government of the natives for the native interests he desired;
not one administered from the Australian mainland in the
interest of alien whites. The hopes of Chalmers were only
partially realized, for Papua is still only a territory of
Australia.

In most respects this condition appears to be unfortunate. The
crying needs of a new country are usually peculiarly local and
not likely to be appreciated by a distant ruling power.
Moreover, Australia is itself an undeveloped land and requires
too large a proportion of its own capital for expansion at home
to be a competent protector of a colony across the sea. One
feels that Papuan development might have proceeded with greater
smoothness had the colony been more directly under the British
empire, rather shall an Australian dependency.

The strategic necessity that Australia should command both the
northern and the southern shores of Torres Straits might still
have been secured without the sacrifice of any important
initiative in matters of government upon the part of Papua.

The cardinal evil that Chalmers feared has, however, been
averted. The natives still own 97 1/2 per cent. of the entire
land area, and wise laws guard them in this precious
possession, and aim to protect them from all manner of unjust
exploitation. It is much to the credit of the government that
the cleanest native villages and the most healthy, ambitious
and industrious tribes, are those nearest the white
settlements. Contact between the races has resulted in the
betterment, not in the degradation, of the Papuan natives.