Rabaul Is Now To Be Abandoned

Government Decision Follows Lamington Disaster

AS the result of quite unexpected and rapid developments in Administra tion plans in New Guinea it has been decided to remove the New Britain- New Ireland-Bougainville administrative centre from Rabaul to Rapopo (about 20 miles southward, near Kokopo. on the Gazelle Peninsula), at the earliest pos sible moment.

After the 1937 eruption, and before the war, it was decided to move the Admin istration from Rabaul (then the capital) to Lae, and the transfer was actually under way when the Japs invaded.

After the war, when the capital of the combined Papua-New Guinea Territory was established at Moresby, officialdom decided to move the administration post from Rabaul to somewhere near Kokopo.

But the plan lagged—largely because of lack of men and materials: the com mercial interests re-established them selves in the very good shipping port of Rabaul; more and more buildings were erected there; the volcanoes were very quiet; and by the end of 1950 it appeared that Rabaul would be re-established, while nothing whatever had been done to establish a town near Kokopo—where the great disadvantage is the absence of any kind of port.

Then came the volcanic explosion at Mount Lamington, killing 35 Europeans and over 3,000 natives. This was a great shock and a very heavy cost to the Ad ministration, and the plan to transfer the administration centre from Rabaul, amid the volcanoes, to some safer place, was revived.

The matter apparently came before Mr. Spender, before he left Australia, and one of his last official acts was to order an immediate investigation of the proposed sites near Kokopo, with a view to an early shift from Rabaul.

On April 20, a party of “Top Brass” left Port Moresby by air for Rabaul, and the following joined the local officials there: Mr. J. R, Halligan (Secretary of the Department of External Territories); Colonel J. K. Murray (Administrator); Mr. S. A. Lonergan (Government Sec retary); Mr. D. J. Rooney (Director of Works and Housing); Mr. R. G. Redmond (Principal Engineer at Port Moresby); Mr. R. B. Lewis (Director of Engineer ing) ; Mr. O’Mara (Wharf Investigating Engineer)—both the latter from Austra lia.

The party made a personal investiga tion in and around Rabaul and the Gazelle Peninsula; and it was officially announced a few days later that Rapopo would be the site of the new administra tive centre, but that final details would not be arranged until the engineers had agreed upon a site for a wharf which will serve the new town. (There is no sheltered port whatever on this part of the New Britain coast.) Mr. Halligan announced that two sites were under investigation and that, in any event, it was not intended to put in ex tensive wharfage. Instead, the present system of concentrating in Rabaul all the shipping which brought in copra and took out supplies to the adjoining dis tricts of New Ireland, Bougainville and Manus would be abandoned. A port for each of those three districts would be developed and used; and the port which would be provided for Rapopo would be asked to service only the eastern section of New Britain.

When Mr. Halligan made his announce ment on April 24, the engineers, Messrs.

Lewis and O’Mara, assisted by Captain James Duncan (who has an extensive local knowledge) were working out a plan for the construction of a wharf.

Both of the two sites being investigated are within 3i miles of Rapopo. The con struction of a wharf and dock at either site will be very expensive.

“All Possible Speed”

From Our Own Correspondent

Port Moresby, May 2.

rE highest officials have agreed that somehow a wharf can be built near Rapopo. It will necessarily be an open roadstead and both difficult and costly to construct, but two possible sites have been selected, and the engineers will be making another check of these loca tions before final recommendations go to the Commonwealth Government.

Quite definitely, the move to Rapopo is to be made, and Rabaul abandoned

as an administrative site. It is known that Colonel Murray is urging all possible speed in making the transfer on the grounds that continued retention of Rabaul is inviting disaster.

Apparently Rabaul citizens, wiser now than before the Lamington eruption, are also in favour of the move. Indeed, some Rabaul interests have already built houses at Kokopo, in anticipation of the transfer.

The new wharf for Rapopo will be much smaller than the wharf facilities in prewar Rabaul, but the port will serve a much smaller tonnage of shipping, as overseas copra concentrat-on ports are to be built in Bougainville and New Ireland, This will eliminate the heavy volume of trans-shipment tonnage now passing through Rabaul, and it will also end the long-standing problem of in adequate inter-island shipping services to Bougainville and New Ireland. With direct overseas movement of stores and copra an occasional small ship plying to Rapopo will be all that is needed.

At last there does seem to be definite prospect of the Government getting on with the Rapopo project; and this time they can get under way without passive resistance from the Rabaul population.

If there are any residents still uncon vinced on this matter they should take a walk through Higaturu and the adjoin ing villages.