Raiders Keep Off

All Quiet in South Pacific

Sydney, Dec. 4.

ALTHOUGH the British now have in the Pacific—especially in the South Pacific—a system of defence which is a vast improvement on the conditions which ruled a year ago (and which per mitted two or three enemy vessels to destroy much valuable shipping) there are still a couple of Hun raiders prowling around.

The famous Australian cruiser “Syd ney” sank one of the worst of these —a 9,000-tons armed merchantman, which had done a lot of destruction in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans—but she became herself a victim of the raider’s Hunnish treachery, and she also was sunk.

There are indications that another raider is operating over in the Galapagos region and is being hunted by American naval forces. There is no doubt that these raiders receive supplies and assis tance in Japanese ports—especially the ports in the Marshall and Caroline Islands.

But the manner in which the various raiders give a wide berth to the South Pacific indicates that in the South Pacific territories—we refer to the region lying south of the equator, between the Dutch East Indies in the west and French Oceania in the east—the defence organi sation is so good that these prowling enemy units dare not enter it.

The Administrator of Papua, Hon.

Leonard Murray, left recently on a visit of inspection to the west of the Territory.

His Honour was accompanied by Mr. Jus tice Gore and the Crown Law Officer (Hon. E. B. Bignold).