NEW GUINEA AS IT IS

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3308, 30 March 1926, Page 10

NEW GUINEA AS IT IS

Australia’s Great I New Responsibility jYOUNG NEW ZEALANDER IN j MANDATED TERRITORY j j Ask the average person what he knows of Now Guinea, and ho will tell you vaguely that it is somewnere north of Australia, and will talk still more vaguely of head-hunters. Mention New Britain, Now Ireland, and Solomon Islands, Lavongai, and his mind will skip immediately to tno exploits of the famous—or infamous "Bully” Hayes, and he secs palm-clad atolls beneath tropic skies, whitesailed Island schooners, and the waves breaking on coral beaches. According to Mr. L. Hamilton, who arrived in Palmerston North last week from New Guinea on a visit to his brother, Mr. G. K. Hamilton, headmaster of the Hokowhitu school, such description would be somewnai in the nature of the experiences or the blind man of Hindustan who went |to see an elephant—‘an wcr» somewhat right, and all were in the wrong.’ Mr. Hamilton, browned to tne traditional mahogany colour of the tropic dweller, when sjieaking to a “Times” reporter yesterday was quite casual in his explanation of the counitry in which he has spent the last five years, as Inspcctff of Plantations to the Expropriation Board, set up by the Australian Government to manage Hie territory when it was taken over from ithe Germans at tne conclusion of the war. But, However casually uttered, no conversation could be quite uninspiring where headhunters, pigmy tribes, plantations on lonely atolls 200 miles from the nearest land or neighbour, and similar circumstances were mentioned Incidentally. Particulars of New Guinea. The Mandatory territory of New Guinea consists of part of the island of New Guinea and scattered groups of islands, comprising the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands, the whole having a total length or 1100 miles, and a maximum widitn — on the mainland —of some 200 to 300 miles. On this area of 91,000 square miles, or three-quarters the size or New Zealand, there are plantations totalling, on June 30, 1924, 172,373 acres, and a white population of 1,555. Of the cultivated area, practically the whole is devoted to the growth of coconuts for copra, some 300 plantations being in operation. On about 25 per cent, of the area, cocoa trees are planted amongst the coconuts and produce a fair amount of cocoa beans. About 2000 acres of rubner has also been planted, most of that put in by th e Germans, however, being of the inferior East African variety (Ficus clastica), but small areas of Para rubber have been planted and is doing well in favourable localities. Climate. The climate, Mr. Hamilton explained, is remarkably mild for a country situated so far north. "The northern-most portion of the territory.” he said, “is only 4 degrees south of the equator, and yet tne average temperature is only 79 (to 81 degrees, seldom varying outside those figures. The equality of the temperature makes th e climate rather pleasant. As a matter of fact. I found it much easier to bear Ithan Sydney. There is no real ‘rainy season,* although the rains are rather heavier from November to March, or April. The average rainfull is about 120 inches, although in parts it rises ro 250 inches. But we seldom get continuous rain; a tropical downpour lasting half a'-day will bring down four inches or rain, and in the afternoon, ithe sun will shine out brilliantly, leaving everything steaming.” Tropical Diseases. On being asked as to diseases, Mr. Hamilton stated that malaria was fairly general. He had not himself had to go down with it, during nis stay of five years, although he had felt “pretty groggy” a,t times, but it was not unusual for men to have to lie up for a fortnight or so when they got a spell .of i(t. Blackwater rever was known but infrequent, some doctors ascribing it to over-dosing wi,th quinine as a preventive to malaria. Formation of Country. New Guinea as a whole, Mr. Hamilton explained, is mountainous. A large proportion of the plantations are situated on atolls, or rings of small islands surrounding a central lagoon, the whole protected by an outer reef of coral. Many of these atolls were originally planted by the natives, but the greater number by the Germans. The average plantation is of an areu, of 250 hectares, or G 25 acres, but those on th e atolls naturally vary considerably in size. Besides these, the coast is flat for a couple of miles inland in many places, and these, with the low foothills beyond, nave been utilised. At Rabaul, on the northern coast of New Britain, there is a continuous belt of plantations, 25 miles in length by half-a-mile in width, this being th e largest planted area in the (territory. Behind this is the tropical jungle. Elsewhere, plantations have been started wherever individual enterprise located throughout the 1100 miles of territory. Tnere is a plantation of 500 acres of coconuts on the Tasman Islands, an atoll 200 miles from the nearest land, Kie.ta, and hero a solitary while man is in charge, seeing- none but coloured labourers between the three-monthly visits of the Board’s schooners. Labour. The whole of the labour used Is native, there being sufficient for all | purpose.;;, fairly u* s Vigont and easily managed. It is not until the Bismarck Ranges, and upper reaches of the

