Jungle Covers War Base
p. 57 · Read in the full issue
WANT of interest among residents has resulted in the deterioration of the several hundred miles of American built roads in Santo. This, at all events, is the opinion of Mr. H. J. Kelliher, of Auckland, who recently made a trip to the New Hebrides.
Steadily creeping over airstrips and roads, jungle is gradually effacing the wartime installations which once made Santo the most important American base in the South West Pacific.
High wages paid by the US services to natives were still reflected in their reluct ance to work, Mr, Kelliher said. Planters were experiencing difficulty in getting copra out and were trying to get labour in Java.
Planters last year were receiving about £BO per ton for copra and the New Hebrides altogether had exported more than 20,000 tons. However, planters found difficulty in obtaining dollars to import the machinery which they needed.