For New Settlers In Papua

The Possibilities of Individual Districts

Part Ii

SECOND OF TWO ARTICLES FOR “PIM” BY AN OLD RESIDENT—PXYZ

IT would appear almost contradictory to the advice already given about land selection to give details of areas in Papua where first-class land is still obtainable—my aim has been to urge new settlers to go where other men have succeeded with the crop of their choice, rather than choose land for themselves.

Still, the following list of likely situations for successful planting are a guide to some of the Papuan lands. Many of these areas are still so isolated and so untested that it would be wiser for soldier settlers to leave them alone; but all have attractions for the inquiring pioneer and eventually they must all come into their own.

Aramia River, Western Division

mHIS fascinating region lies in the Fly River delta, but is rich and fertile compared to that useless Colossus of Papuan Rivers. Its low-lying terrain is arranged in two levels. In the bottoms are vast swampy areas of very rich soil, the swamps gradually merging into a string of blue lakes, the home of water lilies and thousands of birds whose food Nature provides on the spot. Two water loving commercial products, rice and tiax, have great future possibilities here. Both abound and at once suggest development.

Thus, there appears to be hundreds of square miles of untouched gram and fabric plants, waiting only for soni e agri cultural genius who can put them to Pr The C rest S of the area rises into sinuous plateaux of a few hundred feet altitude between the lakes, and of so rich a soil that it saddens one to see it uncultivated, except for native gardens. On these ridges, every sort of tropical tree flourishes to perfection; coconuts, kapok, bread fruit, bananas, mangoes. The whole re gion is wonderfully attractive; the rice beds and the luxuriant foliage remind one of the lowlands of Java, except that there is not a hill of any size within hundreds of miles. , , - OT% Access is bad—the only means of ap proach is by launch up the Aramia River, a tributary of the dreary mud-banked Bamu River, and a man must think twice before staking his future in so isolated a spot. Still, in my opinion, this is one of the regions of Papua that will astonish the planters of the future and do much to remove the reproach that Papua is not a very fertile land.

Mountain Regions Of The

Mekeo Hinterland

THESE heights, the most attractive hill country in Papua, have been for many years opened up by a chain of mission stations, organised by the Sacred Heart Mission, at Yule Island, the port of the district. A mule track, which could, without much difficulty, be converted into a Jeep road, winds up the slopes to a climate where all sorts of temperate fruits, vegetables, and flowers grow luxuriantly. . . .

Here is the picked spot for the market gardener, who aims at supplying the future metropolis of Papua. • The time for this has not yet come—roads, plane service, and a keener market on the coast being essential factors for success. These uplands grow enormous cauliflowers and cabbages; apples, peaches, plums, and quinces have borne fruit; strawberries and passionfruit grow wild; potatoes and

onions, far superior to the muddy-skinned specimens in Moresby stores, are easily cultivated; and the home garden can be made gay with roses, carnations, and dahlias.

It is a wonderful district, comparable to the central plateaux of New Guinea, which have already earned the name of the Kenya of • the South. It will some day, no doubt, be the leading hill resort for jaded Anglo-Papuans.

Hisin

mHIS is the premier copra district of J. Papua, lying some forty miles west of Moresby. Much of the good land has probably been taken up. Soil and climate favour the growth of the coco nut; a desiccated coconut mill has been established there for many years, and the planters who supply it have been “on velvet” during the period of low-price copra. Rubber is grown on the slopes further back, but not with the success of the Sogeri or Yodda areas. Access is. by sea only, but good harbours are absent.

Social life and amenities are abundantly provided for.

Sogeri Plateau

RISING to a height of 1,500 to 2,000 feet behind the arid hinterland of Moresby, these cool .uplands are a proved rubber area, and are probably the best developed in Papua. Coffee, dairy ing, tobacco-growing, and tropical fruit and vegetable-growing have already been successful. Excellent motor roads now connect the plateau with Moresby and should open the way for small mixed farms for settlers with limited capital.

Good rubber‘land is probably still obtain able, though some of the area has already been alienated. It is a district that every

intending settler must vfsit, and if his acquaintance with the Territory has been limited to a day or so in Moresby he will gain a new conception of Papua as an agricultural country.

