hite Woman in a
pp. 71-72 · Read in the full issue
Wasn’T The
Ne Thing, In 1911
hite Woman in a puan Gaol
contradiction of your statement in February PIM (writes Mr. N.
Nixonwestwood, from Isle of i. England), I would point out t Miss Pat Robertson was not the \ white woman sentenced to gaol °apua. The distinction belongs Mrs. Catt. She did not actually hto gaol—but that was only be se the Europeans of that day had sense of responsibility, and atened to take the town apart tch an outrage were permitted. jout 1911 or 12, a Mrs. Catt, se husband was at one time iager of Burns Philp, at Port esby (but at the time of the ous crime was with the SID Co. he Solomons), was charged be- R. M. Norrie with ill-treating aative servant, a Gusiago named )a. was proved that Aruba was a ngerer, and refused to do any ? to help in the house, and i sent on an errand would take s to do a ten minutes’ walk. :s. Catt one day gave him a when he refused to light the
stove fire. Aruba thereupon rushed into the street, yelling blue murder.
That morning “Buffalo Bill” Norrie happened to be passing on his way to the RM’s office. He asked the Gusiago what was wrong. He was told that the Sinabada had beaten him. Norrie immediately issued a summons calling on Mrs. Catt to attend court at 10 a.m., next day.
News of this reached the “bottom pub” (McCrann’s) and the SS Kia Ora was in, either en route to the Lakekamu River, or had just arrived from there. Among her passengers were famous gold-seek ers Mat Crowe, Joe Sloane, Peter Burke, Fred Kruger and an Italian named Arriotti. Later, they were joined by Jimmy Wallace.
As soon as they realised what had been done, they trooped up to the RM’s office and told Norrie what would happen to him if he allowed a white woman to go to gaol. Also they asked, why take the Gusiago’s word against that of a European lady?
Mr. Norrie tried to bluster, but apparently he was scared.
In the absence of Judge Murray (Administrator), M. C. S. Smith took charge and fined Mrs. Catt (as she pleaded guilty to hitting the boy), 7/6, and then she was released.
But until the case was settled she was practically in gaol, as she was kept in the RM’s office.
There was a sequel to this; and
Mrs. Florrie Gofton (now Mrs. F.
Stewart) may recollect the incident.
Mrs. Flo Gofton Scared
The Rm
A party was to go to the Kanosia wharf, and then to Jim Fowler’s place, up the Maribor Creek. But it was to stop over night at Kanosia.
Just before casting off, at BP’s
wharf in Moresby, Mr. Norrie rushed down and asked for a passage.
Mr McKay, in charge of the launch, allowed him and his two boys aboard. On reaching Kanosia, Norrie and his men left, saying they were going to Lolorua to inspect labour.
Mr. Harry Gofton was then man ager, and his right winger was his wife. The news of Mrs. Catts trial had already reached them, and Mrs.
Gofton (who was always out-spoken) told Norrie what she had heard; but did not make it appear that she knew Norrie was the culprit.
To make a long story short: she apparently put the fear of God into the gentleman, because he left the bungalow in a great hurry with his boys and raced through the bush back to Kanosia wharf. On his arrival, he looked as thought he was being chased; and when Mac asked him why he was so upset, he said that Mrs. Gofton had threatened him because of what he had done to Mrs. Catt.
As there was no room for him on the launch he went up to Westland’s bungalow and eventually got back to Moresby without doing any checking of Lolorua’s native labour.
It all happened 45 years ago, and none of modern Moresbyites will even remember the case. That case, and several others, showed how little the RM’s of that time knew of legal procedure, or how to apply their knowledge except in cases of pilfer ing and desertion.
t Suva residents are so accustomed to heavy rain that it rarely becomes a topic of conversation, but when the monthly rainfall is 10 inches above average, as was the case dur ing the April “showers,” there was some comment. The total, recorded on 20 days, was 23 inches, against an average of 12.91 inches. Heaviest
fall on any one day was more; seven inches on April 3.
U Mr. Thompson of the Austi Broadcasting Commission has) visiting the New Hebrides and Caledonia to make television and record material for radio; grammes.