PAPUAN NATIVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24537, 20 March 1943, Page 8

PAPUAN NATIVES

RECOGNITION OF WORK GREAT FESTIVE DANCE ADMINISTRATOR'S PLAN PAYING AUSTRALIA'S DEBT By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Special Australian Correspondent) :<Recd. fi.35 p.m.) SYDNEY March , / in recognition of the sterling work and loyalty of the Papuan natives and to celebrate the expulsion of the Japanese from the territory, tenia tive plans are being made for the organisation of a great festive dance. The military administrator of Papua, Major-General Basil Morris, lias in mind a celebration costing about .C10,000. Australian fighting men whoso efficiency and wellbomg have been so largely dependent upon the work ol iiiese natives say that even if the celebration is on the grand scale contemplated. oiii.v a fraction ot Australia's debt to the Papuans will be paid. It is certain, indeed, that had the Japanese been able to organise a carrier line as faithful and hard-working as that ot the Allies the enemy would have come much closer to Port Moresby Instances are quoted ol advancing Japanese soldiei • who were short ot supplies because hundreds oi their carriers had run off. dying through eating food which had been partially destroyed and , left to rot by retreating Australians. Carrying the Wounded Some of the enemy carriers were Papuan natives impressed on the spot and others had been brought from Pahaul. Many hundreds deserted as opportunity presented. One boy who had been educated at a Catholic mission {station organised the escape of 300 natives during an Allied bombing raid on Buna, in an amazing trek lasting several weeks he led his party along the North New Guinea coast, then inland to Wan and ultimately to Port j Moresby. There he marched his 300 men to military headquarters and handed Over the whole party for service with the Australians. " Many services rendered by the Papuans in the field may not yet be mentioned," says a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald, "but the Australian troops will always regard with most sentiment those Papuans who carried the sick and wounded back over the muddy, rain-saturated track through the Owen Stanley mountains, and who, in the later fighting, went right up to the Japanese positions on the SoputaSanananda track to carry back wounded.' Restoration o! Control So loyal were the natives that when officials of the New Guinea Administration re-established contact with areas from which the Japanese had just been driven they found every police hoy and every village councillor preparing for the restoration of Australian control. It was a further tribute to Australian control that natives who had cooperated with the Japanese openly acknowledged their guilt and offered to work with the Australians. Some of these natives helped to build near Buna the Allied airfield on which troops and supplies were landed. They were told thev were suspect, but would not be punished until they had been tried by a court The natives stayed on the iob and rushed the airfield to quick com pletion. Troops in Papua are warned not to "spoil'' the natives by tipping them or overpaying for services Gav? the Allies Victory "Ol course it is not difficult to spoil a man who iri peace time receives only eight or' 10 shillings a month from the big company that employs him." comments the Herald writer "With American troops paying £1 for a grass skirt, the native economic outlook has been somewhat, disturbed Nevertheless, if .Australians ever realise how vital a part the natives played in our Papuan victory they will insist that any postwar new order in Australia shall embrace these Australian subjects in Papua. " The Australian army leaders m charge of the Papuan campaign agree that it was the faithfulness, bravery and capacity for arduous work of the Papuans that gave the Allies their victory. The fight for the Buna-Gona area in tho early stages was one of supplies. Had it not been for the sweating toiling natives, who in their thousands carried our food and ammunition across the Owen Stanley Pange. we might never have driven the Japanese back." MASSACRE OF JEWS LONDON March is A dramatic SOS from the Warsaw ghetto which has been received by the Polish National Council in London says the liquidation of the ghetto has been speeded up. lb is intended to empty the ghetto entirely and close it before tiio spring. Recently 50 Germans were killed while carrying out the gruesome task. The Germans, in reply, brought up machine-guns and massacred hundreds of Jews. "You must save us, otherwise history ■will hold you responsible for our fate," concludes the message CABLES IN BRIEF South American Visit.—The VicePresident of the United States, Mr. 1 Henry A. Wallace, has arrived in Costa Pica on his way to South America, Naval Vessel Lost. —The Admiralty , announces that the naval auxiliary vessel Fidelity has been lost. Her command ng officer was a member of the Fighting French forces General Smuts Honoured. The Prime Minister of South Africa. General Smuts, has been awarded the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for 1942. Ho is the first South African to < receive this honour Soviet Air Marshal.—A message from ! Moscow announces that Colonel-General • Kovikov. of the Soviet Air Force, has been awarded the military title of Marshal of the Soviet Air Force. He is the first Russian Air Force officer to be given this title. Gift ol £20,000. —The sum of £20,000 has been given to tho Royal ( Air Force •Benevolent Fund by an , American citizen who lias been living in Fugkind for tho past 12 years. Ho , is Mr. Alan Miller, who saw service t y.iih the Royal Air Force in (he last .war. ' Loss ol Citizenship.—The United States citizenship of Fritz Kuhn, late national leader of the German Ameri- i can Bund, and 10 other former mem- s hers, has been cancelled, states a New (' York message. Kuhn is in New York - State prison serving a term for em- ' bending bund funds. i