historic Native Affairs post?

Can an "outsider" win New Guinea historic Native Affairs post?

New Guinea correspondent “GOROHAUVE” discusses some possibility Now that Mr. Keith McCarthy has announced that he wii retire as Papua-New Guinea’s Director of District Administrs tion in September, there is great speculation about the name o the new man who will be chosen to fill this key position.

FTEREST in the decision has only been surpassed in recent years by the interest over the naming of the new Administrator, for District Ad ministration—or Native Affairs as it was—has always attracted a great deal of attention.

The men of the department have spearheaded the drive to civilise the people of New Guinea; the patrol officers have been the explorers and the pro-consuls for half a century.

But their role has changed recently, since the misty hinterland valleys have been brought under control, and it could well be that for the first time the new director will not be appointed from the ranks of the field staff. The skills required are now different. Many people believe that a change in the order of succession might be to the territory’s advantage.

Those in the running

Let’s look at the present members of the department, and some former members of it, whose names have already been whispered as being in the running as McCarthy’s successor.

The first is an obvious one—Tom Aitchison —who is the First Assistant Director of the department. Aitchison, a small, soft-spoken, shrewd man, is rising 57, and on the count of age alone is hardly likely to be appointed.

And despite his many years of hard bush service, particularly in the early days in the Highlands, not even his warmest admirer would say that Aitchison has the administrative skill, political wisdom, drive and leader ship, which the new director must possess in abundance if the depart ment is to play its proper part in the next five to seven crucial years.

The only other senior member of the department’s headquarters staff is Bill Dishon, like Aitchison a man in his fifties. A quiet, colourless, hard working back-room boy, Dishon is a sick man out of the running.

Three former members of the de partment whose names are being men tioned are Bob Cole, now Com missioner of Police; David Fenbury, the Secretary of the Administrator’s

Department, and Gerry Toogood,. of Fenbury’s assistant secretaries: A couple of years ago Cole, District Commissioner, Sepik, prevailed upon by Sir Donald Cl© to accept the police job. Whiles odds are now that he wishes hadn’t, it is highly unlikely that would put himself forward McCarthy’s job. He has a hercu job in cleaning the stables of the( sent police situation, and being a of decent pride he would not I himself open to suggestions thar ran away from the police job beo he couldn’t cope with it. A pity\ cause Cole would make an admix director.

Fenbury, Toogood

Fenbury, a man of surpassing tellect and a doughty, but taa fighter, would be a favourite d: of many individual kiaps particu the immediate post-war vintage are now District Commissioners Deputy District Commissioners., has a formidable record of w while achievement in the fiell native affairs, but in recent yean has suffered an eclipse which cut ated in the removing of contrr DC’s from his department. Morn he is in his own words “a bit c iconoclast”, and this, plus his varying integrity of approach ttJ many problems he considers are continuously shelved, has nofli deared him to the present i hierarchy in the Department off ritories. If Hasluck and Lau were still there he would be wi\ the running, but now he mux considered an outsider. ReluctJ If Sir Donald Cleland still Administrator, Toogood would well in the running, and in viei the favourable impression hes created in exalted circles becam his successful two or three aflj ances at the UN he must still b©< ceded a chance. He is a very fit f of impressive appearance, still i early fifties, and is a pre-war o of the old Papuan administration

(Continued on p. 158)

Smooth in his dealings with politicians, high Commonwealth public servants and members of the Trustee ship Council and secretariat, it could be that David Hay, himself a former Ambassador at the UN, would look on him with favour. But it must be recorded that for a variety of reasons, Toogood’s appointment would not be popular with the rank and file of the field staff, and with this sort of handi cap hampering him, it seems unlikely that he would get the appointment.

Of the present active crop of DC’s only four, at the most, are thought to have any chance of being con sidered. They are Ted Hicks, of Wewak; Harry West, of Rabaul; Des Bassett, of Madang and the redoubt able Tom Ellis, of Hagen.

The first three are all much of an age and have a common background in that they were all young ANGAU officers and very early appointees as patrol officers to the post-war admin istration. All have completed the two-year diploma course at ASOPA with distinction, and there is little doubt that they all are more attuned to the present climate of native admin istration than any of their pre-war colleagues.

West is quick, but sometimes im pulsive and rash; Bassett is deliberate and sometimes timid, while Hicks is a bit temperamental. Nevertheless, all three have considerable achieve ments to their credit and any one could cause an upset.

The unusual Ellis

Ellis is in a category of his own.

Brought to the territory nearly 45 years ago as a child, he has become a legend in the Western Highlands.

Appointed District Commissioner in 1959, his drive, imagination and in itiative have made his district into the most go-ahead in the territory.

He has the undoubted backing of the native people there, and since his appointment as an official member of the House of Assembly, he has emerged as a strong and positive member on the government side.

But being a director of a key de partment in Port Moresby, subordinat ing his desires to that of the team as a whole, requires different tech niques to that of running what is, after all, still a pretty remote and primitive district, and there are many who feel that his god-like attitudes— reminiscent of General Macarthur— and his steam-rolling methods, might not work out at Konedobu.

If he does get the job—and he has

an excellent chance—he will have emulated the example of Bert Jones, who started as a medical assistant in the early twenties and finished as Director of District Services (as it then was) in the fifties.

There is one man, who while not a kiap, has been persistently men tioned for the job, and that is Bill Carter, the Director of Posts and Telegraphs. Still in his early forties —the same age as West, Hicks and Bassett, Carter was only 32 when he came to the territory in 1954.

A post office trained engineer with an engineer’s logical and objective approach to problems, Carter has demonstrated that he has most of the qualities required in a key depart mental head. Patient, polite and con siderate in his human relations and staff matters, he is concise and de cisive in his summation of any problem placed before him. On a couple of occasions he has acted as an Assistant Administrator. Although Dr. John Gunther, for come reason, felt he was a disappointment in that high post, Carter has a blend of en thusiasm, idealism and hard headed ness.

One very important factor Carter’s favour is that, not having background of service in the ff staff, he has not been engaged in internicene jockeying for place 2 position which has always beenr feature of the field staff service. E body has any reason to dislike himr The days are now past when head of the field staff was choc from among those whose me qualification was a lifetime of de ing with primitive bush nativ Nowadays the job requires somebo qualified in the intricacies of puß administration, set against a bac ground of rapid and drams political, social and economic chair And, of course, additionally man chosen must have persoc qualities of integrity and leadersH capable of inspiring all those—broc as well as white—upon whose lii and activities the operations of department impinge.

If I were a betting man, I’d hs no hesitation in having a dollar Bill Carter’s nose. • For a note on J. K. McCartl see p. 42.