p -- --- Vol. 5, No. l l. Port Moresby, Wednesday, 15th November, 1933. Price : 3d. -p- has to i~cnlnde l~ecnusethe Go\-ern- tlii) prices of n-ool, n-lieat, gold, till, Hard Times in Papua. i~lrilt11:1s iiot eiiougll illoncl\ to pay alid soiile other things, 1ia1.c. risen a its people thcii full 11-agf3s. Thc: good deal, these bad tll~les:ire nearly HIS is the srcoi~dtime that nre Gal-c~rniiient is very sorry tl~atit has ~i~ded.But wllilC tlie 11ad tinics have talked nbotlt hard tillies hat1 to 111alic: this " dcductioil " ; but 11-cre ill Australia,, cvcrybody suffered T in Paptia. rn Februar~..1931, :ts tlie " Revenue " (tllo nloiley that n lot Iron1 tlw shortnge of liioncj.. when copra was K14 5s. :L tuii, :~nd everybocly 11:~ysto the Government Vcry liiany tho~lsttildsof pcople lost rubber 5d. a pound, in II,ondon, U-e in Cnston~sdnties, arms per~ilits, tllcir jobs becansix tllcir rmplo~ers thought things were very bat1 Iiere. were unable to find work for them, But now copra is 18 :5s. :L ton, and and the Goverrllnent had to increase rnbbrxr about 32d. a pound in London. tlic taxes to gct the Inone!; to help And m-hat is evc.11 IT-orse, tlic 0111~- tlies~IT-orkless ones. IIowever, these copra t'hat can l)(. soltl for this lo~v sad dt~ysare now passilig a~vay,and price is sll~x-srid "kiln-dried ; snlolie- things are. becoming- very much bettcr dried ropra is not wltnttscl. If the for el rrybody. price of rubber got^ nrly loner, the plantations will have to stop But Papna is nowhaving bad timcs, irlaking rubber; for tl~errioney t'lley and tl~esc: bad times will continnc? .will get for tlieir rubl~erv-ill not be ulitil our two principal products, ,enough to pay the labourers M-hot:ip c:opra and rnbber, return to their the trees. And if the rubbcr plan- usual prict,s. The lnoiley that comc.s tations have to be closed, it mill mean to us from the sale of our otller that a lot of ~-1litelncn alid natives products-gold, desiccated coconut, ~villlose theii- jobs. The sanlr thing pearls, trochus-shell, bkche-de-nwr, will happen if tlie coconut plalitatiorls t~lrtle-shell,coffee, sendalu-ood and havc to stop malring coprn. There a fen other things-is not sufficit~lit are only a few rubber plantations, to pay the wagos of the ~vliitel)eol)lt~ but therc arc. vrry rnaily c~oconnt :%lid the nativcs who n-ork ill this estatrs, besides all tho palins that are country, for it is only a s~nallslll1r OII-II~~by the) I-ilktgers, so tllr present' compared to what we used to get for low price for copra is wry bad for our copra and rubl~er. hnci :LS suc~ll ererj.body in Papa. things as pearls, troc.hus-shcll, sandal- wood and bbche-de-rncr have also 111 February, 1931, U-e said Xns- " A Pig Shield, Morehead River hcen selling for low prices for sol~~t~ tr:tli:r, is very poor nowadays-111ore time past, this drop ill the copra and so tlian 111a115. other countries." 11-e land rt:llts, anci for othcr thillgs) is rubber lnarkcts will be felt morr can now say the same words about keenly. Papi~a,for ourJc:ountr'y is T-erysliort snlaller this year' than it has been for very ni;tnjr years, it has to do it. of money ; so ~~oor,tlint the C:orcrn- Tht. n-ork of the Governllient has to h n-hit,e nian told us the ot1ic.r nielit has told all the white people dxy that he TT-ishecllie n.crcl ;L Pal)uaii, who n-ork for it, thac, from the 1st be lrept going, so when the Hevrnuc beconles slilall, the Gorern~ilenthas bccanse bad tinics are not, felt so Novc:nlbcr (this luonth), their n-ages 11luc11 by the 1'apll:tns as tliey arc 1)y will be smaller. This lnealls that tb do the best it can with tlie money it has. tlie n-hitc people. If :L P:ll,nrtil lost':: all th~Goverrlrnc~nt pcople will have l~isjol,, he said, IIP nord riot I+-orq- X1 ollt of eT,ery 5'10 of their wages Alustra,lia.hashad Irard tilllcs for b(vxi~ise11c call a,l~~-aysgo 1):~c.kto liis . not paid to thcm. Tliis "dedllction" tho last four years, but no^^^, b(.c:tuse village a,1i(1 Iivc on 111s g:~,rd~>n;but 82 THE PAPUAN VILLAGER NOVEMBER. 