Late News

Rabaul To Be Abandoned

IT has been decided to abandon the township area and harbour installa tions of Rabaul, New Britain, and to construct port facilities for the Adminis trative Headquarters of the New Britain district of New Guinea at Kokopo, about 20 miles distant.

This was announced by the Minister for External Territories on February 12.

Rabaul was the capital of the Man dated Territory of New Guinea until 1941.

It was a well-built tropical township with fine homes and gardens, and a natural harbour which afforded all-weather pro tection to shipping. It was, however, practically devastated in 1937 when Vulcan and Matupi craters erupted and further volcanic activity in 1940-41 led the Com monwealth Government to the decision to move the capital to the mainland at Lae. This move was being made when the Japanese occupied the territory.

All of pre-war Rabaul was, of course, destroyed during the war, and apart from the lack of harbour facilities at Kokopo, the new New Britain commercial and ad ministrative centre might as well be built there as where Rabaul formerly stood.

An important factor in choosing Koko po was the selection by the aviation auth orities of a site about 8 miles away near Cape Gazelle for an aerodrome to replace the present airstrip at Lukunai, close to the former Rabaul township.

The Minister said that the selection of the Kokopo area as the site for the Ad ministration Headquarters of the New Britain district should not be confused with the location of the capital of the New Guinea Territory or the combined Territory of Papua-New Guinea, if a de cision is taken to amalgamate perman ently the former separate territories of Papua and New Guinea.

A decision has not yet been taken upon that question or upon the choice of the location of a site for the capital.