German New Guinea

“ British New Guinea has now been surveyed to a great extent, and it is time Germany knew more about her part, but through responsible people. It is so fascinating to gaze at the forest-clad mountains and wonder and wonder what is there—perhaps some ruined ancient monuments of an extinct race, something to throw light on the mysteries of the past.
Here at Friedrich Wilhelms Hafen we had to part from King Peter and Professor Biro, and I was very, very sorry to do so. They remain here till the royal yacht Mato arrives from Sydney, and then she takes them to Deslacs Island. ”

“ King Peter has a very natural pride in the success he has attained and his position as actual king of a whole group of beautiful islands; but Queen Emma is the most important person in German New Guinea, as, besides the great plantations, she owns quite a fleet of schooners and other craft for trading purposes, and has over a thousand people in her employment, so that others have cause to be jealous.
Trade with the natives is all done with goods—beads, cloth, paint, and various things, and the native money—cowrie shells strung on fibre and worth so much a fathom ”

“ Sixty miles from the western end of the island is the mountainous land of German New Guinea; and sometimes, when the air is clear and the south-east trade wind blows, the savages on Berara can see across the deep, wide strait the grey loom of the great range that fringes the north-eastern coast of New Guinea for many hundred miles. Once, indeed, when the writer of this true story lived in New Britain, he saw this sight for a whole week, for there, in those beautiful islands, the air is very clear at certain seasons of the year. ”

“ Men may be wild and unconventional in such parts of the world as this, but they are also real and true and only too glad to mix with other white men, so few are there here.
The German colonial possessions of New Guinea, comprising Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land (the mainland) , the Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Isles, the Caroline, Marianne, and Marshall groups, and Samoa, comprise 243,819 square kilometres, with a native population estimated at 452,000; but, of course, it is not known how many natives there are. [The total white population (1904) is said to be 1098.] ”

“ They had risen to a man when needed with a strong, true burst of real patriotism, fought for their country, and won. They wanted peace, and to get back into their own quiet old stodgy, peaceable ways. I remember long ago how somehow I got amongst some of their farseeing ones bent on founding new German lands, rebellious at seeing millions of Germans flocking to America and Australia to be for ever lost to their Fatherland. ”

“ Good colonists as they are under us or America, they have not yet—here, at least—learnt how to colonise for themselves.
Personally, no one ever resented or resents the stupidity of our Home Government more in ever making it possible for any Foreign Power to be here at all than I do, as I can foresee the trouble that will arise in the future should it long remain a German possession; but, since they are here, and legitimately here, I feel a real interest in their progress and much sympathy with their present aims and endeavours to develop this land. ”

“ The hills are densely wooded with tropical vegetation, but in the clearings a good many cattle and goats are kept. With Long and Dampier Islands, German New Guinea is 70,000 square miles in extent, and has a population of 530,000 natives, besides 700 whites, of whom 90 per cent. ”

“ The official language was, of course, German, but English was also spoken or at least understood by all European residents in the islands.
In the intercourse with the natives the weird form of speech known as pidgin-English is in universal use throughout the South Seas. It is framed on the same principles as their own languages, and every white man who cannot speak native seems to fall naturally into the use of it. So universal is its use that in German New Guinea the Government officials, to the offence of their kultured minds, had to use it if they wanted the natives to understand them. ”

“ If worse came to the worst, they are ready with an offer to exchange ten times the territory elsewhere for just that small section of the country. They would give up German New Guinea, or Southwest Africa—anything! ”

“ It will therefore be necessary for the British New Guinea people to learn the use of our money also.
One side of Mérite for some unknown reason is fever free. Dampier Straits lie between New Britain and New Guinea. The natives there are noted for their cleverness with the sling, the stone being put in with the toes. ”

“ She must have them, she will have them. Much of the trade of the Dutch East Indies is practically hers, and she is endeavouring to push the German language everywhere, and the German flag is displayed wherever she can to teach all the native races what it is. From the German point of view this is admirable and perfectly legitimate; I admire her splendid progress and her ambition, and only wish we were as far-seeing. But, unluckily, it does not suit our interests, and so each one of us is bound to oppose these aims by every or any means in his power. ”

“ They said they hoped the large island of Timor, which is partly Dutch and partly Portuguese, would soon become German; one reason being that it lay near the Australian continent. (To serve as a pin-prick; of course.) They are most desirous of getting by some means a footing in Borneo (again to be near their "dear cousins") , then acquiring the Dutch part of New Guinea, and they regard it as a certainty that one day the whole of the Dutch East Indies are to come under the German flag— all those enormously rich exploited and unexploited islands with their harbours so useful as coaling stations. ”

“ I believe the company which became the chartered New Guinea Co. in 1884, when the German flag was hoisted at Matupi, had been in possession of some plantations previously to that. On their governing powers ceasing they received a sum of somewhere about £20,000 as compensation, and retained many large areas and stations. In time, no doubt, they will reap a fine reward with rubber and other produce, though, as is always the case in a new and tropical land, they have much to contend with. The clearing of the ground and the keeping it clear is no light task. ”

“ I believe some attempt has been made at a road for a short distance inland, and there is one through Ralum, but at Herbertshöhe is nothing at all. There is a native hospital—a shed with bunks. I went through it and, disregarding doctors, gave the few patients cigarettes, and they were delighted. I then went into the New Guinea Co.'s store, but could find nothing to buy. Then I went to Frau Kolbe's store and bought a collection of New Guinea weapons, idols, and curios. These stores are full of red cloth, red paint; and red beads for trading with the natives. ”

