Civil Government

Extended in NG

ON March 1, the Civil (Provisional) Government of Papua-New Guinea will be extended from its present area (Papua and that part of New Guinea southwards of the Markham River) to cover all of the mainland of New Guinea that was formerly in the Mandated Territory. This means -that all the main island of New Guinea east ward of the Dutch border, and all the archipelagoes eastward of Samarai, will be under Civil Administration.

The Bismarck Archipelago and the Northern Solomons (New Britain, includ ing Rabaul, New Ire’and, Lavongai, Mus sau, Buka and Bougainville) will remain, for the present, under ANGAU.

ANGAU and the Army headquarters, which were established at Lae in October last, will now move on to Rabaul. A considerable number of ANGAU men, who have been carrying on administrative duties on the mainland of New Guinea northwards of the Markham, under Army direction, will be transferred to the Civil Administration.

The headquarters of the Civil Adminis tration will remain at Port Moresby for the present.

It would appear that a decision regard ing the location of the future “capital” of Papua-New Guinea will not be made until the Civil Administration is further extended. That should be within the next six months.

The Army will have to remain in the Territory as long as the Jap prisoners of war are kept there, which may be another year. But, now that the war is over, and the Jap prisoners rounded up, there actually is no further need for ANGAU. Therefore, the unit may be passed out of existence at any time.

There is nothing to prevent the Army remaining in New Britain and elsewhere to guard the prisoners, even although Civil Administration is fully restored.