produces its

New Guinea produces its first graduates

From JOHN RYAN, in Port Moresby When he was handing out de grees in August at the Uni

versity of Papua-New Guinea,

Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck must have wondered what Lord Caradon would be thinking when he heard about it in New York.

Sir Paul and Lord Caradon “dis cussed” Papua-New Guinea’s ter tiary local education in May, 1962, when Sir Paul was plain P.M.C.

Hasluck, Minister for Territories, and Lord Caradon was Sir Hugh Foot, leader of the United Nations Visiting Mission.

Lord Caradon had what some describe as a “stand-up brawl” with Sir Paul over the apparent Australian sluggishness about establishing a university in New Guinea, and turn ing out fast a cadre of graduates for top jobs in a localised Public Service.

So, in 1966, Vice-Chancellor Dr.

John Gunther got the university started in bush-huts on the Port Moresby showground.

In August when Sir Paul came as Governor-General for the first gradua tion ceremony, the controversial university had turned into a gigantic concrete structure; had mushroomed into an impressive kind of thing that only John Gunther (with swearing, politicking and hard work) could have built.

Starting in 1964 with Papuan John Natera, Papua-New Guinea got five graduates (including a girl) from universities in Australia, and from the University of Hawaii. In August Sir Paul, Vice-Chancellor Gunther and hundreds of the delegates in Port Moresby for the 42nd ANZAAS Congress, watched six more native people graduate:— the very first from Papua-New Guinea’s own university. They were Vincent Serei Eri (BA) who’s tipped for big things m the Department of Education, and is in Australia now recruiting Aus tralians; Kohn Kadiba (BA), Renagi Renagi Lohia (BA), Rabbie Langanai Namahu (BA), Kas Magari (BSc) and John Kondra Pulu (BSc). The first five from universities overseas: John Natera, Bachelor in Agricultural Science; Henry To Robert (Econo mics), Joseph Aoae (Law), Kipling (over)

Uari (BA), and Mrs. Dowa Lynch.

In its fifth year of struggle against building and staffing problems and government hold-downs on intakes, the university is turning out the vitally-needed final product. But, as Vice-Chancellor Gunther told the annual conference of the Local Gov ernment Association only a few days beforehand, Papua-New Guinea won’t get all the native graduates it needs until well after the end of this century.

Europeans are going to be needed for a long time yet, and that’s why the Department of External Ter ritories is battling against severe criticism in trying to win favour for Prime Minister Gorton’s ASOC: the “new deal” called Australian Service for Overseas Co-operation.

Between 800 and 1,500 of the ter ritory's exisiting 6,800 European public servants will be selected for ASOC and offered job-guarantees here or elsewhere, to stay in New Guinea during the testing period between self-government and indepen dence. But the public servants don’t like Gorton’s ASOC: they prefer the “golden handshake” scheme —legislation on the books but not yet activated, which offers a comparable alternative job in Australia or lump sum cash for Europeans “localised” as more native officers go into the Public Service. The battle continues.