He Struck it Rich—But Not On Gold

r PHE New Zealand “Evening Post” recently ran the following story about a New Zealander who went to New Guinea to look for gold hut who appar ently has found a fortune in another, and totally unexpected, way. —

AN ex-New- Zealander, Mr. Eric Snook, has a thriving business at Nadzab, a former combat area in New Guinea.

At the end of the war, Mr. Snook bought, for £lOO the junk and scrap of the battlefields around the aerodrome.

He has collected from the abandoned war-planes alone, 2,000 tons of duralu-

m in which he is selling for £97 a ton. Also on his salvage heaps are lighting plants, gas cylinders, drums of bitumen, and hundreds of iron telephone poles, Mr. Snook lives with his wife in the only house still standing on Nadzab air field. The chairs are former American bomber pilot seats, the tables of duralu

min. The out-buildings, including laundry, tool-shed, and storehouse are neatly arranged bodies of Lancaster bombers. The doors once closed over bomb bays.

Arriving from Remuera, NZ, in 1927, Mr. Snook prospected for gold in Aus tralia, and in 1934 went after gold in New Guinea, mainly in the Wau area. His knowledge of the territory was invaluable during the war, and as a lieutenant in the 7th AIF Division he was in charge of boats which sailed down the Watut River from Tsili Tsili to assist in the capture of Nadzab.

“We had a hectic trip from the junction of the Watut and the Markham Rivers,”

Mr, Snook told a visiting Sydney news paper correspondent. “It took two hours to cover 12 miles. As far as I know, that was the only time the Markham has been navigated by night. I certainly don’t want to do it again.”

When he has cleared up the Nadzab area, Mr. Snook will begin disposing of American army impedimenta, over which he secured an option, that is strewn over an area of 260 square miles. “I think I’ll take it easy when I get rid of that lot,” said Mr, Snook.