System

Curse of Mandate System New Guinea Newspaper is Outspoken

IN a striking, outspoken article, the “Rabaul Times”, of January 5, ex presses the fervent hope that the Man date type of government will soon be re moved and the great country of New Guinea given a reasonable chance of progress and development.

The newspaper points out, bitterly, that the Australian Government has never made any attempt to develop the immense tourist attractions of New Guinea which, from the sightseers’ point of view, is one of the most remarkable countries in the world.

The country, also, is cursed by the fact that the majority of men in it are there to take and not to give—that too many of them are counting the days until they can get away on leave, or with what they have managed to acquire.

The newspaper calculates that resi dents of New Guinea spend in Australia annually at least £400,000, from which New Guinea gets no return. Yet, if it had a form of government in which men could have some confidence, in relation to the future, New Guinea could rival Java or Ceylon, as one of the richest of the developed island territories in the world.

The “mandate” sign hanging on the front door of New Guinea is the sign merely of a temporary office, says the newspaper. The place, in an administra tive sense, is little more than a suburb of Canberra.