Seriously Ill

How NG Administrator Escaped From Japs

THE bad luck which has attended Brig.-General Sir Walter McNicoll, ever since he was appointed Adminis trator of New Guinea in 1936, culminated in the distressing circumstances which attended his departure from the Territory in the face of the Japanese invasion at the end of January.

When the Japanese, on January 21, attacked Lae. Sir Walter McNicoll was there, in the grip of a severe illness.

He transferred his residence from Rabaul to Lae a few months ago, when Lae became the new administrative capital.

In January, the Administrator suffered a very severe attack of malaria, and hard work and anxiety had so reduced his condition that pneumonia developed.

When the Japanese attack came he was so ill that he could not be removed from Lae. Instead, he was taken about 4 miles up the Markham Valley, to the farm of Mr. Jacobsen.

About January 23, Guinea Airways big Ford plane, in charge of Pilot Ross, was sent back from Pt. Moresby to Lae, with instructions to bring out the Ad ministrator, if possible. But he was still very ill, and could not be moved, and the plane returned without him.

A couple of days later, however, he was taken from Lae to Wau, and thence to Pt. Moresby by Pilot Collins in the old, re-conditioned “Faith in Australia” (since reported missing between Wau and Pt. Moresby—see page 17); and from Pt.

Moresby he was sent on under conditions which allowed him to reach Sydney on February 4. He was immediately taken into Wootten Private Hospital; and, by February 13, his condition was reported to be much improved.

The Administrator’s condition, while he was at Lae and at Pt. Moresby, was so bad that grave anxiety for him was felt in Sydney.

Mr. and Mrs. J. H. L. Waterhouse— he was in charge of a group of native schools in Rabaul district of New Guinea —came south late in December; and they now are residing with Mrs.

Waterhouse’s relations in Dungog, NSW.

Mr. Waterhouse was in bad health when he arrived in Sydney, and successfully underwent a course of hospital treat ment. Mr. G. Baden Jones, also of Rabaul, underwent treatment in the same hospital. ,

Brigadier-General Sir Walter McNicoll.