The Editons' Mailbag

Old Planters Line

On The Buka Natives

A retired planter, who knows the island of Buka very well, makes some interesting comments on that New Guinea trouble spot.

This thing has been working up for years and the trouble over the collection of taxes is only a minor item, he says. The villagers on the eastern side of the island have been smouldering ever since the Japanese surrender. The Japanese penetration there was very thorough and these people ever since have been more or less anti-British.

The villagers on the Lontis coast, which runs north of Kessa Planta tion to the north cape, have been anti-British since the days that the Germans went out; and in 1942 they became pro-Japanese.

The Administration for years ig nored all the warnings of the coming danger and even threatened some Europeans that action would be taken against them for “spreading false rumours”.

I do not know the supposed ring leaders—John Teosin and Hagai—as they belong to the younger genera tion but 1 am quite sure that the older anti-British men are behind these young hot-heads and shoving

them along To “ tr y im g uvmint ” without undue risk to themselves would be in line with their reputa ‘Tn inion the Administration has bee a V P weak down th t evcr since , he war ended> and n( / w we are rea pj n g the result. The policy of extreme indulgence will never get anywhere with th B e Bu ka.

J . . . * re p a jl an °ld Buka chief giving " 1S .°P m . lc l n to a e g. man J w "° was B ettin B information in regard to war time at rocities.

Why did you people collaborate with the Japanese? he was asked, The Paramount Luluai said the lapanese asked the natives to work with them, and they said no—because they were British, They were then asked by the Japanese commander to think again.

Meanwhile, he beheaded a couple of the natives. He was asked: “What is your opinion of working for us now”.

“So we said: ‘ Me fela like now bekos me look in fashion belong Jap straight—no humbug about all same British’.”

This Luluai then went on to ex plain that “British guvmint man alia time talk plenty tumas—plenty order, too—but suppose man no do him, alright, no got trouble. But, man, supos Japan givim order, me fella

must do im or big trouble come up quick time. Now me fella more likim this way, bekos not much talk and no humbug In other words, they appreciate strength and discipline.

Unless the Administration can maintain a grip on these Bukas, the Administration will have a great deal more trouble in the future, the corres pondent adds.

Buka is Such a

Tangled Skein

A Sydney reader with close New Guinea connections writes on the same matter : “I thought PlM’s editorial com ments, and Tolala’s, in March on the Buka incident very much to the point. The whole thing has become such a tangled skein. A more ima ginative and cunning politician than Mr. Hasluck would see a way out of this—for the tax is not merely only an irritant, it has become a point of resistance amongst the natives. It’s going to become a bit difficult to lay on 600 policemen every time a village jibs. The pity of it is that the Gov ernment has such a fine body of Ad ministrative types (including Sir Donald Cleland, I should say) but they are not being presented with a coherent clear-cut policy to carry out.

“It is all very well to have these panicky crash programmes for the benefit of the poor benighted natives, but I can think of a few white fellas up there who could do with some education of another kind. Otherwise things are going to be hard in the next few years; not a little Algeria or Rhodesia perhaps, but unpleasantness nevertheless. On the other hand if Mr. Hasluck had got the £33-million he wanted in last year’s budget and not the £lB million he finally got, then perhaps the little first-aid post might have been put up in Buka.

I give up!”