Madang is the End
p. 19 · Read in the full issue
End of the Line But There is No Accommodation for Travellers Yet
Madang, September 28.
MADANG is now the terminal point of the Australia-New Guinea ship ping service, and consequently the jumping-off place for points north and west. But there is no accomodation in Madang for the travelling public, and there is therefore much inconvenience for people transhipping at this port.
The old hotel is gone, of course—even the tiled floor is no more. Rumour has it that the tiles were used to line the last resting place of a brace of Jap admirals (and/or generals).
On the last trip of the “Montoro,” when the ship was in port for just on a week, transhipping passengers, by the good graces of the skinper and the local
agents, were permitted to remain on board for five days. After that they had to make their own arrangements.
Mrs. N. Corlass and her two children, who were waiting for an inter-island ship to Manus, were looked after bv Mrs. H.
Evans. Mrs. A. Smythe, wife of the medical officer in Manus, was given one of the hospital huts a pretty cold welcome for a newcomer to the country.
Mr. and Mrs. W. Royal, en route to Wewak, also were accommodated in one of the hospital huts. Mr. and Mrs. R.
Tutty, who were going to Manus, dug themselves in in an abandoned Red Shield hut.
There seems no reasonable solution to Madang’s problem of catering for the travelling public. Madang is a small town and at the present time does not warrant a hotel: there would be small profit for a private individual in running a hostel or rest-house.
The only alternative to the present haphazard arrangement seems to be the establishment of a Government rest camp. But, unless the energetic District Officer takes it upon himself to do some thing, there is little likelihood of this.