Hon. Members Vexed: How Do You
p. 23 · Read in the full issue
Tell A Crocodile's Sex?
By a staff Writer
When do crocodiles become mothers? This vexing question is currently exercising the minds of interested parties in P-NG.
The sex life of crocodiles is just one of the many fascinating facets of debate that are likely to turn up at any time in the Papua- New Guinea House of Assembly.
This one occurred because Mr. Robert Tabua, of the Fly River, is having a second attempt to get a bill passed through the House that will protect small crocodiles. He tried it once before and was defeated; but he is trying again.
Now, crocodiles are a fact of life in many parts of New Guinea and Papua; they are also a lucrative source of income to a few Europeans and a lot of natives. Nonetheless, in some parts of the Territory there are no crocodiles at all and, as Singin Pasom from somewhere in the hills behind Lae succinctly put it, the main concern elsewhere is generally pigs and possums.
The Sepik people, on the other hand, have a vested interest m crocodiles (they’ve probably got more or as many as the Fly River people, anyhow) and they want Tabua and his friends to mind their own business. They have been reported to have said (to their repre sentatives in the House of Assembly); “We Sepik people don’t know anything about Mr. Tabua and his area . . If we want a law regulating the crocodile industry we will pass it through our Local Government Council. It is nothing to do with the people in Port Moresby. It is our business.”
Three hours and several thousand words later, Mr. K C.
Henderson, Director of Agriculture, appeared to put a clincher on the argument. Although his department has tried all over the world, he said, no one has ever made a zoological study of the crocodile and therefore it is impossible to determine at what stage it starts to breed. Furthermore, very few people can even sex crocodiles.
“It might seem on the face of it,” he said, “that the best idea would be to protect young crocodiles, yet in point of fact, in order to keep the species going and maintain the industry, it might be a better idea to protect the big ones and have an open-go at the younger ones.” . On this note of reason (or shortly thereafter), it was decided to defer any action on crocodiles to the next meeting of the House.