There was at that time no Government Officer stationed on Woodlark Island, and, before we left, I received a petition from the miners, praying that the headquarters of the Division should be moved to that island. This petition had my entire sympathy. It was utterly absurd that an island carrying two hundred European inhabitants, and some hundreds of natives, should be passed over in favour of a tiny islet, the population of which consisted solely of Government servants. I put in a recommendation to this effect, which was referred to Campbell on his return, and pooh-poohed. Later, however, the Government was compelled to adopt my recommendation, and transfer the Station from Nivani to Woodlark.
From Woodlark, Moreton and I sailed for Ferguson, Trobriand, and Goodenough Islands; then—having completed certain police work—we returned to Samarai. From thence I took the Murua (her bottom now having been repaired) to Nivani, there to complete refitting. Hardly had I got her fit for sea again, when the Merrie England appeared, bringing the new Lieutenant-Governor, Sir George Le Hunte, also the R.M., Campbell, back from leave.
SIR GEORGE LE HUNTE, K.C.M.G.
CHAPTER XV
The new Governor was a man as different from Sir William MacGregor as chalk from cheese. Mr. Le Hunte (as he was then) was a pleasant, genial Irishman; greeting each one of his officers, as if he were the very man he most wanted to see; ever being painfully anxious to avoid hurting any one’s feelings, or being obliged to censure them. He certainly was a man who inspired great liking and affection in his subordinates; but he would sooner cajole a slack man into doing his work, by increasing his pay or easing his duties, than spur him on with a caustic reprimand or a little additional work.
The Governor brought with him Captain Barton, late West India Regiment, and the Honble. C. G. Murray, as private secretary and assistant private secretary respectively—the latter without pay. One of these men, at the present time of writing, is First Minister to the Sultan of Zanzibar, and the other, Administrator of St. Vincent; whilst in New Guinea they each received appointments in the Service.
At Nivani, after I had handed over the Station to Campbell, the Governor desired me to accompany his party in the Merrie England, on her round voyage of inspection among the islands, and back to Port Moresby, where another appointment would be found for me. Devoutly hoping that the new billet would not have anything to do with Customs or Treasury, or be in the Gulf of Papua, I thankfully accepted the offer, and promptly attached myself to Judge Winter as unpaid associate. The Merrie England visited Sudest, St. Aignan, Rossel, and Woodlark Islands, where nothing of interest or moment took place; from thence she went to the Trobriands.
Here the Governor decided that he would walk across the island, through old Enamakala’s village; as the track was good and the country flat all the way, the journey could very easily be accomplished in two days. Sir George and his staff, being new to the country and utterly ignorant of local conditions, consulted me as to the method of procedure. A little friction occurred at the beginning of this journey: for I found that, from something that Moreton had told him, his Excellency thought it inadvisable to carry arms or to take more than a few police. The Commandant and the travelling patrol were accordingly to be sent round the island in the Merrie England, to await us on the other side; the shore party was to consist of the Governor, the Judge, Barton, Murray, and myself, with the Governor’s boat’s crew and a score of local carriers. I, of course, had now no police of my own. Finding what the arrangements were to be, I went to my cabin, buckled on my revolver, and borrowed a Winchester rifle from the Chief Officer of the Merrie England. Then I went to Captain Barton, and unbosomed myself in this way. “We have already learnt in New Guinea the folly of proceedings such as this: you might walk unarmed across the island a score of times, and nothing happen; or you might be attacked the very first time, and wiped out.”