PAPUAN OFFICER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23595, 3 September 1938, Page 4

PAPUAN OFFICER

J. G. HIDES'S LAST BOOK

" Savages in Serge." By J. G. Hides. Illustrated. Sydney: Angus and Robertson: 8s 6d.

In this, presumably his last book, the late J. G. Hides has paid his tribute to the men with whom his working life was spent, the men who make possible the work of the author and his colleagues—that is. the native constabulary of Papua. This is not a tale of a single patrol, as was "Papuan Wonderland." It deals primarily with the make-up of the force, tells how it is recruited, often from " murderers" who have served their sentences, and gives sketches of typical policemen and their deeds. This incidentally involves the description of numerous patrols and punitive expeditions by way of illustration. Punitive expeditions have a reason, so we get also a description of some of the head-hunting raids that necessitated retribution. In this way we are given an excellent cross-section of. life in the really wild parts of Papua, vivid word-pictures of frightful massacres, deliberately and coldbloodedly planned by the natives with the idea of getting some heads, it did not greatly matter whose, to increase the tribal prestige. We are told, too, how the native lives when he is not head-hunting, and how easily he can be educated when justice is administered personally by such a man as " Judge " Murray, the Governor of the territory. Sir Hubert Murray understands the natives, and, what is more, makes them feel that he really desires only their truest well-being. He is turning them to peaceful ways. The author wondered, sometimes, whether in civilising them their rulers were not in some degree harming them. This mood came on him most strongly when he was himself far from civilisation and could appreciate to the full the beauty of freedom unhampered by the mechanical bonds of modernity. But in Papuan jungles there was much insecurity. The change from the nomadic to the agricultural way of life is a prime necessity to any people that wishes to rise far above the animal. As long as Australia restricts her efforts substantially to establishing that revolu-

tion in way of life and does not overcivilise, she is giving the natives the best opportunity available to develop higher values of their own. The elimination of head-hunting may well cause physical deterioration, but that can hardly be an argument against Us abolition.

The description of the various expeditions is done with all Mr Hides's accustomed skill. With his unfortunate death from the after-effects of an heroic effort to rescue a brother officer from the jungle, Papua lost not only one of her best outside men, but also her chief interpreter to theVorld. Mr Hides, like his great chief, had an unusual comprehension of the workings of the native mind. That is why he was able to make the proud boast that never once had he had to order his men to fire to kill. That, also, is why he can make the reader sympathise with the native outlook, even while he sees that it stands in need of reformation. The book is not all about the jungle, nor entirely about the police. There are some most amusing thumb-nail sketches of Port Moresby characters, some policemen, such as Sergeantmajor Simoi, who "was a lance-cor-poral when Queen Victoria died," some civilians, such as that ingenious rogue Rakatani, who found companypromoting a very pleasant road to personal prosperity. There is also a delightful story of the Kiwais who " got religion and got it properly." They demanded a "whiteman church, a church of cemence," and what is more, got it. It was built, and the missionary was just about to move in and dedicate it. "No fear." they said. "This is our church. If we want you to come and talk to us some time, we will ask you. If we want the Roman Catholic priest from Thursday Island we will ask him. If we want to talk ourselves, then we will talk. But all the time, we think, we will talk ourselves." And so the church stands to-day. Many Papuans, like their cousins, the Maoris, are gifted speakers, and love talking to a crowd. "Savages in Serge" gives us both the light and the shade of the Papuan scene. The brutalities and the humanities, the insect pests, and the compensating beauties of river and forest, all are set down here. The author loved this country, and he loved its people. In the pages of his book he has made us feel that his love was given to no unworthy objects. In his lifetime he had his reward in* seaing a growing measure of security and order in a land many parts of which he himself was the first white man to explore. His lasting memorial will be in the development of the colony that he did so much to establish. P. H. W. N.

A SAGA OF SUMMER LIFE ON A PRIVATE ISLAND ' Northern Summer." By Gosta af Geijerstam. London: Collins. Bs. Probably every normal person has cherished at some time or another a desire for a private island, a right little, tight little kingdom, all his own. Few of us ever achieve that desire. Those who do are all too often disappointed. Mr Geijerstam was luckier than mast. He found his island, and he was in no way disillusioned. That was because he realised that you cannot holiday endlessly in the country. When he found Storevik. his dreamisle, he found also a farm. He bought the farm, and, importing there his wife, his family and his live stock, settled down to grow his own hay and mow his own hay. as all kings of very small kingdoms have had to do since time immemorial. The family is quite delightfully human, and, though this story is set in a country we do not know, the descriptive power of the author leaves us under no handicap. Not that description is overdone. In fact, when one comes to analyse it, one is told extraordinarily little about the scenery or the people. No character is ever described in any detail, nor is the landscape. Herein lies the author's chief art. He calls upon the mind of the reader to cooperate in building up a picture of that quiet, mountain-girded fjord, and of the family which spent the happy, placid summer there. He does aot really intend to particularise. All we learn of his wife is that she is little; of himself, we are told even less. Husband, wife and children, cows, sheep and birds, being undescribed. come to represent and symbolise the universal archetypes behind them. That is why this book should be popular. The characters might be any family, anywhere, and. since they are so pleasant, will inevitably become our family and ourselves on our own half-forgotten dream-island. The book is well translated on the whole, but occasional slightly jarring phrases suggest that the version is by an American. It is unfortunate that these phrases, which are certainly quite out of harmony with the author's style, were not removed when the English edition was prepared. P. H. W. N.