“ Indeed the aims and ambitions of Germany in these seas are what we talk and think most about. The Dutch make nothing of many of their rich possessions; unless they wake up and do so, all may pass from them. Yet a treaty with us by which the Netherlands agreed never to part with an inch of territory here save to us, on condition that we guaranteed her safe possession of her over-seas' lands and the absolute integrity of the Netherlands, would for ever crush all these German and other aspirations, and render New Guinea valueless to Germany ”

“ They do the same themselves, of course, but if there is trouble through Germans they are more easily dealt with. This should be remembered and some latitude accorded Germany in this new land as yet; but, none the less, we have the right to equal and fair treatment with their own people. ”

“ Cocoa-nuts also form an important food factor, and groves are found everywhere; while copra and palm-oil are the principal articles of trade.
Papuan birds are noted, and amongst the numerous species of bird life the bird of paradise is particularly notable for richness of plumage; and the skins of bright-plumaged birds have been in the past extensively exported.
New Guinea holds less than 500 white inhabitants, the majority being, of course, German officials and planters; while the natives living in all the islands are estimated at 500,000. ”

“ In years to come, when the white population has increased and the unknown lands and islands are explored and opened up, they will be forced to keep the open door for us as much as we do for them. Then it must be remembered that at present many of the British traders, beachcombers and the like, who find their way in vessels to these little-known isles, are often most undesirable characters who behave badly to the natives, create trouble and bloodshed, and it is the Germans who suffer. ”

“ The feeling of resentment was all the more keen, because the guarantee to pay £15,000 a year towards the expense of the protectorate had been given under a distinct understanding that the whole of New Guinea, excepting the part claimed by the Dutch, should be annexed. Lord Derby, moreover, up till the very hour of the declaration of the German occupation, had denied all knowledge of any such intention on the part of any Foreign Power. With reluctance the Australian Colonists accepted the limitation of area imposed by his lordship ”

“ Poor, simple Frau Wolff could never have dreamt that in the annals of New Guinea she is to be an historic character, one of the first white women in the land, and whose life was lost for and by it; or how through her fate men said sternly to one another, “It must never be again; we are to be masters here,and the lives of our women sacred.” For one white woman hundreds of black men die in reality ”

“ There are also about eight German laybrothers going out to the Bishop’s Mission. They are very simple, very fond of getting sea-sick at every ripple on the sea, and somewhat childish in their ways. Perhaps they may convert natives, but certainly no one else. But they are going to do work which places their lives daily, even hourly, in peril, and are facing the knowledge cheerfully. In addition there are several Sisters, also bound for the Mission, some of whom are Australians. There are two native New Guinea boys whom the Bishop took to Germany as specimens of his work. ”

“ The natives of New Guinea are Papuans, Polynesians, and Malays. You can trace a connection from Northern Australia right up to Japan, the races having had some commingling, no doubt, for centuries. These Straits are eighty miles wide and full of islands, therefore some of the natives must have found their way across. ”

“ The native Papuans are not regarded as suitable for work in the Western sense of the word, and the German efforts to exploit the natives have not produced very successful economic results, and the import of Chinese coolies had to be relied on. This resulted, in the Pacific Islands generally, in a traffic in labour which roused R. L. Stevenson's ire.
The native inhabitants consist in New Guinea of a number of races, differing totally from each other in appearance, customs, and language. ”

“ Whilst in Berlin in 1911, Captain Vahsen, the captain of the Deutschland, the ship of Lieutenant Filchisner's German Antarctic expedition, who had just come from New Guinea, gave me an account of some of the experiences of an exploring expedition he had accompanied up the Kaiserin Augusta River, and of a fight with the natives. Much knowledge of this region has been quite lately acquired by various explorers, including the members of the German and Dutch Boundary Commission, which completed its labours in December 1910. Very much, however, remains yet to be done. ”

“ Now on the mainland and in the islands plantations have been established and tobacco and cotton have been successfully grown. Three German mission societies formed settlements on New Guinea, with a branch one on the Gazelle peninsula. The protectorate is included in the Universal Postal Union; each harbour has its post office, also a leading official with a number of assistants to control the natives and the revenue. It is divided into two districts with separate administrations, New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago ”

“ In their own possessions they stagnate. They need more freedom, and the surety of profiting by their own enterprise.
Since the Government must do everything, it is very obvious here in New Guinea that a duty of the Government is to build roads straight out into the interior from each port, gradually extending these roads, from which in time other roads would branch off on either side. The natives of the interior would gradually and naturally avail themselves of these roads to bring their “trade” to the coast, and they and the roads would be constantly kept under observation and control. ”

“ The life of the colony for the present depends on the Stettin, so that it is necessary to run no undue risks.
[At Simpsonshafen, in Blanche Bay, the N.D.L. Co. have erected a pier and large building, and I believe the Government Settlement is to be moved there from Herbertshöhe. The steamboat line between Singapore and New Guinea has been abandoned as it did not pay, and a boat now runs from Hong-Kong by the Philippines to New Guinea and Sydney. Blanche Bay and Simpsonshafen take their names from the visit there in 1872 of Captain Simpson in H.M.S. Blanche.] ”

“ It is nice and cheerful for the missionaries. Except their little wants, practically nothing comes on board and nothing goes ashore. We brought with us from the last place Herr Wilhelm Bruno, an agent of the New Guinea Co. He inhabits by himself a small island here lying at a little distance from the mainland. He has a house on it, and no strange native—on the pain of death is allowed to set foot on that island. He cleared and planted two hectares of it with cocoanut, and had some natives working on the island, but now, he tells me, there is no one. ”