contribution to the world's stock of raw material. In preparing for this period the missionaries had given great help both by their studies of native dialects and by the confidence which they had established among the natives. Sir William McGregor had left behind him his institution of the village constables, though the greater part of his work had been obliterated. Still, the prospect before administrators was not attractive. The Papuans, though they had worked well for the gold-miners, had a bad reputation. A large number-probably the majority -were head hunters or cannibals, and all were, as many are now, in the Stone Age. Moreover, their wants were easily satisfied, and it was not thought possible to supply them with any motive for work. Forced labour was out of the question even if it had been desired. The administration, therefore, set itself to give the native confidence, to create in him new wants and to bring a large area of the country under control. The labour ordinance was slightly amended, and was enforced. The labourer was paid his wages, was properly housed, and returned home at the end of his contract of service. Plantations were regularly inspected by police officers and magistrates and officials of the department of native affairs. Education was planned in such a way as to introduce an individualistic element into communistic habits and to discover latent capacities for skilled manual labour. The system may be judged by the results as they are seen to-day in the former head-hunters of the Purani delta working contentedly as navvies on the Port Moresby roads and in the number of recruits coming foward who are at last equal to the requirements of the territory. It is not argued that native labour will ever develop the territory in the manner suggested by the sanguine expectations of 1906 or by the example of the Federal Malay States or Java. Papua is a sparsely populated country, with scarcely any large villages except on the coast, and a great deal of waste land. If 20,000 recruits are ever obtained they will constitute a large percentage of the population. But

these results are an answer not only to predictions of failure but to the charge of "coddling which has been directed against the administration in Papua, as in every other tropical British possession. Some of these charges may, no doubt, be attributed to the nature of the products of the territory. The administrator remarks in his report for 1916-17, when reviewing the progress of the past ten years: "Critics sometimes forget that a cocoanut palm is not like a cabbage; it takes many years to come to maturity, and a plantation which was taken up in 1906 would probably not be in full bearing yet. There are about 35,000 acres of cocoanut plantation in the Territory, and it may be expected that eventually these will produce from 16,000 to 18,000 tons of copra, valued at over £300,000. But not yet; we must wait awhile, not because the Commonwealth or the Papuan administration is dilatory or inefficient, but because cocoanuts grow slowly. And so with rubber. There are about 7000 acres planted, and I suppose that in time they will bring in, say, a thousand tons of rubber worth, perhaps, a quarter of a million; but again, not yet-for the trees must have time to grow, and no government can hurry them."

The union of the German possessions in the Pacific with Papua would not present any serious difficulties. The most important differences between the respective administrations have been two. The Germans admit alien immigrants, and they alienate land in fee simple, which is not allowed either in Papua or the Solomons. But the German administration has not made such an impression that a union with Papua would cause serious inconvenience. The number of settlers is very small, although the plantations are older than those of Papua. The total German population of the old Protectorate in 1913 was 542, of whom 250 were missionaries. The native races are identical in origin and not very far removed in their progress towards civilisation. The products of the two possessions are practically the same, although in economic development Papua is somewhat further

advanced. The Germans have established a good school for natives, but the language prevailing throughout the possession, so far as there is one, is "pidgin English." The system of administration by scattered outposts is the same on both sides of the frontier. The police system of Papua has been described by a Dutch official sent for the purpose of observation as a model for other tropical countries.

Both Papua and German New Guinea have supplies of petroleum which have yet to be fully tested and which may prove additions of great value to the wealth of the two countries. Their future

prosperity depends mainly on two factors-on the supply of shipping and the supply of labour. As we have seen, the supply of labour is now adequate to the land under cultivation, though the number of recruits fluctuates from year to year. The supply of shipping during the war has been inadequate, and freights have been embarrassingly high. The result has been that there has been little development in agriculture, the great progress recorded having been attributable to the growth to full bearing of cocoanut and rubber plantations, which now cover an area of some 57,000 acres. It is estimated that within a few years the revenue from the cocoanut plantations will be from £200,000 to £300,000, and that from rubber plantations about the same. Australians, however, will note that the benefits derived from the occupation of Papua and the problems it presents are by no means entirely economic or strategic. It has been the duty of the Australian Government to find officials who at a low rate of pay and without the attraction of publicity will carry out the task of administration. The work has been exceedingly difficult, needing a rare combination of learning and sympathy, of mental vigour and physical strength., Its success may be judged less from the statistics of production than from the detailed statement of resident magistrates and other officials who supplement the annual report of the Lieutenant-Governor. The Papuan reports under Judge Murray have continued the tradition of breadth and of sympathy

which was founded by Sir William McGregor, The reader sees how the records of other tropical countries have been searched for parallels, how the country has been gradually covered by outposts following the example of the pioneers of the Federated Malay States and how natives have been encouraged to form their own plantations on the model of those cultivated by the West African negroes under British rule. At the same time, he will find a continuous determination to conserve native interests and to treat the native as an individual entitled to respect which has no parallel. An Australian before the war who remembered the gloomy prognostications with which this enterprise was begun and the criticism with which it has been followed, should have regarded these results with wonder and gratitude. To-day we find them recognised in the responsibilities placed on the shoulders of Australia under the League of Nations. The position of mandatory was to some extent a recognition of the sacrifices of the Australian troops and to a concession to the demands of her representatives. But it would not have been awarded so readily but for the record of wisdom and humanity in the treatment of native races which has been established in Papua under the Commonwealth through the strength and patience of the present Lieutenant-Governor and the loyalty of his staff. The extended authority will have this advantage that it will give greater opportunities to the Commonwealth officials, and will render this branch of the Public Service more attractive. But it will impose a great strain on the resources of Australian manhood, and will demand a continuance of the same qualities both in the Ministers of the Commonwealth and in the officials of the territory as have been shown in the Government of Papua. The German Government spent money on public works on the coast which Australia would have spent on the pacification of the territory. The wages paid by the Germans to natives were half those on which Australians will insist. Australians will not permit the continuance of flogging as a normal form of punishment. There

will, therefore, be less progress with roads and bridges, many complaints, and many charges of coddling. But it will be remembered that a mandate of this type does not imply a limited tenure. The natives of New Guinea and of the Solomons belong to races which have been stationary for many hundreds of years. There will be no pretence of educating them in the hope that they will one day be able to govern themselves. The only event on which the mandate will be withdrawn will be a departure from the Australian tradition and a failure in the trust. Finally it may be said that the position of paramountcy implied in this mandate has not been sought by the Australian people. Many students of these problems anticipated the creation of a Pacific Federation, possibly having its headquarters in Sydney, but certainly having its own representatives in the Councils of the Empire. There are many obvious differences between the interests of these islands and those of a people imposing duties on tropical products and to maintain very definite social and economic ideals. Possibly a Federation may be established which will give uniformity and stability in place of the many anomalous distinctions now in force among the Crown Colonies. But it will not alter the fact that the decision of the Peace Conference, however honourable to Australia, has given her new problems both foreign and domestic which will prove very exacting to a continent still in the elementary stages of its own development.*

Postscript.

The provisions of the Peace Treaty defining the rights and duties of mandatories are contained in Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, which is as follows:

"To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under

*A list of authorities would have been added to this chapter but for the fact that a bibliography has been published by Mr. Percy Allen, the editor of M'Carron, Stewart and Co.'s handbook, to whose library of Pacific literature every student of the subject is indebted.