The Bay of Plenty Times MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1947. RESPONSIBILITY IN THE PACIFIC

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 14299, 24 February 1947, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1947. RESPONSIBILITY IN THE PACIFIC

A subject with which in thinking New Zealanders should .mto themselves familiar is that of the admmistia ion ant of the various island possessions of nations concerned " Pacific. While much that is to the ultimate good of t p P of both Melanesia and Polynesia may be decic e ai to ference table, there is a huge reservoir of expene native be drawn upon by those on whom the rcsponsi i } , welfare will ultimately fall. It is beyond question that the British Empire, with centimes of colonial experience behind it, has accumulate moie vii ° of administration of backward peoples than any o icr na !°n . Pacific interests. Experience gained with stone-age peop e > _ century or more ago, can be applied successfully in sue i P ' New Guinea and. the Solomons, whose inhabitants to- ay ai.e ,« about the same stage of human development as were the Maoris at the time of the coming of the pakeha. ■ The Empire has produced many remarkable men who nave shown hmv native races can be managed for their own u ima e good and not exploited for the benefit of others. Perhaps ie earliest was William Penn who, in 1682, established friend y ie a tions with the warlike inhabitants of Pennsylvania. His fair treatment of ' the Indians resulted in the amicable relations between the two races remaining unbroken for 70 years. In the five yeais following the conquest of Java in 1811, Stamford Raffles (to quo e Lord Elton) “swept away the corrupt and oppressive methods of the Dutch, and gave the Javanese freedom, a dignity and a piosperity which they had never known.” The nineteenth century produced many other notable men with a Hair for achieving similar results. Brooke in Sarawak, - in the early 1840’s, became the friend and protector of the people. About the same time Livingsttfne was teaching the lesson that Britain’s first obligation in Africa was to promote the welfare of the Africans. In England Wilberforce and Burke were preaching the principal of colonial trusteeship, which was to grow into the mandate system as we know it to-day. It was Lord Lugard, the famous administrator of the present century, who laid down a formula which should be the guiding principal of all native administration, particularly where white and coloured races are living side by side: “Complete uniformity in ideals, absolute equality in the paths of knowledge and culture, equal opportunity for those who strive, equal administration for those who achieve; in matters social and facial a separate path, each pursuing his own inherent traditions, preserving his race purity and race pride; equality in things spiritual, agreed differences in the physical and material.”