Surplus
p. 74 · Read in the full issue
£6 Million War Damage Surplus Who Will Benefit?
IT is expected that the Australia War Damage Fund will have a surplus of £6 million pounds after all War Damage claims have been met. However, no decision has been made as to how the Government will dispose of the money.
Total contributions to the fund by Aus tralian and Territories property owners, during the Pacific war period, was £13,000,000. Damage to property in New estimated at £6,750,000 of which £2,300,000 has already been paid out as compen sation. The original claims were expected to total between £lO,OOO and £12,000,000.
Residents of Papua and New Guinea will watch the disposal of the surplus funds with great interest. Although Territorians are agreed that the Austra lian War Damage Commission has given them the fairest deal of all Government Departments, it is pointed out that War Damage valuations are based on pre- Pacific War figures, and make no allow ance for the fact that the Australian pound is now worth about 12/- in com parison with its 1940 value. In addition, Territorians who have found it virtually impossible to rehabilitate themselves in Mr. Ward’s new New Guinea have been living largely on their War Damage compensation.
The allocation of surplus funds will now, of course, be left until after the election on September 28. If the present Govern ment is returned it will probably then be used to finance some further fancy socialisation plans.
Miss T. M. O’Brien, who was attached to the Provisional Administration at Port Moresby, is now at Madang. Her sister is Mrs. Cahill, of “Wagoi” Plantation, outside Madang.
Miss Margaret Smith, of Suva, arrived in Brisbane recently by flying-boat. She was on her way to Calcutta, where she was to marry Mr. Robin Taylor. Miss Smith met her fiance on a voyage from England, in 1939. She is the daughter of a well-known European restaurant proprietor, of Suva.
M. Georges Ahnne, recently elected deputy to represent the Colony of French Oceania at the new National Assembly in Paris, arrived in Suva by the “Thor” in August, and went on to Europe, via America by air. M. Ahnne is an attorney practising" in Papeete, and he is held in high regard in Tahiti. He succeeds M.
Charles Vernier in the National Assembly.