N. Guinea Roads and Gold

A Word From a Man on the Spot

Letter to the Editor.

WE of the Bitoi River want to know what you know of the country be , tween Salamaua and Wau. We never saw anything of you out here the t,ime you spent about five minutes at Wau, and so claim to know all about it. For your information I will give you some facts.

The road from Salamaua to Wau, up the Bitoi River, can be constructed in less than 45 miles, and there is gold all the way. There are 20 miners on the Bitoi River, with over 500 natives be tween them, and the road should come this way, as then it would serve every body on the Morobe Goldfield. If it goes any other way we will still have to pay £lO a ton to get our cargo carted out here from Wau. At the present time it costs £45 a ton for rice landed at the Bitoi River.

The capital, we are not interested in— they can put it where they like—but we must have a road.

You seem to think the gold here will only last a few years. There will be gold-mining here in a hundred years’ time. The place has only been scratched yet. But I will say that the easy places are done, and what is wanted now is the power to put the yardage through, and to have the power you must have water.

There are places on the Bitoi River where, with a few tons of cement, dams could be constructed to hold thousands of acre feet of water. But, without a road and with dear freight, that is impossible.

Why not put the road through from Salamaua to Wau and have the capital at Wau? As you know, Wau has one of the best climates in the world. If America had a place like Wau what would she do with it? Why, in no time the place would be overrun with tourists.

I am, etc.,

Bitoi River,

Chas. J. Olsson.

Wau, T.N.G., Sep. 1.