1933 the \Thitr man is not so lucky, for he peaksand domes of the ranges tower- Death of Mr. L. A. Flint. has to xi-orl; all the time for liis ing above the clouds. It was a very -. iil-ing, so the loss of his job is a very - hot walk over these steaming grass The death occurred at Abau, on the big thing to him. This statement is flats, so we were very glad when We 19th October ,last, of Mr. Leopold 2orrect so far as it concerns the white reached the first of the moulltains Aclin Flint, who for the past six and :, rrlen, and the Papuans who work for and entered the shade of the jungle. a-half years has been Assistant Resi- the white people. After climbing about 3,000 feet, we dent Magistrate, Abau district, East- came to a place on the summit from ern Division. But tlit? hard times we felt very which we llad a clear view of the mn(;h the Papuans-the villagers lowlands - a great plain of green, Mr. Flint entered the Public Service who get tlieir money from the copra streaked with the silvery courses of in August, 1916, and was appointed that they make from their coconuts. the rivers which flowinto sound; Actlng Assistant Resident Magistrate, No4 that copra is SO low in price, it Away ahead were the mountains, Western Divisibn, in April, 1917. A tnea,ns they will not get very ~nuch hundreds and hundreds of rugged, year later he became Acting R,esident nioliey for it, and so they will not be turnbled mountains, lifting their Magistrat'e, Western Division, and ablc to bny all the Lobacco, rice, flour, jagged crests above the sea of pearl- remained in charge of that Division tinned meat and the many other coloured fog that covered their danks, until he was appointed Assistant things that they want. And while Resident Magistrate, Baniara, Sorth- \VC. are talking about buying things, We followed a narrow track, up and Eastern Division. Since then he had it is a good time to tell you not to down steep rrlountain sides, until we served as Assistant Resident Rlagis- \~,zsteyour rnoney on things that are carne, just before sundol~n,to a small trate at Ioma, N.D., Rigo, C.D., and not useful or lasting. An axe, knife, village that was perched on a razor- Kokoda, N.D., before going to Abau adze or :L saw, a fish-line and some backed spur. Here we lliade calnp ; in February, 1927. hooks, a sail for your canoe, a cook- very gladly on my part, for I was so illg.pot, are things that a lvise rnan tired after the long day's climb that We regret very much the 15-ill buy, for they are really useful. I could not have gone any further. this popular Officer, and we extend While the camp was being put up, I Our deep sympathy to Mrs. Flint a do not know llow long these had a look at the ~h~~ her young son in their great 10 bad times will last ; we have had hard were very pleased to see us, for hiley all over Papua, both wh tinles before, but they were always us with smiles and helped our and native, will hear with great rcgr folloived by good times, so we can police and carriers to build camp. of the death of the,ir qld friend. 0111~ these good They mere all sturdy people, rather return to Papue. short in stature, with muscular arms and legs and deep chests, like most Papuan Medical Students at mountaineers. That night I had my Sydney University. A Visit to the Kunimaipa first experience of the cold mountain Country. air ; it was cold, just as cold as 1 have The twelve Pepuan Students, wi found it in the Blue Mountains in their two cook-boys, are now livi If you look at the map of Papua, New et the Quarantine Station Reserve YOU will, see many high mountains Leaving these friendly people, we near Manly, Sydney. We have se and big rivers shown in the north- went on to the village of Natala, pictures of them in the Sydney pape western c'ornerof theCentralDivision, which is ,on a mountain not far from and they all look very well and hap between Aft. Yule and Mts. Chapman Mount Yule. The views from this as they sit at their desks, listening and Strong. A big river, the Kuni- . village are very beautiful, far grander a doctor describe the bones and 0th maipa, has its source in the highlands than anything I have seen in Aus- parts of a men's body. between Mt. Chapman and Mt. tralia; theyare so wonderful that I W, hope to receive sonle news Strong ; the latter mountain is called cannot even attempt to describe them from strongby next mail, Tvhich .