Another Attack On

Salamaua

Problem Of New Guinea Capital

ARGUMENTS against the establish ment of the new capital of New Guinea at Salamaua, and in favour of the retention of Rabaul as > the chief town, have been put forward in a letter to the “Rabaul Times” by Mr. E. V.

O’Brien, writing from Wooloowin, Bris bane.

Referring to Salamaua itself, Mr.

O’Brien says: “It certainly lies in a pic turesque setting, having rugged moun tains towering up to 12,000 ft. behind, the Huon Gulf in front and to the north west of it —in fact, it forms a pocket in the south-eastern end of Huon Gulf.

“Its harbour is very shallow, however, ships having to anchor out about a mile from shore, lightering passengers and freight thither. It would be a diffi cult matter to keep a dredged channel open to enable ships to berth alongside wharves anywhere in Salamaua bay, I should say, as the Markham River empties itself into the sea a few miles across the Gulf from Salamaua,. Being a large river, and there being prolific rains on its watershed, it must bring down considerable quantities of silt— sufficient to silt up the whole of the Gulf, in the course of time. However, this is but one of the problems for the new capital’s experts.

“Swamps will have to be filled in and the mountains at the back of Kila ter raced, for building purposes, while the aerodrome is frequently flooded out by the Francisco River during the wet season.

“To date, no mention has been made of what would happen to this grandiose scheme should the price of gold revert to its nonnal level. I venture to say that all activity, except that of Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd. would cease. What then? Of what use would a £150,000 road and a £350,000 capital be to the Territory, in such a place? From an ag ricultural point of view, the Morobe dis trict is the most barren in the whole Territory.

“We have often heard of the wonder ful fertility of the Markham Valley, but to date, no development has taken place there. As far back as 1921, schemes were afoot for planting cocoa and cot ton in it, but nothing came of them.

“The wonderful Wahgi Valley plateaus will probably receive attention during the next 50-100 years, but their natural outlet is Madang. All staff movements and freights for Administration outposts in the Wahgi and Mt. Hagen regions are handled by air from Madang, It be ing the nearest centre.

“Intense cultivation has taken place all around Rabaul and many, who have invested their all in property there, will lose heavily if the capital is shifted.

These settlers are being ruthlessly sacri ficed and must inevitably be loaded up with taxation at a later date, to pay Canberra”.

Mr. and Mrs. Schmid-Burgk, who re cently sold their holding on the Lower Watut River, New Guinea, sailed from Rabaul by the July “Neptuna” en route to Germany for an extended holiday. Mr.

Schmid-Burgk had been a miner in Mor obe for nearly 13 years and prior to that was a planter for a long period.