Commentary

Second Assistant

□ Good Idea

E appointment of a second Assistant Administrator in Papua- Guinea is an interesting develop j, all the consequences of which ably won’t be obvious right away, lere certainly isn’t any doubt there is work enough for two at that task, which is virtually of adjutant of the big Territory, whether or not the two re sibilities—that of “Services” and nomic Affairs”—are so sharply ed that friction can be avoided, ins to be seen. hat happens, for instance, when Assistant Administrator (Services) he wants to exercise his responsi and build an important five road link, and the Assistant Ad itrator (Economic Affairs) says that it is all right by him )t that he has to exercise his re sibility and refuse to make the available. > doubt how efficiently the tasks >e integrated will depend to some it on the personalities of the ;rs of office. Not to mention the malities of Administrator and ster, for there have in the past some fascinating moves, counter is and cases of volte-face in the t echelons due to personality es and it’s probably asking too i of human nature to expect s to be different, e post that will probably come rf it best of all will be that of inistrator. ie holder of that onerous task •NG since the war has been in extraordinary and unfortunate ion of being both a Governor i Premier. As Governor he is en to the dubious honour of ally opening buildings and shows; king the salute at parades and of ! host at numerous Government e receptions. But these are things have to be done nevertheless.

Premier he is entitled, some i, to the vocal criticism of the at his handling of local political ions, and this is something he 0 expect, too. the past if the Administrator had ak Assistant he found himself be fore of the Premier and less of governor. Since the appointment h. Gunther, whose energy has 1 a lot of the Administrator’s

burdens, the Administrator has been more able to act as Governor.

Now the creation of this second post of Assistant Administrator, plus Sir Donald’s recent knighthood, will help consolidate his position.

And this is as it should be, for the Territory is big enough now to have a Governor, whatever his title, able to act as a Governor and not as a political Aunt Sally. ☆ ☆ ☆

Kieta Has Strong

Claims for Headquarters

THERE does not seem to be any doubt that when Bougainville gets its new overseas port it will be at Kieta. There have been such go ings-on in the last few months that it looked for a time to many people that Kieta might miss out to one of several other places, including Waku nai, farther up the east coast.

Kieta has the best harbour in Bougainville, and last year, the Administrator Sir Donald Cleland, promised that Kieta would also have a wharf—the first overseas wharf in the island. This was after the Bougain ville Improvement Association had pressed the matter strongly, and pointed out that the Kieta sub-district was one of the largest producing areas in the Territory. Apart from copra, cocoa production in the Kieta area has been increasing rapidly, and in July the first exports ever of rubber from Bougainville were made from Robin McKay’s Aropa plantation (F/M, August, p. 7).

Native cocoa producers in the Kieta area have more than 100,000 trees planted (many of them coming into bearing) and European planta tions have more than 900,000 trees, which means there are more than a million cocoa trees in the Kieta sub district.

In copra production Bougainville is only third to New Britain and New Ireland.

Some of the confusion as to whether or not the Administration would stick to its promise of an overseas wharf, was created by moves made by the Administration to look for a new site for the Bougainville district head quarters.

At the moment it is on the small island of Sohano, which is too small.

Last year they were planning to shift the site across the strait to Buka, but that idea was apparently held up while officials looked at several other sites. One of them was at Wakunai, which already had a first class air strip and is capable of having a wharf built there, although there would be little room for expansion. If a second ship arrived it would have to anchor in the passage and then move out again while the ship at the wharf left.

Ramun Bay, on Buka, which is a possible site, is surrounded by swamps* but apparently land can be made available as a headquarters. And Buka is also the highest populated area in Bougainville, which is another reason for using it as headquarters.

However, it is a long way from being the centre of the island and Wakunai would be a better spot.

Buin, in the south, can be developed, but it lacks a port.

Kieta people feel that since Kieta is to be the port there is no reason why headquarters shouldn’t also be there, as in German times.

The Administration attitude ap parently is that there is not sufficient land, but local people won’t agree.

They say land is available—certainly a lot of it on steep hillsides, where costs would be greater. But houses on the harbour hillsides would be far better than located in some humid swampy area such as Ramun Bay.

There is also hydro-electric power available within a few miles of Kieta.

Surely Kieta people are right in suggesting that the headquarters of the Bougainville administration should be at the port—Kieta. ☆ ☆ ☆

Islands Students Need

Australian Help

THE Fiji Scholarships Committee in August was about to consider a large number of applications for 1962 Government-sponsored scholarships.

But only one-sixth of the applicants had a chance of getting one because the finance won’t stretch any farther than that.

There are this year more than 500 Fiji students studying abroad —about 126 of them on various scholarships and about 400 paying their own way.

A glance through the list of scholar ship sponsors will show that Australia provides a poor example—in fact, a disgraceful example. If Australia prides herself on being a South Pacific nation she should be showing far more interest in helping the people on her doorstep—those in Fiji and in other Island territories, too.