Commentary

I Drink Decision May

an Mayhem

)W ever did the New Guinea Administration arrive at the con an that its scheme to lift pro ion on drink is one of “gradu i”? Exactly what is gradual t it? present the P-NG native people ot drink. Prohibition has been And now, all at once, both men women are to be given access to of liquor, e fact that their liquor must ly be consumed on licensed ises, or elsewhere only on social lions (except for beer, which they :ake home), is no control. Any e who wants to drink himself (or If) under the table will now every opportunity to do so, svery potent brew that ever had el on it will legally be available m. e Administration may call this lualism”. But it is in fact virtu m open slather, and the decision in a short time reveal itself to been a serious error of judg e plan is the more remarkable 2w of the history of prohibition ew Guinea as outlined by the tant Administrator, Mr. Reeve, he introduced the bill, ere have been several plans put ird over the years to handle the problem, but all have ended in erra pigeon holes. The situation worsened. Completely deprived quor legally, the natives have it sly grog or made their own. was inevitable and right that bition should be lifted in New ;a. But after all these years of ing a decision, it is ridiculous Canberra should suddenly erupt gent activity and virtually blow d off in one blast. Liquor Com- Dn or not, surely somebody d have realised that the new )sal was going too far in a single e decision does not take into ac ; all the problems experienced by Pacific areas in relaxing liquor ztions. A fivepenny stamp on a to the Solomons or Fiji would brought valuable information, i. with the next biggest Pacific lation to New Guinea, but whose e are more advanced than New ea’s, has been gradually relaxing sstrictions in the last few years.

Yet even so, it has found from hard experience that it has been going quite fast enough.

Fiji once had prohibition. Then it worked on a permit system. In 1958 it gave Fiji and Indian males the right to drink beer without a permit, but nobody was allowed to have spirits without one. There was a blanket restriction on women—no drink at all.

This year Fiji introduced a bill to allow all males to drink anything without a permit, but the public out cry was so great that a permit system is still to be applied for women. And all this has been happening in a colony whose drinking conditions are far superior to those in New Guinea.

As the publisher of the Fiji Times said in an article in PIM in October, after visiting the Territory, New Guinea just did not seem to realise the problems it was going to be faced with as a result of the huge onslaught of untried, inexperienced drinkers in bars unable to cope with them.

Right next door to P-NG, the Solomons have only recently allowed the Melanesians to drink beer, al though permits are still required for wine and spirits, and these are re stricted. As with Fiji, the BSIP eventually plans to lift all restrictions —gradually.

New Guinea’s policy of so-called gradualism may well turn out to be plain mayhem. The only redeeming feature in it is that it is an interim ordinance that will be replaced. We hope when the time comes that New Guinea will have seen the light. ☆

Oct. 23: The End

Of The Cold War?

ON October 23, for the second time in the course of the 15-years’

Cold War, the United States stood up to Communist dictators and said “Stop there—or fight”. The Reds stopped.

How long the stand-still will last, no one can say. At this moment, American ships are blockading Cuba, and America insists the blockade will continue until the Reds withdraw their armaments.

Following the pattern of the first challenge to the Reds—Korea —the UNO types, worked on by the Reds in the usual way, probably will try to talk the Americans into a com

promise, so that the Cold War may proceed, according to the Marxist plan.

It is likely that the issue soon will be narrowed down to this: Will the West, led by United States, now proceed to end the Cold War, and restore freedom to the world; or will the West again allow the world situation to be shaped by the Com munists, to the continuing advantage of the Red bloc, and the ultimate enslavement of mankind?

Upon the answer to that question depends our future.

Remembering such things as Suez, and the sacrifice of the Dutch to the Communist-ridden Indonesians, and the destruction of our colonial empire by Washington’s starry-eyed dreamers, we many times have cursed the stupidities and the blundering diplomacy of the Americans.

But—if the events which now are following Kennedy’s declaration of October 23 are handled with wisdom and strength—mankind yet may bless the name of the United States for saving us from the creep ing menace of Communism and the horrors of nuclear war. ☆

Fiji Far From Ready

For 'lndependence"

THERE is a persistent, mischievous suggestion in Fiji that Fiji soon will be independent. One Indian journal urges its people to save their money and their thoughts for a diffi cult period immediately ahead when, presumably, the country will be thrown on its own resources.

This wishful thinking is based on the fact that Britain has abandoned most of her Colonies.

Kenya, Guiana, Mauritius, Jamaica have gone, or are going, “indepen dent”. But Fiji may not be classed with any of those. In Fiji, there is a strong and proud indigenous race, with certain fundamental land rights, and a numerous and proud immi grant race, with certain basic social rights. The two races still are far apart.

In Fiji—which, the experts say, could under effective development, support H millions—there are 400,000 people. But development is far from effective, so that social and economic problems even now are acute. To give Fiji “independence” at this stage would be sheer disaster.

There must be far-reaching develop ment of natural resources, and a closer integration of races—before Fiji becomes “independent”.