Researches
p. 45 · Read in the full issue
Dutch Scientist’s Researches Dr. W. C. Klein Studying N.G. and Papuan Conditions
From Our Own Correspondent.
Pt. Moresby, May 7.
THE representative of the Dutch New Guinea Committee, Dr. W. C. Klein, arrived from Batavia by the Van Spilbergen on April 24. After a brief stay in Port Moresby he and his secretary, Mr S. van Oosten, left for Rabaul, New Guinea, to study the developmental and sociological policies adopted by the N.G.
Administration.
The Dutch Government is now actively encouraging the plans for developing and colonising Dutch New Guinea. Dr. Klein, as secretary of the New Guinea Committee (which was formed early last year to carry out propaganda in favour of the territory’s development), is visiting the adjacent British territories to gather data as to the best methods to be employed in opening up this sparsely-exploited portion of Holland’s overseas possessions.
After spending several weeks in investigation at Rabaul, he will return via Salamaua, Lae, and Wau to Port Moresby and there study Papuan economic conditions for about a month. Dr. Klein intends to leave for Batavia by the Van Rees on July 19.
Interviewed in Port Moresby, the Dutch scientist said that in view of the similarities of soil, climate and population between Dutch New Guinea and Papua and the Mandated Territory he considered there much to be learnt from their development that would prove valuable for future enterprise in the Dutch territory. He was especially interested, he added, in the successful methods employed by Sir Hubert Murray in administering Papua.
Molucca Institute’S Book
A volume entitled “New Guinea” is in course of preparation by Dr. Klein and will be published in two parts by the Molucca Institute, of Amsterdam. In each chapter the following subjects will be treated in separate paragraphs: (a) Dutch Territory: (b) Papua; (c) Territory of New Guinea; (d) Comparison between Dutch and Australian territory; (e) English Recapitulation; (f) List of Literature.
The first part, with an introduction by Mr. J. Tideman, ex-Governor of the Moluccas, will be published late this year and will contain many maps and photographs. Part two will appear in 1936 and will have at least two chapters written by Dr. Klein. One will deal with import and export statistics and commerce and industry, while the second will be a summary of the proposed schemes for Dutch New Guinea, emanating from the comparative study of the Dutch and Australian territories and their situation in the Pacific.
Proposed chapters for the first volume are: History of the Discovery of N. Guinea’s Interior and Methods of Exploration by C. C. F. M, le Roux, conservator of the Ethnographic section of the Colonial Institute, Amsterdam.
Soil, by Professor Dr. E. C. Jul. Mohr, Agrogeologist at the Colonial Institute.
Climate by Dr. C. Brask, ex-Director of the Magnetis and Meteorological Observatory of Batavia, Utrecht.
Vegetation and Flora of New Guinea by Professor Dr. H. J. Lam, Director of the State Her barium, Leiden.
The Fauna by Professor Dr. L. F. de Beaufort, Professor at Amsterdam University.
Population—Native and European by Dr. F. J.
T. Biglmer, Lecturer at Amsterdam University, Bloemendaal.
Forestry by P. van Zon, ex-Consulting Expert of Forestry in the Dutch East Indies, Hilversum.
The Protestant Mission in New Guinea by F. J.
F. van Hasselt, ex-missionary, Breukelen.
The Catholic Mission in New Guinea by H.
Ceturtjens, M.S.C., ex-missionary, Tilburg.
Miss Camilla Wedgwood, M.A., who went to Nauru Island last year to under take an anthropological survey for the Australian Council for Scientific Research, has returned to Sydney to assume her post as the new head of the Women’s College, at the University of Sydney.