Man In The Public Eye

New Guinea man most in the public eye in May was Re g m . al 4 o f° hn nl ®® a d r ’ farmer, here photographed by “PIM” on his 1.000-acre lease at Yaluou side Lae, with his wife and their son Richard. They are expecting anotoercMd soon. On March 24, Sear was charged with having at Yalu the h J? ban! unlawfully killed a native named Surumbani. The evidence was that had been helping to fix a truckload of kau-kau, which had slipped, that S had struck him (Sear denied it): that Surumbani had gone off and p later found dead in the kunai by other natives, from a fuSie keltf who had of the P-NG Supreme Court held in Lae on May 20, Mr. Justice Kelly, wl been a NG solicitor of wide experience before his to the Supreme a few years ago, found Sear guilty of the charge—which Is an q manslaughter. He decided, because of all the clrcumstancesnotto ga but to fine him £l5O in default 12 months gaol. Mr. Dudley Jones (for Bear) had fhefine, submitting that the . blow -oderate the native s spleen was eight times the normal size, and in 10 years p y g there had been no complaint against Sear. .

The Judge’s decision aroused no particular interest in.NO In Australia it created an outcry. Churchmen, trade un * on s. pohticians, bitterness amongst as injustice by the white mu agailnstthe black: pJS JSehSk”the native people because of its ienlency Terrltorles ln June dared he would examine the papers to see if the Craw that having looked the Australian Cabinet discussed the matter and ann , . ’h e did and no at it closely, it had decided the Judge was entitled to do what he did ana n appeal was justified. Reginald John Sear con- As all this went on in Australia, up at xaiu. . He has tinued to work his property, and hls Liesand poiSltry P owns a trade store 250 acres of coconuts planted, runs catUe, pi g s a P' miry most and a petrol pump. Noted as a hard worker he is on the jod * Jesi weeks, with the help of a labour line of 60 natives— mciuaing (right) who has been with him in NG for 10 years. Aeured Since the trouble, none of his boys has left him iabQur Une co i lec ted. in court evidence. During his absence at J*e t . kau . kau which Sear loaded and delivered—without European supervision the k staff. His contracts to supply the P-NG Administration for some oi two-year kau-kau contract was renewed during th worklng with saw .

Sear is a Queenslander who went toP NO ioined the P-NG Forestry De millers at Port Romilly, Papua. After the a . J lu for eight years before he partment and was at the Government sawmill himself in May. 1959, resigned and took over his present lease and tn the NG man most in the public eye.