Territories Talk-Talk

By Tolala

There was no question last month about New Guinea sing front-page news. The clerics aired their views in the old lacarthur-Onslow home at “Gilbulla” (Menangle), where the ustralian Council for the World Council of Churches had ithered, resolving unanimously that the whole of the NG le should be placed under UN Trusteeship, and its people’s elfare be the primary objective.

D the same day, PIM publisher lobson, as guest speaker to the ly Sydney Legacy luncheon, underlining the strategical im nce to Australia of the northern d and putting in a plug for his erne for Federation to the tees, most of whom are serious :ing professional and business itives in the Harbour City, v Guinea, therefore, was the nt topic last month, topped off e Casey statement that brought candid comments from some e back-benchers in the House. iry experts, in the persons of ral Eichelberger and Major ral Father (he who took over ul from the Japs in ’45) had :hing to say about the strategic of the isle. icet of the urge for UN Trustee which was not particularly ioned (and many took for ed) is there is no guarantee, f West New Guinea does become ist Territory, Australia will be administering authority. The Asian bloc in UN councils has le a formidable power in the and would plug, naturally, he Javanese-Indonesians to that task. e degree of “dinkum-ness” be the yard-stick in measuring mportance of bilaterial dis ns. Past performances of the ese in repudiating financial erritorial agreements with the rlands do not create a feeling ifidence in their trustworthi damentally, they have been ally dishonest to others; have iy reason to believe they will y different to us? speaking of honesty, we ’t forget that we more or less ur tongue in our cheek when >tically talking of native wel ls our paramount object in ig out intending intruders. id a week in early February, y philatelists had a beano, exhibition, known as ANPEX alian National Philatelic Ex

hibitlon) was held in Sydney Town Hall, and for anyone with a liking for stamps and their collecting, it was a very worthwhile display.

Pacific Islands were by no means neglected and for general interest ranked high.

Browsing through the Aisles of Philately I met up with A. R.

Nancarrow. a one-time Chief Officer of the good ship Mirani (well-known during the ’3o’s in local TNG waters), and now of Glen Iris, Vic toria.

He was awarded a bronze medal for his most interesting display of Fiji, Tonga and Solomons issues, and explained to me that he owed much to Rev. A. H. Voyce, himself an ardent collector who for a number of years resided in the Buin area of Bougainville and is now in Auck land, NZ.

He also collected a silver medal for a postal history of the Bougain ville district, starting off when the

explorer Bougainville, in 1768, picked up some mail from Carteret’s vessel for delivery to France. He must have put a great deal of re search into the job and local Terri torial Historical Societies should try and obtain a copy of this mono graph.

I noticed Friend E. R. Gill, the Liverpudlian who took me to task m the January PIM, collected a silver medal for several “Unusual Items or Pieces” of Papua, amongst them (and I quote the Exhibition catalogue): “(b) Showing BNG c.d.s. and bar obliterations. Cover m the handwriting of Dr. William Macgregor, the first Lieut-Governor of BNG, addressed to Lady Macgregor. . .” which I expect will make Mr. Gill shudder when he sees the spelling of the name.

Exhibits of both Papua and New Guinea were so numerous and such rare specimens displayed that one wonders whether the Port Moresby Museum has made any arrange ments for a philatelic section to be included in its exhibits. If not. why not?

A Loose

Term

A Sydney paper last month ran a news item from Lae about a certain lady in Lae winning £15,000 in a lottery. She was referred to as a “Malayan” and lived in Lae’s “Malaytown”.

All of which raises the question of this somewhat loose use of the term “Malay” when referring gener ally to these descendants of the folk who came down from the Celebes and Amboina in the German time, and for some years were referred to as “Karanis”.

In these days, when greater care is usually observed in putting the proper tags on nationals, a more correct name than “Malay” should be applied. What are their own opinions regarding the matter?

They are a section of the non indigenous population for which I hold a great respect.

During the German time they were the silent workers, often in re sponsible clerical positions with the commercial houses, who carried their white bosses (as, so often, in the Army the senior NCO’s carried their officers) but never for a moment “forgetting their place”, always de pendable, respectful and concienti ous in performing their duties and, invariably, examples of sartorial per fection.

As I look back now at this late date I recall three outstanding “Karanis”, working in the early ’2O s, who were worth their weight in gold. • Siegers was records clerk for the Exproboard from, practically, its inception. His memory for corre spondence, inward or outward, was phenomental. Without referring to his records he could turn up a letter to so-and-so, written six months ago, with the least delay and in a

Married in Port Moresby in February, Mr. T.

Dietz and Miss H. I. Hila. —Papuan Prints.

system where thousands of letters were written by chair-borne experts each week; © Gasperz, a draughtsman, with v/hom I worked several years in the Board, was a power of strength in mapping, with a natural gift for penmanship; o The postal clerk in the Rabaul Post Office (I forget his name) was a marvel in mnemonics. He could tell you, at the drop of the hat, where John Jones or Bill Smith had moved to and when Sam Bung would be returning from leave. He was the greatest gift to the official white postmasters ever dreamed up.

