Where content

Books

Where content outshines title

PNC POPULATION: THE COUNTRY . . .

Population of Papua New Guinea. Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific, South Pacific Commission Coun try Monograph Series No. 7.2, 1982. 285 pp.

This is the second population monograph prepared by ES CAP/SPC for the South Pacific, the first being for Western Samoa in 1979. Another four are in preparation. The purposes of the monographs include the util isation of data produced by cen suses, sample surveys and the like to improve socio-economic planning decisions.

The title does not do justice to the content. Certainly, there are the expected chapters on fertility, mortality, family planning prog rams and the like, and these are written in a readable style yet with considerable depth. A num ber of other chapters, however, deal with topics much wider than population as such; these include the relationship of population to nutrition, housing, economic ac tivity and the law.

Taken as a whole, the mono graph is an impressive compila tion of and commentary on the considerable census and survey data available for the 19705. Gi ven the rapid turnover of public servants and researchers (and perhaps lethargy after the tedious data collection and preparation tasks), much of this data has not yet been subject to close scrutiny. Apart from the 1966 and 1971 censuses, these include the Urban Household Survey (1973/74), the Rural Survey (1974/75), the Household Ex penditure Survey (1975/76), and the Urban Population Survey (1977).

I found Louise Morauta’s chapter on “Families, households and housing”, particularly impre ssive in its blending of data for many of these sources. In an examination of urban household living standards (pp. 190-197), Morauta considers two particular changes which have occurred in PNG towns: real incomes per wage-earner have risen but so also have the number of depen

dents per wage-earner. She finds that the effect of wage increases (adjusted for price increses) has outweighed the increase in de pendents so that real average wages per resident increased (in Port Moresby by 36 per cent between the end of 1973 and late 1977). She notes, however, that average figures are likely to hide the fact that many households (e.g. those in settlements and urban villages) have low or no cash income. Large-scale sur veys are not particularly il luminating as regards non-wage sources of income (e.g. home grown food); they collect data on the proportions of households de riving food or money from non wage sources, but without par ticular accuracy as regards values.

A number of chapters (e.g.

Peter Heywood’s “Population, food supply and nutrition”, and Helen Barnes’ “Population growth and status of women”) contain much less “hard” data. In the former case, this is largely because the nutrition studies sur veyed have been subject to im portant methodological criticism.

Yet there are tantalising pieces as well. For example, during the

1960 s and ’7os clinicians report

ed many cases of the protein

deficiency disorder kwashiorkor, and the wasting disease maras mus, in the Highlands. A large and careful recent survey of chil dren in the Simbu Province re ported no such cases. Why is this? Has education resulted in parents with more awareness of the need to feed children high nutrient foods? Are the cash earnings for coffee and the purchase of imported tinned mackerel largely responsible?

These and related questions are being answered by research car ried out in the 1980 s. Hey wood points out clearly the need to examine the relevance to PNG of international definitions of malnutrition.

One important omission in the monograph is the lack of consid eration of the relative importance of “development” (including, for example, urbanisation, education and greater participation of wo men in monetary-sector ac tivities) and family planning programs in influencing birth rates. Many studies for other countries consider that the “moti vational factors,” influenced by development, are more important than the provision of technology as under a family-planning prog ram. This would seem an inter esting research topic, and some

. . . And The Towns

data on provincial-level varia tions in fertility between 1966 and 1971 are discussed in Chap ter 2. Investigation may indicate that money spent on family plan ning programs has very little impact on birth rates, which may nonetheless decline as develop

ment proceeds.

The monograph should be of considerable value to planners, students and researchers, and I trust it will have wide circulation in PNG and elsewhere. No doubt the 1981 census results, com bined with the data examined in

this monograph, will provide

many fruitful and important fields for research during the 1980 s. In this regard, most chap ters, and a separate annex, dis cuss existing data sources and

quality. Geoff Harris.

Books received

Volcanoes in the Sea. By Gordon A.

Macdonald, Agatin T. Abbott, Frank L.

Peterson. Second Edition, published 1983, University of Hawaii Press, 2840 Kolowalu Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. ISBN 0 8248 0832 0. Price 5A29.95.

Pan Hana; Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii. By Ronald Takaki. Published 1983, University of Hawaii Press, 2840 Kolowalu Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. ISBN 0 8248 0856 7. Price 5A14.95.

Sticks that Kill. By Trevor Shearston.

Published 1983, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland. ISBN 0 7022 1804 9. Price 5A14.95.

Mi Mere: Poetry and Prose. By Solomon Islands Women Writers. Published 1983, University of the South Pacific, P.O. Box 460, Honiara, Solomon Islands. No ISBN, no price provided.

Settler Capitalism: The Dynamics of Dependent Development in the South ern Hemisphere. By Donald Denoon.

Published 1983, Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford ox 2 6DP United Kingdom. ISBN 0 19 828 2915. Price 5A56.25.

Soviet Studies in History: Recent Soviet Works on the Pacific. Vol. XXI No. 4.

Published Spring 1983. Edited by Donald J. Raleigh. Published by M. E. Sharpe Inc., 80 Business Park Drive, Artnonk, New York 10504. ISBN 00 38 5867. Price single issue $A 11.00.

Sun and Rain and Other Stories in English and Tongan. By Pesi Fonua.

Published by Vavau Press, P.O. Box 427, Nukualofa, Tonga. No. ISBN. Price SA6.

Struggle for Cargo. By John Grover.

Published 1983, Rigby Publishers, 176 South Creek Road, Dee Why, NSW, Australia. 2099. ISBN 0 7270 1851 5.

Price $A 11.95.

Sydney Parkinson: Artist of Cook’s En deavour Voyage. By D. J. Carr. Publish ed 1983, Australian National University Press, P.O. Box 4, Canberra. A.C.T.

Australia. 2600. ISBN 0 7081 1172 6.

Price $A49.95.