More War Dumps For

Sale In Ng

Concurrently with a plea by Port Moresby’s new newspaper (South Pacific Post) that the remaining scrap metals in Papua-New Guinea be acquired by Australia, is the announce ment that a war dump will be sold shortly in the Rabaul district.

Scrap metal buyers In America, the Philippines, England and a number of European countries are showing renewed interest in the war-time dumps in Papua and New Guinea.

America is said to have placed fantas tic orders for scrap throughout the world, and it is now almost impossible to get it anywhere.

There is still plenty of scrap in New Guinea, but most of it, having been sold at disposals, is owned by private people.

One big dump in the Rabaul district has been reacquired by the disposals authori ties following a High Court ruling that the owners had allowed the time clause in their contract to lapse. Now the dump is to be sold by public tender.

Hundreds of tunnels in N. Britain con tain an unknown quantity of old war supplies. Rotted coconut palm supports in tunnels have made speculators wary about exploring the underground dumps.

Earthquakes and heavy rains have caused many tunnels to collapse, burying what ever treasure was there.

The Disposals sales in Papua-New Guinea of 1946-47 have now passed into history—apparently without making much Impression on Authority. The Australian Government of that day did everything possible to help Australian and overseas buyers to remove from the Territory as much valuable equipment as possible in the shortest possible time.

The Territory, much of which was com pletely devastated, found itself soon in the position of reimporting goods that had been taken away as War Disposals pur chases. Other valuable equipment was permitted to lie mouldering and rusting away in dumps, paw-paw, banana and other growth sprouting up amongst, or through it.

Just how far this war-disposals mater ial travelled was indicated in Melbourne in 1948. A feud between some Jewish interests, which had ended in a kidnap ping, apparently has its origin in war materials ex-New Guinea which had been shipped to Palestine by Melbourne sympa thisers to help the Jews in their campaign against the British.

Monsieur Anthonioz, Flench colonial administrator 2nd class, has been con firmed in his appointment as French Resident Commissioner in the New Heb rides.

Mr. and Mrs. A. H. B. Crabbe and their three children arrived in Sydney by plane

early in October from Suva, Fiji, where they have spent the last five years.