Sefik river are reached, that tne head-hunter in his pristine ferocity is found. The native labour is indentured for thre e years, th e plantationowncr having to provide his boys with food and clothing and a wage, for ordinary labourers, of 5s a month. Individual men, such as motor mechanics, or schooner captains, <«get as much as £5 a month. The physique of th e average native is rather beiow that of the Samoan, although there are individual tribes equally good, or better. Production. “The land differs greatly In quality,” Mr, Hamiliton stated. Some of the plantations, with copra at its present price of £2 a ton, did not pay their way. Others lifted a handsome pront. "On fairly good soil,” he said, “a man should make a clear income of £louo a year off 100 hectares (250 acres) of coconuts. Planted with 100 to 140 trees to the hectare, a ton or copra should be taken off each year. Ten pounds per hectare should pay all expenses and land the copra at a shipping centre.’’ As to th e value of the land under coconuts. Hr. Hamilton was reticent:. The Australian Government, he explained, was at present calling tenders for the plantations, and he did not desire to put a price on them. “Tne Germans valued them at the rate or £1 for each fuli-grotvn tree,’’ lie said, “but copra was £3B to £4O a ton at that time. I may say that wo value them at considerably less than that.” Besides the coconuts, it was stated, cattle were run to keep down the native grass, at the rate of one per hectare, these being a cross between the Javanese breed and Hercfords. The breed was small, bu|t produced good working bullocks, which were largely used for inter-station haulage. Communication. The Burns, Philp Bine runs a steamer from Sydney to Habaul every three weeks, calling at Madang, Aitape, Karaing, Kieta, Buka Passage, Maron, Manus, and Witu, all of which places are administrative centres, with Government oiiicials and court-houses. Another Burns, Philp vessel, trailing to China and Japan, calls at Kabaul every six weeks, and between tnese stations and the outlying plantations and lonely atolls, communication is by auxiliary schooners of from ten to eighty tons, maintained by th e administration. Pigmies and Other Tilings. With the picturesque side of the life in New Guinea, Mr. Hamilton confessed himself not greatly interested. A keen, level-eyed young man, in the early thirties, an ex-ofllcer in the Australian Expeditionary Force, he is of the practical typo, who make a success in the far-flung outposts or Empire. "Pigmies!” he said, “Oh, yes. Queer little devils, the biggest of them not five feet in height. Curious thing about them is that tnoy sleep in sleeping bags made of grays with bent cane—whole families in one bag. With the temperature outside at over 70 degrees, a whijte man, or a native not used to it, would suli’oeate, but they pull through ail right. The mosquitoes are so bad they have to do something.” “Yes most of the houses are bunt on piles 15ft. high or so, but that is because they arc situated on river banks, or on deltas at the mouths oi rivers. They’ve got to keep them up on account of floods. Sensible idea in the circumstances!” “I expect to go back in April,” Mr. Hamilton explained in parting. "1 have tendered for some of the plantations, and hope to make a home there. Of course, a man has to have a holiday away from there every couple of years, as in all tropical countries, but it’s all right. It’ll do me anyhow.”