Jungle

New Town In

An Oil Miracle in Papua

IF anyone wants to see the kind of miracle that can be performed by a big corporation in its search for oil, he should visit Papua and inspect the new township of Kariava, estab lished by Australian Petroleum Co. Ltd.

The coastal vessel enters the mouth of one of the large rivers which flow into the Gulf of Papua, in Central Papua; goes up the river several miles, the travel ler leaves the vessel at a landing-place in the midst of primitive, untamed jungle; gets into a car, and is taken several more miles through this jungle, along a new metalled road, to a large clearing at an elevation of 1,100 feet.

There he will find an attractively-laid out little town. The houses are com modious and have all the amenities which may be found in Port Moresby.

There are tennis courts, a golf course, a cricket pitch and a swimming pool.

There is an electric-power plant, and that of course means refrigerators, elec tric light, radios, etc. A radio transmit ting set keeps the settlement in touch with the outer world.

Right beside this little town, carved out of the primitive, ancient jungle, there is the huge drilling plant which is about to commence boring operations and which, it is hoped, will change the condition of Papua and, in addition, pro vide an important Imperial service by supplying Great Britain with a new and independent source of oil supply within the Empire.

Captain Duncan MacDonald, formerly one of the best known USS Co. skippers in the Pacific will make his home in the United Kingdom. He is 60 years old. From 1926 to 1930 he was in command of the Tofua, on the Islands run. Since his re tirement from the “Makura”, on the Sydney-Tahiti-San Francisco run, he has been on the motor-ship “Hauraki”, among the Islands.