And there were many others of inestimable worth; shipping clerks, tally clerks all of whom did out-

standing jobs, collecting little kudos, nor even asking for it. They were an important factor in the develop ment of TNG, and I doubt very much they have ever been properly appreciated.

But, what are we going to call them?

Old Scenes

Da Ke-visuea Not so very long ago I learned through the Rabaul grapevine that Ted Taylor, one of the old-time Kiaps, was re-visiting some of his old haunts in and around Rabaul. and it was pleasing news, for Ted was always a popular official, especi ally with the Tolai people and the

common, everyday man-in-tf street, irrespective of colour.

He went first to the Territory w/ the AN&MEF in 1914, spent a sH time at Nauru and after his retti to NG was constantly on Distd Service work; he was a no trouble-shooter and if ever a sa of bother cropped up anywhere w anybody Ted was called uponx give the Taylor treatment in his < variable quiet, impressive manu without bombast or “pulling rank”.

I first met up with him in I 1921 (or it may have been early ’

I was with the Exproboard in thl days; taking over the Germ plantations was a full-time job.< Somebody suddenly discovereoi “forgotten” young plantation, the beaten track and rapidly go bush. It was Pondo, on the w coast of the Gazelle Peninsula; only cultivated area between C( Lambert and the government stat at Talasea. A labour line of ato a hundred was immediately requiii Whence and how?

Talasea plantation (later kno as Linga Linga) was well ov strength; a certain section of NL Ordinance provided that, w the approval of the Administraf labour could be transferred withi tneir consent.

Approval was obtained and I : off in the steamer Meklong for government station at Talaj armed with the necessary authon and there picked up Kiap Tay{ proceeding on to the Talasea plan tion where one, Fischer (a retun digger and later killed in Nakanai massacre) held the fon Volunteers to transfer were cai for and without fuss or coerciox hundred sturdy workers were o barked and we sailed for Pondo : all was well. This one-time wilo ness later became one of the sit places of the Territory—until Japs threw a spanner in the woe Happy nostalgic wanderings, T amongst old friends and old sc© but under new conditions!

Racial

Discrimination

If in the past the originators racial discrimination were the Put Sahibs and white overloads in dark countries, it is quite appair now that the cycle of colt segregation is being controlled i the educated members of the da races and to such proportions t; make one wonder where it will © Certain sections of Africa ar© open revolt and it all seems toe up with the global anti-white mo ment which sociologists have tipq these many years. (I have in im Oswald Spengler’s “Decline of West”, in particular).

Highly-educated Africans, T have worshipped at the Shrines; Learning in the white world 0) received every assistance in so ing) are now leading their countx

i in organised defiance of the ad which fed them”. This, of •se, is evolution, egged on by rested political opponents of ;ern idealogies. le publicity in the Press to e recent eruptions must have b reaction amongst those people ;e education has not yet reached University standard, but none jss are gradually emerging into complex world which so often s towards uneasy discontent their old ignorances and im them with the desire to keep with their colour in other lands, tese are the problems which the Trustees of these people V n, and will there be a happy illation between the colours 7 in the Pacific? nga appears to have solved the lem where its destinies are led ;s own people, with the recog [ advice of Europeans, eaking recently to a medico, has just returned from doing a graduate course in tropical cine at Edinburgh and Liver (Eng.), I was impressed with emarks concerning the general gard for colour amongst the ints and also the expressions of in of educated Africans regard the co-ordination of the two d one African medico: “In our e for nationalism we want the r to govern, but we must have experience in order to advise d therein appears to be the ion to the problem of assim n. other words: They want the Ige (the “face”) of control, admitting the dependence the western world to make nsiness pay. Undoubtedly it is intricacies of the modern cial world that stumps even lost erudite of the universities’ it. is a point to remember when own P-NG students emerge the universitly standard —and, ope, not before. But. . .

ed Weavers

render how many people who the item in “Tropicalities” , Feb., p. 81) about Tench 3 realise that this was one of isolated isles, chosen by the an Government before 1912, nain immune from white Con or many a year for the purpose ithropological research. j idea was for the people to no contact with other areas to be self-contained, without le influence, for an unstipu period in order to preserve own cultures unsullied by the ice of civilisation, i scheme worked well until the middle ’3o’s when an t missionary couldn’t resist :emptation of rescuing their and the tabu was broken.

The Confusion

Of Tongues

It seems there is always bound to be an argument going on about languages in P-NG. If it is not Pidgin, then it is about pure English being compulsorily taught versus the Vernacular.

The clash between the LMS and Administration at the beginning of last month could become a knotty problem, one which will probably reach high levels of State and Church. I like Jimmy James’ re mark: “We are not trying to bring up a race of carbon copies of Europeans, but rather a race of educated Papuans able to take their place in and lead the community.

If they have no language of their own, is this likely?”

The answer, of course, is in the negative, and it is to be hoped the Administration becomes more realistic in its attitude towards teaching the vernacular in mission schools.

If it persists in its present policy it will certainly not “come close to the native people” as urged by Minister Hasluck when speaking in the House on the Navuneram re port.

A knowledge of the vernacular by Native Affairs officers themselves is one of the surest means of im proving relations between official dom and the people. It is an invalu able power for the field officer in narticular.