NEW GUINEA ADMINISTRATION.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3101, 9 January 1922, Page 7

NEW GUINEA ADMINISTRATION.

TREATMENT OP NATIVES

(By Marjorie Masson)

To gain a real knowledge of the territory of New Guinea would doubtless take many years; to acquire a very real affection for it. however, takes only a few weeks. A short experience of the fascinating region, and you belong to it for always; belong, that is, in the sense tliat afterwards your mind dwells on it as persistently as if it had formed the familiar background of your whole life. Certainly the fact that its loveliness, its difficulties, and its possible tragedies have now become Australia’s concern gives to the affection a personal quality that otherwise might not be there. " You rejoice the more keenly in its beauty, you think more seriously about its .problems, and you caro for its welfare as you would for that of a friend.

Its welfare, under Australian administration, has lately been much discussed in the press of Sydney iind Melbourne. Many disquieting things have been said, chiefly about the treatment of the natives. Peo-nlp dearly love a. “scandal,” and there is always a possibility that the authors of statements, such as those that have been made, may in their zeal inflame a half-inform-ed public to pillory the wrong man. Unless the public is definitely told otherwise, it is almost bound to jump to the conclusion that when “the Administration” is blamed in, large headlines, it is the administrator who is meant. Therefore it is good to see that Mr Le Maistre Walker, of the Buka Plantations Company, in an interview printed in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, puts General Wisdom on the side of the angels. Those who are spreading alarming reports about certain undesirable conditions in the territory would! surely regret doing so if they simply added to the difficulties 01. the <man who is devoting himself to getting rid of those conditions as fast as he can. If, on the other hand, these correspondents succeed in rousing the authorities here to a realisation of the dangers of sending the wrong type of man to New Guinea, and create a strong public opinion.' in favor of supplying. the administrator with none but educated men of good character, who will loyally support him in his task, then real good will have been done. Native control is not a profession that Australians have as yet had an opportunitv to follow, except to a limited l extent in Papua. It is the fashion to belittle the work of the Papuan administration, hut it was largely our good record there that gained for us the mandate over the German territory, and it is fortunate that wo have secured from there an experienced Resident Magistrate for the direction of native affairs in New Guinea- .Obviously the ideal thing would be to have as his assistants, scattered throughout the territory, a band of men with a knowledge of ethnology, a wide reading in the methods of officers in other tropical countries, and systematic, practical experience of their own in the control of native races. But we cannot expect to staff the whole area with trained men ; wo can he content if each officer, subordinate as well as senior, is a capable, upright man, who will put- the territory first and himself second, and scrupulously try to do his share in accordance* with the terms of our trust. If we cannot expect the officers of the administration to have had a scientific training in the handling of natives, still less can wc look for expert knowledge among the planters newly imported from Australia. These men go there primarily to try to make money, and therefore it is all the more essential that they should he a good type of citizen, who will not abuse the power that is in their hands as employers of native labor. Some of the men one sees there, inexperienced as they are, instinctively adopt a dignified and humane attitude to the boys in their charge; others are obviously unfit for the responsibility. It is impossible to exaggerate the dangers of allowing the wrong type of man to settle in New Guinea, where in oven a. short time he can do incalculable harm. A drunken man is unsightly anywhere, but one needs to see him in the tropics, among a native population supposed to regard the white race with unquestioning respect, to realise to 1 the full how harmful drink can he.

Everyone there, experienced 1 or inexperienced, in discussing the native question, says the same thing: “The native ie a child, and he must be treated like one.” This is good so far as it goes, and in the mouths of some men it means that the native must be treated with as much kindness and justice as firmness. But about the upbringing of children there are ae many opinions as there are parents, and undoubtedly in New Guinea there are at present fewer believers in the Montessori method than in the occasional good hard bang. In his report to the Prime Minister, made available to Parliament on December 1, the administrator refers to l the fact that the white population is already- protesting against the absolute prohibition of corporal punishment. This is especially true or the “old hand,” the resident of a few years, who' honestly believes that, it is impossible to manage a native without the power to hit him. A newcomer, who asked him if he had ever thought of trying any other way; would quite naturally be snubbed; but fortunately there are few' men there, not newcomers, who have the imagination, the' personality, and the character to- govern by other means. It will, however, take time for the! example of such men to have full effect, and win over to the Administration others who l are at present sceptical about the new philosophy. The deeds of the l rare man, whose instincts are really cruel, will always be quickly heard of and punished. It is more difficult to combat the less nounced law-breaking of the man who sticks to his opinion that the only way to deal with a disobedient native is to strike him. If he is a man of good 1 character he may hold that view and act on it, and still (though he cannot be called loyal to the Administration) somehow contrive to do not much harm; but if he has a tropical temper and a tropical thirst, and not too scruplous an attitude of mind, he is a thorn in the sidei of the district officer, and a real affliction to the community, white and native, of which he is a member.

If the Australian public wants to help in the struggle for better ways, it will not clamor for Parliamentary inquiries or commissions to report. It will help best by doing what it can to ensure that none but men of principle and character be allowed to go to the Territory in any capacity whatever. The rest can safely be left to the present administrator.