| Primary
Source |
| Imperialism |
Colonial Policy | [P|S|M] |
Atlas German Colonies, with Yearbook, edited by the German Colonial Society, 1907, Retrospective on the Development of the German Protectorates in the Pacific in 1906
|
Retrospective on the Development of the German
Protectorates in the Pacific in 1906
After the year 1905 brought the murder in the Baining Mountains, 1906 was
extraordinarily calm and peaceful. Everywhere the combination of the natives
and integration into orderly communities under responsible chiefs has
progressed. In the district of Namatanani station, the area under the control of
administration was extended considerably. The total number of appointed chiefs
in the district numbered 168, the larger part of which on Neumecklenburg. On the
northern shore of Neupommern and in the Baining Mountains, further tribes have
been placed under the administration. In the area of the station Kieta on
Bougainville the first chiefs have been appointed. Here, the reorganization of
affairs is more difficult, as the indigenous hitherto were unfamiliar with the
institution of chiefs. These days, however, they come from distant stretches and
(p.24) raise accusations and complaints at the station, awaiting judgment -
certainly an indication that general trust among the Papua in the German
colonial administration is rising.
In Kaiser-Wilhelmsland relations with the indigenous have intensified in
general. Chiefs who had been appointed in an experiment have not been able to
establish their authority; but beginnings have been made which justify the hope
for an improvement.
A good deal of progress has been made in the separation of administration and
jurisdiction. Since 1906 the district court and the district office are
manned with separate officials. In Simpsonhafen a government station has been
opened. The seat of government shall later be moved here. This has been decided
in consideration of navigation in the port of Simpsonhafen, where the large
steamers of the Norddeutscher Lloyd, steaming between Asia and Australia, dock.
The large pier at Simpsonhafen is in operation since end October 1905.
Besides the Reich mail steamers of the Austral-Japan-Line, also coastal steamers
dock. The Norddeutscher Lloyd has erected a large storage barn on the pier,
which will suffice for the requirements of navigation for some time to come.
In Simpsonhafen, the future seat of government, busy construction is going on.
It should be mentioned that a botanical garden is in the process of being
established there, which hopefully will give fruitful impulses to the extension
of plantation culture in the protectorate of Neuguinea. The main streets of
Simpsonhafen are structurally complete. The government buildings will be erected
on the hilltops. The road there has been completed in 1906.
On the Gazelle Peninsula, too, road construction has been pursued
energetically.In part, detonation of obstacles have been necessary, especially
where a breakthrough had to be accomplished at Ratawul Pass, from Simpsonhafen
to the north coast. The natives everywhere voluntarily have placed the necessary
workers at our disposal. Also at the works on Hansemann Mountain, to a lesser
extent, natives have been hired for road construction.
As it is to be seen from the export statistics, the products of sea
fishery, such as trepang, tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl etc. further have
declined because of overexploitation, a number of cultures are emphasized even
more strongly. For the time being the cocos palm is the main product of the
protectorate. Over a million have been planted, of which far over a quarter of a
million have hitherto been productive. As a new culture caoutchouc is gaining
importance. However, the production hitherto has been negligible. The
satisfactorily result has been registered, that the samples have been judged
positively and have been compared with the best products of other countries.
In the Baining Mountains, rich in precipitation and with a good, deep soil, an
attempt has been made in the report year to establish small settlements.
10 farmers have settled there, supported by the government by the donation of
land and seed material, who previously have been active as planters in northern
Queensland, and who thus have been acquainted with tropical climate. The
plantations shall focus on ficus. As an intermediate culture, the sisal agava
has been planted in a larger scale. Lately demand for this product has increased
that much, that we can expect lucrative sales. Maize has been planted, too, and
thrives well in excellent quality. Based on the experience of the development of
the farms so far we may hope that the settlers in the Baining Montains will, in
case of economic management, will thrive.
The inhabitants of the Micronesian islands all suffer from the consequences
of the hurricanes of 1905. All repeatedly had to be supported by shipments
of food, because the hurricane has destroyed the harvests and the bread fruit
trees on many islands, in part destroyed the blossoms, leaves and fruits. The
government has interfered in praiseworthy manner and, for instance on the
Marianas, instructed the natives in the cultivation of maize and sweet potatoes.
Harvests have been so plentiful that a surplus of food was achieved. On the
Eastern Carolinas it was necessary to resettle a couple of hundred people to
other islands. A good effect of these events is that in singular instances
natives request employment. There is no lack of labour; at many locations,
public buildings damaged by the Taifun have to be repaired.
A dam 230 m long connecting the three islands Jap, Mup and Rumung has
been completed, made from coral blocks. It connects the three islands and has
eliminated the use of sea vessels for communication. The office building of the
government station, with side buildings, has almost been completed. A number of
new buildings have become necessary because of the construction of the cable
station. The constructed buildings, of which the office building (p.25) has two
storeys, are all made from steel with concrete walls, vaults and ceilings.
Next to the telegraph office 4 residential houses, a spacious clubhouse
and a number of secondary buildings, as well as a facility for two containers
with reserve cables and an enormous cistern have been established. A turbine
tower supplies the houses with water from the cistern; all lavatories are
connected with a sewage pipe leading to the sea.
On April 1st the Marshall Islands ceased to be an independent
protectorate; they have been attached administratively to the Carolinas. This
group, too, suffers from the after-effects of the taifun of June 1905.
Our Samoa-Islands have made considerable progress in their development.
The relation between settlers and natives, thanks to the skill of vice governor
Dr. Schultz, is excellent. While we still don't know the figures of last year's
trade, we can state an increase in exports and in the cultivation of the
indigenous, as well as increased purchasing power on the side of the entire
island population. High prices for copra favoured this development. The shape of
the cocoa plantations is described as excellent. The Samoanische Zeitung
reports : "there is no doubt whatsoever in the rentability of the Samoan
cocoa plantations". Individual companies already have shipped considerably
large amounts of cocoa. The present drying house proved too small, and the newer
plantations all gave a good, healthy impression. The most damaging animals, the rats,
have been combatted so effectively that we can not state any real damage.
According to the quoted newspaper, the Samoan cautchouc samples also have been
given excellent evaluations.
In 1906 175 Chinese were shipped back home from Samoa, 660 braid-wearing men
newly brought into the country, as workers. The vulcano euption on Sawaii, which
perhaps is connected with seismic events elsewhere on the planet, and the
opening of the telephone network in Apia, with 30 participants, deserve being
mentioned.
|
|
Source:
Deutscher Kolonial-Atlas mit Jahrbuch (Atlas German Colonies with
Yearbook), edited by the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft (German Colonial
Society). Berlin 1907, p.23ff. |
GM
(digitalisation) and AG
(translation)
posted on the web for psm-data;
many thanks to
Staatsbibliothek
zu Berlin / Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Kartenabteilung
Dokument in deutscher
Sprache
|
|
|
