ABSENTEE BUSINESSMEN : THE REACTION AT HOME TO HAGENERS MIGRATING TO PORT MORESBY1

youth. They said to me : " If he had been an old man, we would not worry about much compensation ; we old men have our businesses - we have ' eaten ' money. But he was a young man to die/' Pitying persons who died before they reached maturity or had the chance to enjoy wealth was a traditional convention. The point to note here is that the wage-earner was being pitied by his seniors in terms of a contrast with themselves. What years he had already spent earning a salary in a relatively prestigeful occupation were nothing to opportunities he could have had for accumulating wealth throughout his middle years of life as they had accomplished at home.