - (Over)

New Goirea ex-ser.icemeo march into lae War Cemetery on April 25 for the Ancac Service.

doubt the Commission has iplished much in these ten no doubt it could have plished more had it been less strung by unimaginative icracy, and also if the same liasm had been shown towards the Casey pet—the Colombo Likewise it was a Labour an Evatt offspring, his age of Planning one can & s a result of the review, ir instrumentality to be borne i implement further efficiency i for the regimentation of the native people.

I’d like to be less cvnieal about SPC, but all this mammoth plan nm £ u f ° r everything gives me nothm S but a pain in the neck, Standard Pidm’n

Standard ridgm

A a o; n fe dlH

4 5 ke Tbout

S y Mini ster Hasluck, who is said to have preached them a sermon on

brotherly love, the Golden Rule or some such apt theme. One of the targets of the conference Is to “iron out differences in written Pidgin” and to adopt a standard system.

To me it seems an uphill job to try any kind of standardisation amongst a section of the community so torn by rivalry and bitterness that fisticuffs are resorted to on

[?]and Mrs. W. C. [?]at Lae airstrip [?]te to pt. Moresby [?]ril 5. They were [?]ir way back from [?]dia, Dutch NG, [?]Mr. Groves spent [?]ight meeting the [?]Eduration Director comparing [?]ds and systems [?]here with those [?]in the Terri [?]of Papua - New "I was most [?]ed with their [?]clear - cut pro - [?]of education," [?]r. Groves. "They [?]ht on the ball, an education completely [?]ed with a view [?]ng Papuans par in Government".

Dutch are using Malay as a lingua and Mr. Groves said this had proved

[?]o be of (inestimable value in teaching. Modern [?]extbooks, printed in Malay, are used through out the schools.

occasions. As Bishop Strong is re ported to have said at the opening of the conference: “Enmity between various missions could do more to confuse the native than the multi plicity of religions.” T If these workers in the Lord s Vineyard would only agree to a standard approach to the “benighted heathen” and not try to put the skids under denominations other

than their own, they would be do ing the whole country a service.

Even the SPC might be able to de volve some scheme amongst its many projects which would lessen the confusion of creeds and thus serve a far better purpose than dis seminating knowledge on how to catch fish or grow kaukau to a people who have managed to live very well on sea food and vegetables

for many centuries before the i ning white man interrupted thea tenor of their ways.

A Venue for

Scientists

Association of ideas! And£ reminds me of a paper I subnr to the ANZAAS back in the 1930’s for the anthropological se of which Judge Murray was sident that year. It dealt wit: subject of mission rivalries, am other things, and was read i:J absence by my old friend Bill Gi who “agreed to a point” wit: thesis.

However, the point I have inj is that during this ANZAAS tralia New Zealand Associatic the Advancement of Science) 1 gested in The Rabaul Times thj anthropological and geo 1 o g sections, at least, of the Assoc should hold a conference in Guinea, where ample raw ms was available for investigate the members.

Now comes the glad news

Geologist-Bibliographer G.

Stanley is moving in no sma, to hold the next meeting o Assn, in P-NG. This would

splendid arrangement and hope that the Bureaucrats v tend themselves in doing utmost to encourage this.

G.A.V. is worthy of supp< is not a long-haired scientir (although he has a beard!)( most practical, down-to-eai dividual who knows his New and its literature.

Good Advice

I haven’t a clue as to the of Margery Fisher, who w\ the Editor of the SP PJ “Advice to New Arrivals, would like to give her a patt back for the very sound she pens to newcomers, es; as to the wearing of abbc shorts and such other n

Above Left- Mr. and Mrs. R. Phillips and their happy family, who went South on n '

™Lv£S x.vi£f

1954, he has been with the Transport Department in Lae.

Mr. Trent Rodger Cheese and Miss[?] Scott of Lae, who announced their e[?] on April 24 at a cocktail party hell[?] home of Miss Scott's father. Miss the fourth daughter of well-known Lae[?] man, Mr. Arthur Scott, of Scotts [?] The couple will marry shortly and m[?] home in Lae. Mr. Cheese has compl[?] years with Robert Gillespie (NG), Lt[?]

ients in a native country. It sound all a bit fussy to warn g people about dress in this of Grace 1957, but as the writer conditions in Moresby (or the ds) are not the same as in ey or Melbourne and a certain Tim is required in order to [ future trouble. Semi-nudity is understood by the sophisticated e. Only too often have I heard remarks in their own language know what their reactions r are. Revealing clothing is a of exhibitionism which does >ay a happy dividend.

and Pieces

enth Day Adventists are one up ost of their competitors: They listributing batches of sermons lonographic records in various ages, including Pidgin. What Radio? TV? . . . According to t utterances by Mr. Paul ick, he is not too happy about ISA’s general attitude and its ,tion with UNO. What gives? ;ed: Ken Nettleship (Jnr.) to i Rout, of Mosman. Ken is >on of Customs man Nettleship ivar Rabaul) and Mrs. A. V. ship, of Hunters Hill . . .

Ben Shorthouse, of Moresby, to ;e Arthur O’Rourke, of Aber-

NSW . . . Margaret Bishton,

iter of Ted and Mrs. Bishton, srnard Lawrence Garrick, of serai . . , Mr. John Howard, ir of the Moresby Brewery, has lilar job to build a brewery na, Peru, in South America.

Bws

Fahiti Nui Breaking Up

'ean radio hams picked up distress from the bamboo raft "Tahiti Nui" on • The raft was reported about 800 miles coast of Chile and breaking up after ays of storms. Captain de Bischoff and r-man crew left Papeete November 8 to Sooth America.

[?]W! Mr. Menzies felt the heat during [?] ort visit to P-NG late April. He is shown [?]at Lae Technical Training Centre. [?]ion Officer J. Tong also shown.