N. Guinea

The Airmail To

What Has Been Done in Six Months

THE weekly airmail between Australia, Papua and New Guinea ndw has been running for six months.

The service has been operated smooth ly. and without fuss or accident; time tables have been adhered to in all kinds of weather; and the DHB6 machines have flown over Australian plains, wide tropi cal seas, and New Guinea’s towering mountains, with remarkable regularity.

The service has been a great boon to Islands residents generally, especially in the transport of urgent cargo. The planes have carried everything, from medical supplies to seedlings, from en gine parts to parasites bred to attack coconut pests. Persons seriously ill have been able to get south to Australian specialists in a few hours. New Guinea residents, disliking the international out look on September 28, thanked God for the aeroplanes, into which they hurried ly loaded their families. New Guinea letters are now read within a week, where formerly six and seven weeks were needed.

The whole tempo of business life in New Guinea and Papua is being changed; while the use of the aeroplane and the teleradio is removing the terrors of iso lation from the life of the planter in the outer islands.

The airmail service, plus the introduc tion of fast, modern vessels like the “Macdhui” and “Bulolo”, is going to have a profound effect upon industrial de velopment in the territories. The men engaged in gold-mining in New Guinea and oil-drilling in Papua, to whom time is money, are travelling by airmail to an increasing degree, while those with more time to spare have the benefit of

faster ships.

The same applies to tourist traffic.

Oversea tourists are coming to Australia in increasing numbers. Those anxious to see New Guinea, but who have not time for the voyage by steamer, now use the aeroplanes. By flying, they can see a great deal in a fortnight, and even m a week.

It seems certain that Carpenter and Co. will be obliged to duplicate the ser vice within their first year of operation.

Already, the weekly service cannot cope with all demands.

The annual synod of the Methodist Church in Fiji was held in October, and the reports disclosed the progress of in teresting work among both Fijians (who readily accept Christianity) and Indians (who cling very stubbornly to their own religions). During the past year, in the 10 Fijian schools, the students increased by 28 per cent.; and, in the 13 Indian schools, by over 12 per cent.