March i, 1892.] THE TROP!CM. AGRICULTURIST. 
are in Port Moresby, but Sir William lives in tho 
open air, or sleeps in a boat or under a "fly" 
tent in the wilds of New Guinea. He is a man 
of great physical endurance ; ho resists all the fogs 
and fevers of that unoivilized land, and is daunted 
by no danger or difficulty. 
The little steam launch " Merrie England," which 
was auoh a terror to the savages on the banks of 
the Fly River during the memorable experlition in 
1890, arrived the other day in the Brisbane 
Eiver, bringing Sir William and liady Mae- 
gregor (who had gone to Oooktown to meet her 
hustand), the Hon. M. H. Moreton (his Excellency's 
private secretary), and the Hon. F. E. Lawes, 
Secretary for Native Affairs in New Guinea 
" Is Sir Willium at home ?" I inquired of a 
bright Australian girl who answered my ring at 
St. Helen's, the residence of Lady Macgregor, 
which stands on the bank of tho Bris River. 
" Yes, sir," and, having delivered my card, she led 
me into a room the appearance of which makes me 
feel as if I had been suddenly tianslated into one 
of the Government ofiices in New Guinea. Sir 
William sits at a table in the centre, stooping over 
a map of the Kiriwina group ; the floor is littered 
with papers, and the walls are hung with maps 
with unpronounceable names. Lady Macgregor and 
her little daughter are watching Sir Wiiliam making 
corrections in his map of these comparatively un- 
known islands. 
INew Guinea and the Newspapers. 
Sir William spoke of England's ignorance of 
New Guinea. " Nothing but lies! Nothing but lies ! 
Here is a paper with a leading article on 'the terrible 
Btrocities perpetrated by Government officials in 
Papua.' " And he handed me a journal which under- 
takes to enlighten tho English people on India and 
colonial affairs, It had dropped across an item in 
the " funny column'' of one of the Australian 
papers, and, taking the statement as gospel 
truth, it had written a leading article on the subject 
which was to the effect that Sir William and his 
party were shooting Black fellows in lieu of partridges 
in New Guinea 1 
A Planter's Paradise. 
"But you want to know something for the Pall 
Mall about tho actual state of New Guinea ? " 
" Exactly. Do you consider that it will ever be 
a good field for immigration ? " " For the small 
planter who really means work I know of no 
better opening anywhere. In the Mekeo country 
near the middle of the coast of New Guinea, where 
the tribes have been living on such terms of 
hostility that if any one crossed from his own 
country into that of a neighbouring tribe he would 
lose his lite, the only land that is available is the 
neutral zone between the different tribes. The small 
ettler who is willing to go there with the intention 
of planting tobacco or coconuts or coffee or any 
Other tropical product will fin.l abundance of 
land in the neutral zone. Between the two tribes 
he will have tho naiive labour at his hand. The 
native population Hre extremely large, and, what 
is more, they arc born agriculturists. Wo wish to 
get the settlers there, too to give employment to the 
natives, to touch i.hem what can be done by 
ayatematio ouliivation, and to introduce among 
them new products. But wo hope the natives 
will be large producers in the course of time and 
thus create an export trade from the colony." 
Chkap Land and Chrap Labodb. 
" What is tho price of labour ? "— •' We can 
supply tho oheapeBt Inbonr in tho world. .Settlens 
in the country can obtr.in labour from one end 
to thn o(h«r of Now Guinea. But no natives can 
be Iftkon outside tho territory of tho poss(>ssio(i; 
so that the whole ol tho labour force will be 
retained for the exclusive use of the settlers. The 
people, I think, will be good workmen, and our 
experience is that they abide well and honestly 
by Ihaiv contracts. At present they obtain their 
living by agriculture, and many of the coast 
tribes are making splendid boatmen and seamen. 
What the planter wants ia cheap land and cheap 
labour. These he can have in New Guinea, a 
country which has this grand advantage — it is never 
visited by hurricanes." 
No Room fob the Specclatoe, 
" And at v/hat price would you be willing to dispose 
of the land ? " 
" The purchasing price we put on land is 
merely nominal, when it has attached to it con- 
ditions as to improvement. Settlers can obtain 
the land at 2s 6d an acre, on agreeing to carry 
out certain speoified improvements within a reason- 
able time." 
"Are fresh-water springs as rare there as in 
Australia, Sir William ?" 
" No, the country is well watered. In regard to 
rainfall, there is a great variation in different 
districts, so that the land would be found to be 
■suitable for all the different kinds of cultivation. 
But we do not want the speculator," he added 
quickly ; " we can a'ienate no large districts, because 
the country is well peopled by the Papuans. Hence 
we do not tempt the big speculator to come to New 
Guinea. We do not intend to unsettle the Papuan 
in order to settle the Europeans." 
" But the country is very large." — " Yes ; 1 should 
think it is — larger than England and Scotland — 
and the population is not less than 450,000." 
Fevers and Plesh-Pots. 
"What about the New Guinea diseases?" I 
said. " A young German who was running for 
his life from the country told me there were enough 
diseases in the Kaiser's territory to eat up all 
Germany." — " There are no diseases in the country 
worth speaking of, except fever. I speak only of 
British New Guinea. Since I went to the posses- 
sion in 1888 only two deaths have occurred in the 
Government service — one a weakly boy, and the 
other a Polynesian. There have, of course, been 
many cases of fever." 
"But there is another matter, Sir William, which 
perhaps more directly concerns the European. Is 
there not a possibility of the settler waking up 
one fine morning to find himself laid out as a 
dainty dish for his dusky neighbours?" 
' Cannibalism, which was once the terrors of the 
trader and the adventurer in the islands," he said, 
"has been almost stamped out by the missionary 
and the Government in the country where we are 
offering to the European. In this backwood land 
(painting to a large blank upon the map), to which 
w« have not as yet penetrated, there may be, and 
there &r\ no doubt, man-eaters. The settler, how- 
ever, need have no fear of the flesh-pots of New 
Guinea; he is almost as safe there as in Aus- 
tralia.'' 
The First Market. 
" Where do you expect to find a market for your 
products ?"—" In Australia, we are going to try to 
estalli-ih a subsidized lino to connect us with 
Oooktown and to visit all the northern ports and 
the southern coast of New Guinea. The Govern- 
ment is it?olf cullivuting a great many coconuts, 
and we have planted about lO.OuO trees; we are 
tr>ing to get tho natives to plsnt largoly'also, so 
that wo hope in a few years to bp able to export 
by direct shipiner.t to Europe such things as 
coconuts, coconut oil, tobacco, tea and cotTec", and 
other tropiciil products ; but our first market will 
bo in Austriiliii, until we have eullici'.ut to justify 
n :Jliip to Europe." ' 