The district has one great disadvantage —a shortage of local labour, and the new settler will probably find himself faced with an enormous bill for recruiting boys from more distant areas. Against this must be placed the ease and cheapness of transport to the district —a matter of supreme importance in Papua,

South Coast Districts

PASSING east from Moresby to the tip of Papua, near Samarai, lies a re gion that presents few outstanding

(Continued on Page 33)

attractions for the settler, though many successful coconut and rubber plantations exist at intervals along the coast. More or less regular steamer services run along the coast, and the way is open for hun dreds of settlers to select suitable sites for their enterprise, although it is neither a distinctive nor a particularly fertile part of Papua. gAGARAI y AL IeY TOWARDS the east end of Papua, the central mountain ranges become lower as they approach the coast. A huge shallow gulf, Mullens Harbour, bites deep into the hinterland, and at its upper end where the rivers come tumbling in, the valley of the Sagarai has already proved itself a first-class rubber district.

Plenty of land and labour is obtainable here, the soil seems fertile, and transport, by launch or short Jeep roads, is passably This seems to me to be the pick of the south coast districts for rubber; sites for coconut plantations can also be found, and it appears a suitable spot for pre liminary trials in cocoa-growing. Access to Milne Bay, destined probably to be the main port for Eastern Papua, is not yet provided, but it does not seem likely that the rich areas of the Sagarai Valley will long be denied communication across the low intervening ranges.

Milne Bay

rIS is a copra area par excellence and possesses a desiccated coconut mill and several large, flourishing plan tations. At first glance, the . district appears to be well developed and now has a network of good motor roads; but most of these will probably become no more than relics of army occupation. (Dn closer observation, one sees that practically all the development took place 30 or more years ago. 'there are no new plantations round Milne Bay. Possibly most of the land is locked up—a matter for future administrations to remedy—but that need not worry the intending settler as he can do much better elsewhere.

Islands To The East Of Samarai

IN general terms, new settlers are advised to steer clear of thb larger islands as the v are rockv and offpr little inducement to planters. ' Smaller coral islands of which there are scores to select from, form excellent sites for conra, ventures, but it would he a brave and somewhat foolhardv man who cared to risk all his capital in such a boneless looking industrv as this has now become.

These coral islands are good for noth ing else but coconuts, and their isolation and lack of organised transport do not make up for their superficial charm.

None of them would make the right sort of home nor produce the usual profusion of fruits and native foods that the Papuan planter expects on his own estate. One might well sav “the mainland for business and the islands for romance” —and even then the latter quality might be more easilv found in the pages ©f our South Sea Island writers than in the isles themselves.

D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago

fTIHE volcanic soil here seems fairly J. fertile, but no venture other than coconuts is likely to succeed. The somewhat open hinterlands on the north side of Goodenough Island, the highest island for its circumference in the world (the centre of this speck of land is higher than any point on the whole continent of Australia), suggest possibilities for rice and cotton-growing, but, again, the chances of success for white growers seem poor. This is an area where one can imagine small peasant holdings pre

dominating, each with a clear mountain stream suitable for irrigation, running from the hills.

Further out, the Trobrian Group offers nothing whatever to intending planters.

Native agriculture here is said to have reached its highest standard, and the land should be left entirely to the natives.

North-East Coast

rjIHIS district also is one that might 1 well be passed by. It suffers from droughts, the foreshores are gener ally swampy, and the ranges, in places, approach the coast so closely that they leave little room for planting projects.

Certain lands (the head of Collingwood Bay, for instance), appear to be suited for cotton or sugarcane, but a particularly favourable area is in the possession of a firm who so far have made no effort to develop it. , Cape Nelson is actively volcanic and unsuited for planting. Going north, how ever, at the head of Dyke Ackland Bay, one finds an extensive area of flat, light soil country of an attractive nature that seems to have been specially designed for coconut-growing. Beyond this again, and well in the interior, lies tfce level grassy Musa Valley, which some optimists have recommended for cattle. It can hardly be called first-class country, even for this purpose, and it is improbable that cattle raising on a large-scale would be success ful in Papua,

Buna Hinterland

rESE extensive grass plains, inter sected by patches of jungle, and fed

by clear rivers from the hills, cannot for ever be left undeveloped. There is room here for hundreds of settlers, but what they would turn their hands to is, at the moment, problematical. Cotton,

kapok, rice, sugar, maize, are dreams for the future rather than realities for the present. The district has many advan

es J~ a S° oc * port, excellent roads, abundant labour, good soil, water—but it appears to be one of the parts of Papua that must be left to posterity. twenty miles inland, one ascends to the Sangara Plateau, and here a different story must be told.

