Letters
Co-Ops In
Pacific
I recently received the February, 1978, PIM and was
perplexed by Harry Jackman’s
review of “Co-operative Move ments in the Pacific: The Tubiana Workshop” (p 47).
While he focuses on the Roch dale Principles and scores the report’s lack of concentration
on co-operative principles, he
misses the point of emphasis which was to bring together a group of Melanesians who are involved in a variety of co
operative “movements”.
Rather than being “elitist” in nature, the group represented a cross section of men and women struggling with various alternatives currently existing in Melanesia along with those involved in co-operatives following Rochdale Prin
ciples.
Another uniqueness was the input from Dr Alexis Sarei, Father Momis, and inciden
tally, Bishop Gregory Singkai
and the leadership of the Buin Co-operative. A very inten tional reason for holding the meeting at Tubiana on
Bougainville was to experience
the pros and cons of the struggle of the North Solomons Province which at the time of the meeting (June, 1976) was a very real microcosm of the Melanesian development di lemma.
Mr Jackman’s assumption “that North Solomon’s clergy,
inexperienced in co-operatives,
carried the day” is totally inac curate and distracts from the essence of the report. The report highlights the many
different co-operative experi
ments going on in Melanesian countries, pointing to their strengths as well as weaknesses as seen by the men and women involved in them.
Contrary to Mr Jackman’s conclusion that this report is of little help as a contribution to
the developments of co operatives in the Pacific, I would commend it to your readers as a fair assessment of the struggle of Melanesians to
develop appropriate models
for indigenous development.
In reports from New Hebrideans, we see the pitfalls of European top-heavy man agement which nearly de
stroyed the co-operative
movement in Vanuaaku (New Hebrides). From the Solomons, we gain insight into the frustrations caused by the lack of marketing channels within the Pacific. We also are made aware of co-operative
agricultural experiments such
as Youngpela Didiman in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Finally, I would com mend the Co-operative Move ments in the Pacific: The Tubiana Workshop for the very reason that Mr Jackman criti cises it; because it affords us the chance to hear from Melanesian leaders regarding their dreams and struggles.
The report is NOT by Father Pat Murphy. It is the work of the participants with extensive notes of their presentations, discussions, and observations.
The inclusion of remarks by Father Momis, Dr Sarei, Bishop Gregory and notes on the field trips to Buin in south
Bougainville and the Bougain
ville Copper Mine was on the insistance of the workshop par ticipants. They are well worth reading for anyone who would like first-hand reflection on
those confusing days when
Bougainville was viewed as se cessionist upon the advent of
independence in Papua New
Guinea.
William L. Coop
(formerly Co-ordinator of Inservice Training Programme, Pacific Conference of Churches Rabaul Recorder at the Tubiana Workshop) Valley Cottage, NY
Png’S Wartime
Hangings
Your paragraph headed The ‘Darkest-Kept Secret ’ (Pacific Report, June), is somewhat misleading because it does not refer to the issue I raised in my speech in the House of Rep
resentatives on May 5, namely the disappearance of all rele vant trial records. I did not pre tend to have uncovered the story of the wartime hangings, which I have known about since 1960 and first wrote about in 1968 in my book The Penalty is Death.
However, the destruction of the records was only confirmed by Mr Ellicott’s answer to a question on notice.
I was well aware of Tom Grahamslaw’s articles in PIM during 1971 but they do not answer the basic questions which need to be examined; • Were the trials military or civil and under what law were the Papuan New Guineans
charged?
• Who defended them or were they undefended? • Did they understand the nature of the offences they were charged with? • How was the prosecution’s evidence evaluated or cor roborated? • Who reviewed the sen tences? • Was there a right of
appeal?
• Why were the sentences not referred to Canberra? • Was the Australian law of
treason regarded as appropri
ate for unsophisticated indi
genes?
• Why have virtually all the
records disappeared?
• Why has the incident gone unrecorded by historians and other writers of the period?
Barry O. Jones
House of Representatives, Canberra.
When Smithy
Was Sighted
I received my June copy of PIM, this morning and as I sat and read the Yesterday section (p 83) featuring the Pacific
flight of Kingsford-Smith, Ulm
and crew in the Southern Cross the radio announced the land ing in Brisbane of Smithy’s son on completion of his commem orative flight across the same ocean.
My thoughts went back 50 years to June 9, 1928, on which date I was a passenger aboard the Bums Philp steamer Mon toro heading for New Guinea.
A little before 10 o’clock that morning the old 10-knotter was abreast of Ballina on the NSW north coast steering from head land to headland to dodge the
prevailing southerly current
when the drone of aircraft motors came from seaward.
This was an unusual sound in those days before air services existed in Australia and cer tainly of no aircraft arrivals from overseas and it was an
unforgettable sight when a
Fokker trimotor monoplane burst out of a cloudbank, passed low over the ship, and crossed the coast prior to head ing north for its historic land ing at Brisbane.
We of the ship’s company were certainly the first to make an Australian sighting of the Southern Cross’ landfall. To New Guinea old-timers and B4s it could be mentioned that on that particular voyage Mon toro was skippered by “Jazz”
Williams with Bertie Walford as chief engineer, Ben Allen as purser and Bob Pollard on radio watch. The passenger list included two of New Guinea
goldfields pioneer pilots in Les
Trist and Bill Wiltshire.
After the sighting most of us trooped into the ship’s bar and kept drink steward Harry Stone busy until lunchtime as we toasted the event.
Bert E. Weston,
Wollstonecraft, NSW
A Rare Can
Wanted
I am seeking what must be a rare item, but perhaps a souvenir-hunting reader may be able to help me. I am attempting to locate one or more of the olive-drab tinted beer cans issued to US troops during the war.
These were supposed to pre vent the reflection of sunlight off* the can from giving the drinker’s location to snipers, etc. If any reader would con sider parting with any of these I would be happy to purchase or trade some other military item. Thank you.
David Stegman
Apt. 114, 4730 Bradley Blvd.
Chevy Chase, MD20015,