The touch of a master hand is apparent in a multitude of

details in managing the natives of Papua; and it is of interest
to see that in broad essentials the plan of government is
adapted from that which the English have put to the test of
practice in Fiji; the modifications being of a character
designed to meet the conditions peculiar to Melanesia, wherein
the chiefs are relatively unimportant in comparison with their
role in the social systems of the Polynesians and Fijians
The touch of a master hand is apparent in a multitude of
details in managing the natives of Papua; and it is of interest
to see that in broad essentials the plan of government is
adapted from that which the English have put to the test of
practice in Fiji; the modifications being of a character
designed to meet the conditions peculiar to Melanesia, wherein
the chiefs are relatively unimportant in comparison with their
role in the social systems of the Polynesians and Fijians.
Foremost in the shaping of the destiny of Papua stands the
commanding figure of Sir William Macgregor, administrator and
lieutenant governor from 1888 to 1898. As a young man Macgregor
was government physician in Fiji, where he became prominent not
only as a competent guardian of the health of the natives, but
as a leader in the suppression of the last stronghold of
cannibalism along the Singatoka River. In Papua his tireless
spirit found a wide field for high endeavor, and upon every
department of the government one finds to-day the stamp of his
powerful personality. Nor did he remain closeted in Port
Moresby, a stranger to the races of his vast domains, for over
the highest mountains and through the densest swamps his
expeditions forced their way; the Great Governor always in the
van. It was thus that he conquered the fierce Tugeri of the
Dutch border, who for generations had been the terror of the
coasts; and wherever his expeditions passed, peace followed,
and the law of the British magistrate supplanted the caprice of
the sorcerer.