Reprieved

New Guinea's

Patrol Officers

From a Port Moresby Correspondent The feelings of uncertain! and uneasiness which for moi than 18 months have su; rounded P-NG’s “glamour” d« partment—the Department o Native Affairs—were dissipate on the last day of January whe Australia’s new Minister fc Territories made an importai decision. 1%/TR. Barnes’ decision assures tt department’s future, and in fa« gives it added authority.

Until his announcement it wa felt by many officers that the depar ment would be abolished or absorbe by another one, despite the views c a special investigation committe which had advocated that the depar ment be retained.

The new decision has been see as a defeat for Professor Derhani who first advocated changes, forme Minister Paul Hasluck and Assistan Administrator Dr. John Gunthe (both of whom are believed to hav been against the retention of th department).

The uncertainty caused a bi number of transfers and resignation as officers saw what they felt ws the writing on the wall. The marc of civilisation—and bureaucracy would mean the functions and jackt of-all-trades approach of the 45 men in the field would be distribute among various other agencies, the felt.

Salary Problem

The trouble is not over yet—then is still a problem about salary scale —but there is no doubt that Mi Barnes’ quick decision was a step L the right direction and that he ha covered himself with glory very earll in his Territories career.

The current reform takes thi department back to the senio position it occupied prior to July 1955.

It was then that its name wai changed from Department of Distric Services and Native Affairs h Department of Native Affairs, and i was stripped of some powers it) officers considered essential.

The January about-face was taker by many DNA officers as a top-leve

mission that the department’s actions should never have been ered in the first place.

The Department of Native Affairs w becomes the Department of strict Administration.

The District Administration sec m of the Department of the Iministrator will be absorbed by ; new department. This means at District Commissioners return the control of Mr. J. K. McCarthy, 10 will head the new department. ; will be responsible to the Admini ator.

The Director of the Department District Administration will be me a full member of the Central ilicy and Planning Committee, a sition the Director of the Depart snt of Native Affairs did not hold.

Assistant Administrator?

It is possible that the Director uld also become an Assistant iministrator (there are already two, le in charge of general matters d the other concerned with onomic and financial policies) but this step were taken it probably ?uldn’t be until after the retirement Mr. McCarthy in about 12 onths. (There is some talk that r. Jerry Toogood is in line for r. McCarthy’s position, but it is rely too early for any firm view i that).

In each district, a District evelopment Committee will be set > and headed by the District Com issioner.

This will be the authority respon se for the district’s development nerally. As such it will give the istrict Commissioner wider powers r er officers of other departments Drking in his district.

The District Officer’s role has idergone a major change. Now : will be a direct assistant to the istrict Commissioner and exercise at authority allotted him by the C. Ht will cease to be the direct lannel of authority between junior ficers and the DC.

Assistant District Officers in charge ; sub-districts are to be known as ssistant District Commissioners, hey wid be responsible to their istrict Commissioners for co •dination at the sub-district level.

The DO's Position There are officers who say the istrict Officer has, in fact, lost ithority. Others don’t agree.

“Just because the ADO now has le high-sounding name of Assistant •istrict Commissioner, it doesn’t lean he outranks his DO,” they say.

Whatever minor arguments are

going on among the old Native Affairs men, most agree the changes are very much for the better.

Many officers believe the views expressed in the Legislative Council by John Guise, Kondom Agaundo, Bonjui and Nicholas Brokam were the deciding factors. These men spoke up strongly in support of the department’s retention.

Meanwhile, some resignations are likely to continue until the basic pay is changed, for there is dis satisfaction about this.

Officers point out that a school principal who may have had no more than a year’s service in the Territory draws more than a District Officer.

A magistrate in the Law Department is paid several hundred pounds more than a DO or ADO, although his

legal responsibilities are exactly the same.

Pressure will obviously be brought to bear for a salary increase now that the department’s future seems assured. • Vila’s maritime salvage expert, Mr. Reece Discombe, who went to Vanikoro early in January to make his fifth search for relics of the ships of the French navigator La Perouse, reached Santo on his return voyage on February 13 in the French Residency vessel Aquitaine. The Aquitaine took Mr. M. Delauney, France’s Resident Commissioner in the New Hebrides, to Vanikoro to see where his famous countryman had been wrecked.