IN PAPUAN WILDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22197, 26 August 1935, Page 14

IN PAPUAN WILDS

EXPLORERS' THRILLS CONTACTS WITH NATIVES STRENUOUS JOURNEYS DELICATE SITUATIONS FATIGUE AND HUNGER [from our own- correspondent] SYDNEY. August 21 Australia has been thrilled by roading the detailed story of the adventures of Messrs. Jack Hides and Jim O'Malley during their journey into hitherto unknown parts of Papua. Their five months' journey will undoubtedly become one of the epics of exploration. Meanwhile Sydney has been entertaining the two heroes in the flesh. Ihey are on' special furlough, granted in order that they might restoro their health, almost wrecked by starvation and other privations during their strenuous trip. As a fact, Mr. Hides has been " down " with severe malaria for several days since his arrival here. Mr. Hides was born in Port Moresby, Papua, and was educated in Australia. He is not yet 30, but has had over 10 year's experience in Papua. He joined tie Papuan Government service first as a patrol officer, but during the past three years has been acting as assistant resident magistrate, his principal duty being the trying of natives and dealing with disputes concerning native affairs. From his first year of service in Papua he seemed to have an intuitive sense of interpreting the natives' thoughts and desires. He was thus able to sympathise with them in their outlook and temper justice with mercy in dealing with native matters. He speaks with kindness and enthusiasm of his work, and emphasises that even the cannibal tribes have many likeable traits and can be firm friends when their confidence and respect/ is gained. An Expert Bushman Sir Hubert Murray, LieutenantGovernor of Papua, says that Mr. Hides is a patrol officer of discretion and experience, and one of the best bushmen in Papua. When on patrol, his work is strenuous in the extreme, and he thinks nothing, when occasion demands, of going for 30 or more hours at a stretch. Mr. O'Malley, Sir Hubert says, is a most enthusiastic officer, loyal and devoted to Mr. Hides in all patrol operations. Mr. O'Malley, in an interview, said that the way in which Mr. Hides dealt with the natives and their whimsicalities of temperament was almost uncanny. Even when threatened with danger and possible death, he never flinched a muscle or showed the least signs of fear. He always kept faith with the natives. When he told them they hid to be punished they were punished, and when he made a promise to them, that promise was fulfilled to the letter. In that way he had won their respect and confidence. " Even in the exploratory journey, when the whole party was emaciated and ready to drop from fatigue and hunger, Jack Hides always presented a bold and determined front to the truculent natives," said Mr. O'Malley. " When he knew that their proposals of friendship were only ruses to lead us into a death ambush, he never let the natives know that he doubted them, but let them see plainly that he was prepared, at all hazards, to protect the lives of the exploration party." • ' Distinctive Race Speaking of the natives in the new land, Mr. O'Malley said they wero not like the ordinary Papuans met in the district around Port Moresby. The Government anthropologist there said they were of a Polynesian rather than a Melanesian type. They had clear skins, almost white, and were sharp featured, .showing a definitely distinctive race.

• Mr. jO'Malley is a nephew of Mr. J. T. O'Malley, Commissioner of Native Affairs in Papua. He is only 23, but has been in Papua on Government service for six years. He is already looking forward to his return to that country. He says that city life is beginning to pall on him already. " Sydney," he says, is all right for a holiday, but I should not like to live here indefinitely,. The noise of the city to me is both distressing and annoying. I seem to hear nothing but the noise of trains, trams and traffic all the time. It is to me nerve-racking." ARTIST'S MISTAKE EFFIGY WITH WRONG HAIR MADAME TUSSAUD'S GALLERY Sir Samuel Hoare, Britain's Foreign Secretary, who was the guest of the Foreign Press Association at a luncheon in London recently, told how, in a wax effigy, he was once confused with Mr. Lloyd George. "There was a time," he said, "when I had some opinion of myself, and was 60 foolish as not to be displeased with my own appearance. On that account, several years ago I was greatly flattered when a representative from Mme. Tussafid's asked me to give sittings for a wax effigy. "I was so pleased with the proposal that .1 made no inquiry as to whether it was for the Chamber of Horrors. Finally the effigy was completed. Imagine how I felt when I found that they had made the mistake of superimposing a head of long grey hair which had evidently been intended for Mr. Lloyd George." The moral which Sir Samuel drew from this story was that features should not be assigned to him which he did not possess, but that his career at the Foreign Office should be judged froni a general appreciation of his record in public life, and from the forts which emerged during the time he served st the India Office. BLAZING COACH DRAMA DISASTER CAUSED BY COW Thirteen passengers were burned alive and eight others seriously hurt in a charabanc accident on the MeknesJtabat road, about four miles from Khemisset, in Morocco. The vehicle was travelling at about 50 mile 3 an hour when a cow suddenly made its appearance on the road. In trying to avoid the animal the car overturned and immediately caught fire. Only eight persons sitting near the door were able to escape the flames. Help arrived too late, as the spot iwhere the accident occurred was not juuch frequented.