Anxiety About New

Guinea Finance Despite Enormous Gold Royalty

THERE appears to be growing uneasi ness in New Guinea regarding the condition of the Administration’s finances.

No one is able to understand why the Administration’s large accumulated sur plus has virtually disappeared, and why the Administration is being carried on at a loss, while a revenue of something approaching £lOO,OOO per annum is being received from gold royalty alone.

A series of questions asked in a let ter to the editor of the “Rabaul Times”, and the answers of the editor—-which presumably have been supplied by the Administration—are interesting.

The correspondent asks why another little ship is being constructed for the Administration when already the Admin istration has several vessels, and quite obviously, in the near future, the chief officials will travel by air. The answer is that the boat “is required for patrol purposes”.

Then the correspondent asks whether the total cost of fitting up the Admin istrator’s personal yacht “Dorunda” was over £6.000. The answer is that the “Dorunda” was a gift from the Common wealth Government, and that the cost of refitting, and making it suitable for service in New Guinea, has not been dis closed. It may be added in parenthe ses, however, that current report in Ra baul is that the sum is over £7,000.

The next question is whether it is true that revenue has been so much below expenditure that the Administra tion has been forced to borrow to pay pub

lie service salaries. The curt answer is “No’'.

Then this pertinacious correspondent asks if it is true that the recent Mount Hagen patrol has cost over £20,000. The answer is that “the figures are not avail able”.