Some Experiences of a New Guinea Resident Magistrate

THE AUTHOR
SOME EXPERIENCES OF A NEW GUINEA RESIDENT MAGISTRATE BY CAPTAIN C. A. W. MONCKTON, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S., F.R.A.I., SOMETIME OFFICIAL MEMBER OF EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS, RESIDENT MAGISTRATE AND WARDEN FOR GOLDFIELDS, HIGH SHERIFF AND HIGH BAILIFF, AND SENIOR OFFICER OF ARMED CONSTABULARY FOR H.M.’s POSSESSION OF NEW GUINEA WITH 37 ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST. NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY
MCMXXI
THIRD EDITION
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES, ENGLAND
TO MY WIFE
It appears to be the custom, for writers of books of this description, to begin with apologies as to their style, or excuses for their production. I pretend to no style; but have simply written at the request of my wife, for her information and that of my personal friends, an account of my life and work in New Guinea. To the few “men that know” who still survive, in one or two places gaps or omissions may appear to occur; these omissions are intentional, as I have no wish to cause pain to broken men who are still living, nor to distress the relations of those who are dead. Much history is better written fifty years after all concerned in the making are dead. Governor or ruffian, Bishop or cannibal, I have written of all as I found them; I freely confess that I think when the last muster comes, the Great Architect will find—as I trust my readers will—some good points in the ruffians and the cannibals, as well, possibly, as some vulnerable places in the armour of Governors and Bishops.
I do not pretend that this book possesses any scientific value; such geographical, zoological, and scientific work as I have done is dealt with in various journals; but it does picture correctly the life of a colonial officer in the one-time furthest outpost of the Empire—men of whose lives and work the average Briton knows nothing.
Conditions in New Guinea have altered; where one of Sir William MacGregor’s officers stood alone, there now rest a number of Australian officials and clerks. Much credit is now annually given to this host; some little, I think, might be fairly allotted to the dead Moreton, Armit, Green, Kowold, De Lange, and the rest of the gallant gentlemen who gave their lives to win one more country for the flag and to secure the Pax Britannica to yet another people.