"Pestilential Hole.”

Self-Assured Traveller’s Opinion of New Guinea.

A GENTLEMAN named Mr. James S.

Inch, who is the manager of an Australian insurance company, made a visit to the East recently, travelling by E. and A. steamer, which means that, going and coming, he made a brief call at Rabaul.

Having thus fully qualified himself to speak as an authority on the Terri tory of New Guinea, Mr, Inch met newspaper reporters in Brisbane and Sydney and explained his views con cerning the economic value and prob able future of the Territory. He told the Brisbane reporter that Rabaul was “ruining Australians living there.”

“They seemed to prefer a life of ‘eat, drink and be merry,’ (said Mr. Inch) and did not seem to take life seriously. There were very few who had not contracted malaria, and they drank quinine all day. Many persons told him it would be better if the Germans again took over the country. Most of the men were work ing for practically no wages, and he had heard that a quarter of the revenue of the place was used up in leave pay and expenses for public servants.”

Mr. Inch made somewhat similar statements to a Sydney reporter and raised the question of whether Aus tralian expenditure in New Guinea was justified from the taxpayers’ point of view. Much of the trade at present went direct to Europe. Australia would suffer no great loss if the Mandated Territory were returned to Germany.

We had not previously heard of Mr.

Inch as an authority on public affairs, and were concerned only because of the prominence given to his somewhat ridiculous statements in a Sydney evening newspaper.

We therefore telephoned Mr. Inch to ascertain how long he had been in New Guinea and, in a decidedly snappy con versation, we learned that Mr. Inch merely called at Rabaul for a few hours on his way to the East; that he had had the opportunity of discussing New Guinea affairs with various fel low-travellers who lived there; and that he regarded New Guinea as “a pestilential hole.” He was also of opinion that the possession of New Guinea was of no use whatever to Aus tralia, and Australia would be better without it. He also informed us that we were quite mistaken in supposing that Australia held New Guinea under a mandate from the League of Nations —he had other information and knew much better than that!

With these few words, we may dis miss Mr. James S. Inch. But oppor tunity may be taken to express regret that supposedly responsible Australian newspapers allow irresponsible re porters to give such prominence, on a matter of national importance, to com pletely irresponsible and uninformed utterances.