He Has "Had" Lae

From Our Own Correspondent

Brisbane, Oct. 30.

BECAUSE of impossible conditions in New Guinea, Mr. B. F. Pearson, a former police sub-inspector, has re signed. He and his wife recently re turned to Australia by Qantas plane.

Mrs. Pearson said that she was sadly disillusioned with New Guinea. It was a single man’s country. The high cost of living without any proportionate in crease in salary, made it hopeless for a married couple to live comfortably in some parts of the Territories. A loaf of bread, she said, had cost 2/6, and a pound of butter, when it could be obtained, cost 3/4.

At Lae they depended on incoming ships for fresh food supplies, but the town was more often without meat than with it.

According to Mr. Pearson, the admin istration-sponsored native market in Lae had not been a success. Certain officials got most of the tropical fruits and vege tables. What was left over went to civi lians.

Mr Pearson said there had been little improvement fh the housing position in New Guinea during the six months he had been there.