Cost greater

The cost of one Port Moresby job was assessed at being more than it would have cost if native paid labour was used.

Thus work camps fail in this respect, despite all the benefits the students may have gained. Student work camps generally accentuate existing social problems, causing embarrassment to Europeans and natives alike, and take work away from an already under-employed indigenous work force.

I contend that the work camp arrangement, and consequent bludging of tours around the Territory by students, caused a strain both economically and socially on the Territory's plural society.

If New Zealand students are going to flock into Samoa as unskilled, peasant banana planters, I strongly recommend that they keep these points in mind. The European is held in high respect in most Pacific countries. Proving that one can dig post holes and live as poorly as natives do, does not necessarily impress the local population. In fact this is more likely to be a social and financial embarrassment to all concerned.

If students want to work abroad, then I recommend that they enter through the society ready-made for them. In that way they can receive appropriate training for more responsible jobs, commensurate with their qualifications. Students can, in this manner, influence conservative colonialist attitudes at all levels, and still maintain a close two-way contact and respect with the indigenous population.