The Opening of New Territories in Papua Author(s): E. W. Pearson Chinnery Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 55, No. 6 (Jun., 1920), pp. 439-454 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1780970 Accessed: 26-06-2016 23:14 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal This content downloaded from 128.110.184.42 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 23:14:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE OPENING OF NEW TERRITORIES IN PAPUA 439 Mark Sykes. The work of those experts at the beginning was co-ordinated by a very able and distinguished officer, Colonel Clayton, now General Sir Gilbert Clayton. To this Arab Bureau we are indebted for those handbooks to which reference has been made. The Bureau did great work, and it added very largely to the success of all the political and military work in Arabia at a later date. It was to Commander Hogarth that the success of the bulk of that work is due. There are several of those experts here to-night, and I acknowledge with very great pleasure the valuable services they and the Arab Bureau as a whole rendered during the war. The President : Commander Hogarth gave us a very complete summary of the geographical work which has been done during the war in that little- known land of Arabia. It is a great contribution to geography. We wish he had not confined himself so rigorously to geography, but had given us a little of his own personal experiences during the war, but there -it is ; in that short space he gave us the main results of the work of many officers during the war. I hope that the good work which has been begun on a big scale during the war will be continued. One of the most lamentable things is very often that after a campaign?certainly it was so in the case of Tibet?we throw the whole country up again and do not follow up the work we have commenced. I hope that in the case of Arabia we shall keep constant touch with the people, go on to know more about them and their country, and have a continual flow of officers coming here and, giving us the results of their experiences. Especially do I think this question of longitude of such a very important place as Medina ought to be taken up. I ask you to give a most hearty vote of thanks to Commander Hogarth for his extremely valuable address. THE OPENING OF NEW TERRITORIES IN PAPUA E. W. Pearson Chinnery, Lieut. Aust. Flying Corps Read at the Meeting of the Society\ i March 1920. PAPUA, of the or island British of NewNew Guinea.Guinea, Itscomprises total area the is south-easternroughly 90,540 portion square miles, while its coast-line is estimated at 3664 statute miles. A series of mountain ranges, two of the peaks of which exceed 13,000 feet above sea-level, extend north-west and south-east through the centre of the mainland and form the watershed of an extensive system of rivers, many of which are navigable for small launches of shallow draught. Useful harbours lie dotted here and there along the coast-line, and it is in the vicinity of these that European plantations are generally located. As it is in the tropics, Papua is subject to the climatic conditions of such regions. But being just outside the hurricane belt it escapes the severe gales which have been so disastrous to some of its less fortunate neighbours. With respect to health conditions it differs little from other tropical possessions. Malaria is prevalent, but with ordinary precautions the white settler may preserve a fairly good standard of health. A great deal depends, however, on the nature of his occupation and the degree of exposure to heat and infection ; for a man engaged in pioneer work among This content downloaded from 128.110.184.42 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 23:14:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 440 THE OPENING OF NEW TERRITORIES IN PAPUA the swamps and mountains on a diet of tinned food has infinitely more to fear than one who works in comfort in the European settlements on a diet of " fresh " food. Diet, indeed, largely regulates the condition of health, and it is essential to keep one's body well nourished. White settlers, however, readily adapt themselves to these needs, and the average death- rate is not high. The territory is administered by a Lieut.-Governor (Colonel J. H. P. Murray^ c.m.g.) and an executive council of five; three unofficial members are added to this number to form a Legislative Council. The laws of Queensland, with a set of local ordinances and regulations, are applied and administered by a judicial and magisterial staff, to a native popula- tion approximating half a million and a white population averaging fifteen hundred. The majority of the white settlers are centred round Port Moresby, Samarai, and Woodlark Islands, which are connected with Australia by wireless, and which are visited about once a month by steamers trading between late German New Guinea and Sydney. The stores in these towns supply the needs of settlers, and the hotels before the war provided board and lodging for about ?8 per month to residents and visitors. Each town possesses a hospital and medical staff, and as most of the economic development is taking place within convenient distance of one or other of these three towns, they represent the centres of commercial interest. For purposes of administration the territory is divided into several large areas, each in charge of a Resident Magistrate or Assistant R.M. Detachments of native constabulary armed with carbines are stationed in the various divisions, with white (patrol) officers to assist the Resident Magistrate. The members of the constabulary and their non-commissioned officers are all natives of Papua, who have been trained at the Con? stabulary Headquarters in Port Moresby. They are an excellent body of men, and in many instances have performed work which, in a regular service, would merit high recognition. The Divisional Headquarters or Government station of each district is situated in the place most con? venient for the purpose of administration. In the terminology of the District Officer, districts are divided into three classes ; (i) Settled districts; (2) districts not under control; and (3) unknown districts. Settled districts are usually those places in which the Government is represented by a village constable chosen from amongst the people themselves, though in some parts an officer may regard as a " settled district" any place into which he can venture without being greeted by a shower of arrows. Districts not under control are those whose inhabitants have not accepted Government laws, though they may have been visited by Government officers. Unknown districts are those usually indicated by an expansive motion of the hand and a vague nod of the head. No one knows what is there. Wild rugged mountains, rivers, and gorges, tangled, almost impenetrable jungles, poisonous reptiles _but perhaps coal, oil, and other wealth?wild men and women. This content downloaded from 128.110.184.42 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 23:14:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE OPENING OF NEW TERRITORIES IN PAPUA 44* The policy of our Government iri opening districts other than those in which arrests have to be made may be termed one of peaceful penetration; that is to say, officers are required to enter new districts and endeavour by friendly means to win the inhabitants from such practices as head-hunting and cannibalism to the more sedate and cultured diversions of civilization. Offerings of beads, gaudy fabrics, steel and other useful implements, are made at the outset, to show the savage that the white man is indeed possessed of things useful to him, and while MILES >* ^ SO 0 50 100 150 * '?'??' ' t | ^dn?^y 7* *o?^. % ^Woodlark Samarai ^%/ CORAL SEA %^ r?42> &o Sketch-map of Eastern Papua and German New Guinea his mind is in this state of receptivity it is the business of the district officer to direct his energies into channels of progress and lead him gradually away from the practices which conflict with our standards. Force may be used as a last resource, but not until spears or arrows have been discharged by the hostile natives, and then only if the lives of the penetrating party are in danger. An officer is expected to report on the economic possibilities of country visited, and to make a rough sketch of his operations, for which purpose a prismatic compass is generally available. 2 H This content downloaded from 128.110.184.42 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 23:14:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 442 THE OPENING OF NEW TERRITORIES IN PAPUA There are three powerful forces working towards the opening up of unknown New Guinea. The first is the responsibility of the officer for the good conduct of his district; the second is the subtle lure of the unknown; and the third is the Empire's need.