Territories Talk-Talk

By Tolala

There were a few raised eye-brows in the middle of last anth, amongst listeners to the ABC 9 p.m. news broadcast len they heard Chiping H. C. Kiang, leader of the recent V Mission to the Trustee Territory, referred to as “The Com jnist Chinese Member” of the Mission, in prefacing some Mr. Kiang’s laudatory remarks on our Administration.

PPILY, a correction was made le following morning and the onour of UNO was upheld, theless, it was an unfortunate for which some careless sub • was responsible, sonally, I think it is a great hat a Trusteeship Mission does onsist of some of the Opposi md carry out their duties on >arty lines. Would that be so isible? Or have ideologies ed such a stage that factual nations are beyond political ption. i—Revised m The Rabaul Times of some ago—February 6 to be exact — earns that the First Lady in iand has entered the lists of eager to revise and/or abridge mch maligned Pidgin-English.

Iressing an At Home of the Britain Women’s Club at il, Mrs. Cleland is reported to appealed “for a general re ion of the assistance which be given to help raise the irds of native women and their n the community. They were n, and should not be referred ‘meris.’ ” ,t seems fair enough if you mversing in English, but cer would not apply if using i. A kaukau does not become r eet potato” in Pidgin, how nuch you may think it im : its flavour. for the social uplift to the women themselves, I don’t >e they could care less—unless, arse, they are taught to be ipy about it in the first place. ;his fiddling about with Pidgin airily putting the skids under anguage—and that is what of the tall poppies desire. But never die out altogether.

Attempted Massacre

Editors’ Mailbag (November, ). 27) Old War Horse, Sydney ance, throws a query into the ing over “an abortive native d murder all the Australians dang, NG, in 1916.” n Capt. Carl Haug, in Ger

many, comes a letter suggesting that Sydney Chance’s story had the wrong date by about four years and he must be referring to the attempt to massacre all whites in Madang, planned by the natives in 1912. Captain Haug was Master of the Neu Guinea Kompagnie’s Siar as far back as 1908.

This is his story: In 1912 the natives of the small island of Billy-Billy, at the entrance to Madang Harbour, and some dissatisfied natives around Madang had for many months held full-moon palavers in which

they discussed the plan to murder all whites.

The natives of Billy-Billy Island were the instigators. The old men did not want to hear about it, remembering some former plan which failed, and that the leaders were all shot.

But some of the young bucks called them cowards when the old men said they “savvy plenty long big fellow steamer he come that time,” and they were over-ruled.

These young bucks had already divided the few white women amongst themselves. That all came out in the Inquiry that was held later.

The massacre was to come off on a Sunday morning (as in Mr.

Chance’s story), when the men lay sleepy in their beds from much beer of the evening before.

But the house-boy of the Doctor of the Hospital (Dr. Hoffman) gave the show away. He came to his master and told him he must hide himself so the Billy-Billy men could not kill him and rape Sister Martha in the Hospital. That gave the Doctor the chance to give the alarm —just in time. When he came over with his boat from the Hospital island the canoes of the Billy-Billy natives came sailing into the Harbour. (Over to p. 34)

So the massacre failed. The ring-leaders were shot.

This story was told to Captain Haug by Dr. Scholz, the RM of Madang, in the Hotel Australia, Sydney, in 1913. Scholz was the Birzirksamtmann of New Guinea at that time and as the judge of the Inquiry gave the sentences.

When WAS That Date?

I have an open mind on the date of the above matter, although I do seem to recall some trouble up that way in 1912, but I was in Buka at the time and that was a long way off in those days. I was still further away in 1916, for Faisi

in the BSI was my headquarters in that year.

It would seem, however, that we are inclined to be a bit slap-happy when historical dates are concerned.

There was another instance the other day when I read of some public figure quoting the Nakanai massacre and dating it 1930. Here seems to be another error of four years—or thereabouts.

I place the tragedy about 1926.

I was one of the pall-bearers at the mass funeral in Rabaul—had it been 1930 I was living in Buka at that date. Anyhow, Jack Thurston or Ernie Britten can clear that matter up.

The point is: What steps (if any)

are being taken to keep the recon< straight?

It would seem that the Depan ment of Territories has an amj supply of war historians (Dudll McCarthy is the latest to take s bow in publishing circles) and ti Minister himself is a keen historisj So what are we waiting for?

Book Wanted I don’t know why they pick me to try and locate out-of-prr; books. But I have received anothi SOS. This time it is for a coo of Collingridge’s The First Discover of Australia and New Guinea. was published about 1906. A: offers?

Please come in, stating pri:i addressing me care of PIM offiti Thank you.

At the Show “New Guinea Goes to Towm (PIM, April, p. 53) seems to gives fair account of the P-NG exhiKi at the Sydney Royal Show.

I can only judge from hearsay. was unable to attend and was son to miss Isimel Tawalaka, who theless sent me his greetings throuju a third party and identified him

> me as a one-time courier I the town of Rabaul for Mrs.

Mac Lean. imediately recalled a fine ?d lad back in the ’3o’s, with ling smile who called at my speaking faultless English hose hand-writing bore every je of the Waterhouse influence Lind, flowing script that char ed nearly every pupil of the

Nodup school where that so-popular pedagogue, J. H. L. Waterhouse, taught them not only the Three R’s but the singing of old English songs Waterhouse organised a bugle band, which was the forerunner of the famous Dan Crawley Police Band in Rabaul, now Port Moresby.

Isimel, as I remember him 20 years ago, was the most intelligent and, at the same time, best mannered lad it was my pleasure to meet.

As for the Show: My spies bear cut what the PIM staff writer re ported: The need for some greater co-operation from European plant ers. There was little imagination exercised in the general lay-out.

And from the pamphlets (100,000

distributed?) you would not know there were such individuals in P-NG as private planters, or anyone other than natives and government officials.

Why is Canberra so stingy in giv ing credit where credit is due? Take for example the following quote from the pamphlet. . . . in 1906 it [Papua] was transferred to Aus tralia. In the years following, Papua was brought to a world position as a model of enlightened colonial ad ministration.” The man responsible for such “enlightened administra tion” was Hubert Murray. So why not give him the credit? Are our present tall poppies afraid of losing some of the glamour of the lime light?