Sangara Plateau

rpHIS hinterland of the north coast is °? e of the Pick agricultural districts - of , Pa P ua . possessing a heavy rain iall, cool climate, fertile soil, and several good roads running in from the port of pro Bay. Planting here has progressed in at least two directions: it is the centre of a flourishing native coffee industry and grows first-class rubber. Cocoa grown experimentally seems to indicate the possibility of a third successful crop.

Sangara appears a very suitable dis trict for the establishment of group soldier coffee estates which would work alongside the native communal plan tations and no doubt benefit both parties Labour is abundant, although an exten sion of native coffee interests may lessen the supply.

Land should be easily obtainable for soldier settlerS, but certain large areas are said to have been granted to an English firm many years ago, although they are still in their virgin state. If this is correct, it is a matter that should be remedied by the Government. No ex

??JS er - should find ifc impossible to obtain a ? y fertile district of Papua Ural P^ ogress and, more important the welfare and elevation of the be carried much further «ho?5 a Sfl- landed P r °P rie fors than by big shareholding concerns, even if the latter fr?r iL the P oSt "War period, make amends lands n ° r twenty years of ne glect of their The Sangara Plateau is level, beautiful country over 1,000 feet in altitude 1 intending settler at STf* gla noe. . Rubber yields are among d*?stri?t gh n S r JS p apua, and it is to this fS’ or the adjoining Yodda lands (where the amount of land is more that would-be rubber-growers should first direct their attention.

Kokoda And The Yodda Valley

rpHERE is probably room for many X small settlers in this favoured area , though the terrain is not extensive and some of it has already been alienated.

Because of its limits, therefore, it is hoped that small estate holders will get a foot ir}S there before large companies take up • 18 « eft ' P-übber yields are the highest in Papua. Derris is being tried out, and the Valley is said to grow ex cellent rice. Communications will be much improved in the near future, and labour can still be got without difficulty f£ ke Sangara Plateau, Kokoda and the Yodda have a big future ahead of them.

VTOTHING has been said hitherto of .ii one other method of establishing . . oneself on the land in Papua—that is, by buying a ready-made plantation or nucleus for development. Few of the paying places come into the market, and usuall y only then at very high prices.

There are however, many small places that it might pay a new settler to acquire as a start to further development. These are mostly small coconut areas, and at present wartime prices they offer some return, while bigger projects are being set m hand. It should be unnecessary to warn prospective buyers to watch their step in this regard, but caveat emptor was good advice twenty centuries ago and is no less so to-day. Choice little plantation nuclei come into the market from time to time and, especially for older men, these might be the start of real prosperity.

In conclusion, Papua is no land for concession hunters, get rich quick artists, or exploiters of native labour and good will- The Territory will accommodate both European and native races if the white settler is considerate of native rights and never forgets that Providence, in the first instance, did not design the country for whitp development.

A SUMMARY of the most likely spots £\ to look for land follows: Rubber.—First preference goes to San gara Plateau and Kokoda, both of which can be visited on the one tour. Sagarai Valley comes second. Sogeri is already largely alienated and has no local source of labour. Apart from these proven spots, there are many others where rubber prospects should be excellent—the lower slopes on the ranges inland from Yule Island, some hilly coastal areas on the south, and even some areas in the west.

Coconuts.—lf embarking on the deve lopment of a new coconut plantation settlers should inspect the lowlands at the head of Dyke Ackland Bay. They would certainly have this district to themselves but group estates should flourish here as the soil is suitable, labour obtainable and transport quite favourable if not well developed at present. Any part of the south coast near the eastern end from the tip of the Territory, near Samarai,

through Mullens Harbour, Orangerie Bay, Table Bay, to Abau offer excellent pros pects for an industry that should be

carefully examined from the point of view of markets and prices. West of Moresby, natural coconut lands are likely to re main unused for lack of suitable harbours.

Cocoa.—This would be a new industry for Papua. Sagarai Valley, Elai Valley, and Sangara suggest themselves as suit able sites.

Cotton and —Light soils, low altitudes, and, above all, a definite dry season are necessary for success here.

Cotton disease must be studied, and kapok should not be planted where flying foxes are abundant, as they destroy the young fabric-bearing seed pods.