CDC of Little Benefit

To Samarai Folk

From a Special Correspondent MANY old residents of the Territory can become quite voluble about the actions of the CDC in and about the Samarai district. And rightly so.

After months of waiting, finally some CDC representatives arrived in Milne Bay to list and to sell “as is, where is” anything and everything. Samarai resi dents—at two hours’ notice—managed to arrange transport and start out for the Bay full of expectancy. Furniture was a very sore point, so the CDC decided to sell that first. A whole shed full—nicely stacked—looked as if it could supply most of Samarai requirements.

But, alas! After the buyers had sorted, argued and stacked, the Civil Adminis tration official, who had been in the area some time in the role of caretaker, came on the scene with a rush and said “That is all Administration stuff.” So ended the first scene.

Samarai residents retired to shady spots, wiped perspiration off their brows and thought up original tortures for the CDC and CA men responsible for the fiasco. Of interest —up to date practically none of the furniture had been put into use by the Civil Administration.

Then we passed on to the sale of build ings. Many of these had been tendered for previously and one case is sufficiently amusing to warrant recording: The buyer took the CDC valuer down to look his two buildings over while we were having some lunch. They—the buildings— were within two hundred yards of where the CA official had been living for months. The buyer had inspected them two months previously in company with the CA official. After inspecting one building they moved towards where the next had been, but now there was no sign of it—no holes to show where the posts had been—nothing to show that a building had ever been there. The buyer cruised round like a well-trained hunting dog and explored the country for hun dreds of yards but could find no sign.

Finally both men came back and the buyer spoke to the CA official: “Do you remember those two buildings we visited the last time I came down? They were the two (pointing) just there.”

“Oh, yes, I remember that well. That is where they are,” replied the CA offi cial.

“Well,” said the buyer,” there is only one there now.”

“Oh,” said the official, “someone must have taken one away.”

And so the matter ended. How anyone could have removed a building, not a small one, within sight of the official’s house without his knowledge, has caused deep thought among both buyers and CDC men.

THE sale of motor vehicles did not draw many as most vehicles were in such bad condition.

So the scene moved to Gamadoda, the big US Naval base. The furniture found there was not very good, although quite a lot of excellent stuff had been left by the US Navy. Samarai residents managed to obtain enough with which to carry on.

The main trouble here occurred over barges. Quite a number lay on the water front and buyers chose what they wanted and arranged a price with the CDC offi cials.

The next day the CDC official declared “all sales off” and instructed would-be buyers that tenders for the boats would have to be submitted to Moresby office.

Although tenders were submitted at once,

nothing was heard from CDC. Moresby, and a month later all disposals goods, in cluding barges, in the whole area were sold by auction.

The auction was also a fiasco. Local residents had had a month in which to buy what they required, but the arc mesh was withheld for PCB until a few days before the sale. The fuel and lubricants were understood to be the property of the CA. All timber was understood to be CA property. Actually, only the timber and the fuel in a limited area were found to be the'property of CA.

The auction sale was supposed to take place on a certain day, four days ahead.

When that date was two days away, the sale time was altered to the next day at 7 p.m. On that day, at 9 a.m., the time

was altered to midday—so quite a number of local residents arrived too late. How ever, the syndicate which bought the area, as well as the CDC officials present, ap peared very satisfied. The whole area . brought £14,700 at the auction sale.

Mrs. G. Whittaker, after evacuee years in Brisbane, has returned to Awilunga Plantation, New Guinea.

Among the passengers on the flying boat “Coriolanus which passed through Brisbane on February 8, were four school boys from Fiji, returning to Australia to continue their education. They were D. and J. Gamson (Barker College, Sydney), R. Lowell, (Wesley College, Melbourne), and D. S. Longdale, (Trinity Grammar, Sydney).