Great Airport Near
p. 78 · Read in the full issue
Lae
Plea That Plan Should Provide Industries to Replace Goldfield
(Contributed.) WE understand that the recommenda tions of the Lae Citizens’ Associa tion to the Administrator, on the plan for the new town of Lae, are almost identical with the conclusions of the ex perts who conferred at Moresby.
A most important consideration is a decision —still somewhat “Hush-hush” —to build a great international air-port at a cost of some £3,000,000. This will replace the old Lae Airport, which has given such long and good service. (It will be re membered that the PIM, over a year ago, forecast the establishment of a great air-port in the vicinity of Nadzab.) The abandonment of Lae airport will mark the closing of the first chapter of the history of Morobe goldfield. Every one knows that the goldfield has a limited life—say, 25 years. And this raises a question concerning the future of Lae.
What is the use of building a new town at Lae, to take the place of that de stroyed in the war, if no plan is to be made for the development of other in dustries to take the place of gold. The great air-port will have significance in international aviation, and in defence; but Lae would have no further raison d’etre.
Will Lae simply become a ghost town, like many other centres which died with their goldfields; or will it, like Chartres Towers, Gympie, etc., gain a new lease of life from agricultural industries which were established to take the place of mining?
It is entirely a matter of whether the Administration has any vision. Lae is not only the outlet for the Morobe gold field: it alsq. is the natural port (both sea and air) for the vast, fertile plateaus which stretch from the head of the •Markham Valley to Mount Hagen—a region that has more than once been called “a second Kenya.”
An agricultural policy for this region would not only provide a future for Lae.
It would give this hungry world new sources of supply for tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, hemp, and many similar products —not forgetting a certain type of tobacco that is much in demand. It would pro vide a home and occupation for many ex-services personnel, it would supply the natives with a means of gaining know ledge and experience, it would be a market for Australian goods, and it would give some justification for trusteeship, and create a bulwark against aggression.