NEW GUINEA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18995, 17 October 1923, Page 7

NEW GUINEA

CHARGES AGAINST ADMINISTRATION. AN OFFICIAL REPORT. Pmm Association—By Telegraph—Copyrlga* SYDNEY, October 16. (Received Oct. 16, at 10.15 p.m.) Dr Earle Page (Acting-Prime Minister) has received the report of Mr A. S. Canning, who was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to inquire into allegations of the flogging and ill-treat-ment of the natives in the mandated territory of New Guinea. It is stated that the report, which 'S based on evidence supplied by the whole of the missionaries in the group —Wesleyan, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran — and also by Government officials and others, entirely and conclusively refutes the allegations which were made. Hie report will be dealt with by Senator Pearce (Minister of Home and Territories) on Thursday.

Grave allegations of forced labour and cruelty to natives in the mandated territory of New Guinea were made by Mr H. M. Ellis in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. According to the Administrator, these allegations caused jubilation among the German inhabitants, and the Federal Government recently despatched a special commissioner (Mr Canning) to investigate the assertions. Mr Canning, who is a magistrate of Western Australia, and an ex-member of the Taxation Appeal Board of New South Wales, recently returned to Sydney from New .Guinea, and entered upon the preparation of his report. The following were among the allegations made by Mr Ellis: The Territory Administration is unsatisfactory—both in form and in staff. The Expropriation Board, which manages the properties taken from the Germans, has most of the commerce of the territory in its grip, and is holding it in a state of suspended animation. The board’s working deficit equalled 50 per cent, of its turnover last year. Many of its plantations are in a state of ruin. There is no land policy—therefore no new settlement.. No agricultural development has taken place since 1920. Asiatics are replacing returned soldiers on some of the Government coconut plantations. It is alleged that Chinese have preference in the occupancy of trading stations. The legal system lends itself to numerous abuses. Prisoners are said to b© punished for crimes which' do not legally exist. There are still Germans in Rabaul co see what is going on and apprise the outside world of it.