Inspection

Manus Base Under

Australian Works Minister Is Told Something

THE Australian Minister for Works and Housing (Mr. Lemmon) in the latter part of August visited Manus.

Manus is the huge naval and air base built by the Americans, in the Admiralty Islands, north of New Guinea, in the war period, and abandoned later to Australia, when Australia refused to give America any post-war rights there.

Mr. Lemmon has given no report upon Manus since his return to Canberra. It is understood that the Australian De partments concerned are doing their best, with their limited resources, to keep the jungle from over-running the huge area that the Americans put into shape at Manus.

While he was in Papua-New Guinea, the Minister was given some details of the extremely wasteful expenditure of his Department in Territories centres—see article elsewhere in this issue. This may have influenced the decision —unofficially reported—to carry out important public works in the Territories by public tender.

One report—unofficial and unconfirmed —is that the Administrator of Guinea recently made some very frank representations to both the Munster for Territories (Mr. Ward) and the Works and Housing Minister (Mr. Lemmon).