PROSPEROUS PAPUA

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3112, 16 June 1917, Page 12

PROSPEROUS PAPUA

GROWING WEALTH OF NEW TERRITORY PIONEER WORK IN THE INTERIOR Tho last annual report of .ludsc Murray, Lieutenant-Governor of Papua, ; whioh has just boon issued, is of a most I wtisfaclory character. Ho says that the r revenue (less Commonwealth fiubsidy) i amounted to .£-18,898, as compared with j £17,130 for tho -previous year. Tho year i opened with a credit balance of .£Bl3l, I and closed with a surplus .of J;DM2. A ■ proposal is to bo submitted nest year ; for tho gradual reduction of tho Compionwoaltli subsidy. Imports show an '■ increase of A"2o.ilßS, and exports an in- : cren.se of X' 31,074, Thn export of K old ' showed a decrease of .£13,000, but this • was almost exactly balanced by tho in- ! crease in tbo export of rubber, which rose from ,£.1501 to .£14,84 R. In tho previous annual report Judge Murray had ventured on tho prophecy that, on tho next year "the export of rubber would be at least doubled." It has increased tenfold. Tho export of gold is tho low- ! eat for many yeni's. Tho decrease will, ' however, hn thinks, bo inoro tban modo up by tho increase in agricultural ex- , ports. Hitherto-, the agricultural ex- : ports have been almost entirely native~the copra exports a:ro &o still—but this year tho effect of tho plantations is being felt. Hence tho increase- in rubber. As tho greater area comes into bearing the exports wil, of course, increase, and i in two or tha'oo years should reaoh a considerable amount. The total nroa under cultivation is 47,506. acres, an increase of a littlo more than MOO acres as compared with last year. The European population is 45 less than tho previous year, the decrease being accounted for to a great extent by tho departure of men to tho war. Labour was plentiful, the number "signed on" beine 6BB6; but no record is kept of casual labourers, ivhose number is very largo. j Exploration Work. Judgo Murray's reports always make interesting reading on account of the descriptions given of the exploration wort carried out by himself and his officers. Ho eays that the mud and sago ilata of the Bamu and neighbouring rivers to the cast of tho Fly proved a great hindranco to the patrol sent out last y.ear, and tho native inhabitants were found to bo most recalcitrant. "Indeed," ho writes, "the task of pacification sometimes seems to bo almost hopeless, and is only possible through the display by the officers whoso duty takes them into these unlovely regions of unlimited patience, and an absolute disregard of the most ordinary comforts of life." In tho Gulf division the assistant resident magistrate succeeded, in entering into more or less friendly relations with the so-called Kukukuku, of the Nabo Eange. The most remarkable characteristic of theso people appeared to be tho facility with which they become unconscious on apparently the slightest provocation. "When I approached the village," says Mr. Skelly, "the people stood and gazed at mo, and in less than two minutes there wero people fainting and collapsing all around me. Tour men and three women collapsed at my feet in a. heap. I called out to bring some water, but Chief Arivi explained to me that it was all ljijht, and no one appeared to be alarme'd." Another useful patrol was that of Mr. MacDonnell, Eosident Magistato, with nine- police, across the Territory from Cape Nelson, via. the Hydrographer'e Valley, to Port Moresby, and back via the Keveri Valley, 360" miles on foot and 14fl by water, a long journey, which took .nearly eight weeks, including a few days' rest in Port Moresby. During the year a man called Aida oivu caused porno unrest in tho country beyond Mafulu. Mr. Byth, assistant resident magistrate, was sent with a party of police into tho district, and was successful iu arresting Aida Sivu and somo of his accomplices; unfortunately, in tho course of operations a small detachment of police was attacked, and a native constable received a wound which proved fatal. Patrol-officer Kirby, whilo attempting to make arrests at a village- on the Kikori Eiver, received an arrow wound, frpiti tho effects of which ho died two or three days afterwards. ' Arrests must bo made sometimes, and he risk must bo regarded as inseparable from tho life of a police officer in an unsettled district," says Judge Murray. Abau Murders. An account is given of tho murder of four native police by tribesmen in the Abau district. "Practically all those in any way concerned in this murder— nineteen in number—havo been arrested." Judgo Murray writes. "Three of I them wero hanged at Port Moresby. The motive for theso murders has never been satisfactorily explainod; but it is interesting to know that ono at least of thoso who suffered tke death-penalty acknowledged the justice of his punishment, and in his last words sent a messago to his people urging them to give up their. lawless habits. . The arrest of theso criminals waa accomplished in spito of obstacles which at first appeared insuperable, nnd would, I think, have proved insuperable to any other police iorce. It is difficult for people- in Australia to form an adequate conception of tho difficulty of cil'ecting native arrests. Tho country is almost impossible to work over, as it consists almost entirely of sago swamps. These swamps were of varying doptli, beinj in parts and at certain seasons quite dry, wherene in other places the water would bo over a man's head. Tracks there wero none, and it was not always possible to secure guides; and when, in addition, it is remembered that'it was at times necessary to cross the wain pa at night by tho light of Jiro sticks, ono may have eomo idea of tlio difficultiffl with. wliicK tho Government party had to contend. Ijici-de-ntfllly, tho swamps not infrequently, swarm with alligators. . . It rcems like looking for a nendlo in a bundle of hav to search for an individual native in perhaps hundreds of squaro miles oC -unexplored sag-o Kwamp, andj were it not for tbo marvellous succcsa that hna liitliortiy attended, officers and thnir police in making these arrests, I should bo incliucd to despair.-" /