The Rough And Devious

The Month's New Reading

The Rough And Devious Road To Cargo

Hardly a month passes without, somewhere in the vastness of New Guinea, another prophet rising amongst its two million people to preach the cult of cargo.

AND this has been the situation in at least one district of New Guinea—that of southern Madang— for 80 years, so that in that time the cult of cargo has developed into an elaborate and consistent intel lectual system, with revolutionary and nationalist potential.

Cargo cult is not, according to Dr. Peter Lawrence, in Road Belong Cargo, a mere native absurdity, as he says many New Guinea Admini stration officers and European re sidents believe. He says there is no use attributing all forms of unrest to unscrupulous prophets, for the problems of cargo cult cannot be dismissed, and cannot even be ap preciated without a full study of the history of the different cargo beliefs.

Anthropologist Lawrence does a fascinating job—and a valuable one —in presenting here the history of the Madang cargo movements, for what he reveals gives an insight into the whole cargo cult problem, which is widespread in Melanesia. His is a book which should be read by anybody with any close contacts with developing New Guinea.

Ya!i Movement A better understanding, and pro bably a better solution, to the Yali movement in Madang after World War II would have been possible if this book had been available at that time. As it is, Lawrence’s exhaustive account of the Yali movement sheds even stronger light on the wider cargo problem—for Yali was a man with European support.

Lawrence traces five distinct cargo movements in the Madang area, since the arrival in 1871 of the earliest foreign visitors—N. N.

Mikloukho-Maclay and the first German settlers, who were identified mainly as pagan deities. The natives saw these people at a source of both wealth and super-human know ledge.

Lawrence traces the effects of

different political periods—German Australian, Japanese and Australian 3gain —on the native beliefs. He shows how they embraced Christ ianity in the belief that it would grant them control over its essential ingredient—the cargo—and how they were able to pass through periods of apparent friendship with Euro peans. of frustration, of hatred, co operation again and resentment, as they attempted to explain to them selves what was happening to their world, relating it all the while to their basic pagan beliefs. Meanwhile they became increasingly dependent on Western goods, of which there were never enough.

Contempt

After the Germans left, says Lawrence, “relations with the Aus tralians were no better, the people realising that most Europeans still held them in the greatest contempt”.

The people of the Madang area had a sense of common identity that was now intensified and “the arrogance of employers, poor conditions of work and the shortage of money with which to buy Western goods were causing deep resentment against the Europeans.”

At various times, Lawrence ex plains, missionaries were suspect be cause they held back information on the cargo secret. It was believed that some missionaries were moved to new stations by their superiors before they got to know the native people too intimately and so were likely to reveal the truth to them.

The Japanese were generally wel comed because they would rid the country of the dishonest Europeans and reveal the road to the cargo.

But the Japanese, too, eventually fell from grace, for they had no cargo secret, and as the war pro gressed they began to ill-treat the natives.

Lawrence says the cargo move ment’s revolutionary and nationalist potential has never been fully realised—it is a movement of a people attempting to advance but given too little help.

The movement has helped bridge sectional cleavages in Madang and given rise to a form of nationalism, but the Administration’s problem for the future is really one of a battle for men’s minds.

Lawrence feels the movement’s ideology will be strong enough to

undermine the Administration’s at tempts to introduce a cultural and socio-political order.

There are three main require ments needed, he thinks, to help the position; • Race relations must be im proved, and there must be a better liaison with the people. There is a danger at present in increasing “bureaucratisation”, which is making the Administration more remote.

It would be useless to pour in aid from air-conditioned offices without going outside to see what effect it was having. • Cargo cult must be recognised as a carefully integrated intellectual system which is extremely durable. • Its weakest point must be selected as the spearhead of attack.

And this point is the need for economic changes; radical changes should be introduced.

Lawrence believes that once native pride and self confidence are assured there is hope for the future.

Logical Roots

Whether or not there will be general agreement on Lawrence’s arguments and proposals—for in such a complicated subject there must still be much to be discovered and recorded—the fact is that Lawrence shows conclusively to the general reader that the cult has deep and logical roots and that it is something to be regarded seriously.

Repeatedly he reveals how over the years it has been possible for natives and Europeans to discuss together the same set of facts and go away, unknowingly, with completely dif ferent solutions. Relations, remarks Lawrence, have generally been based on “complete mutual misunder standing”.

Many of the facts he is con stantly turning up for our inspection are thought-provoking in themselves.

There is no ex-servicemen who could read without interest Lawrence’s accounts of the affect on Yali and others of the various wartime pro mises made them about “a wonderful new country” after the war—pro mises which were not kept and which could not have been kept.

Today development resources are beginning to pour in, but now the political situation is moving so rapidly that the chances of proper consolidation appear to be coming daily more remote. And the facts in Road Belong Cargo help show why. (ROAD BELONG CARGO. Melbourne University Press, by arrangement with Manchester University Press. 50/-).