American Consul-General
p. 89 · Read in the full issue
Sees Good Prospects For
P-Ng
Prom Our Own Correspondent
Port Moresby, June 28.
AN American who has seen a fair bit of the world and should be a good judge, thinks that the Territory could build up a thriving tourist trade.
He says that it has many unique fea tures, all types of scenery and climate, a:nd some publicity could turn these assets into cash.
He is Mr. Donald Smith. American Consul-General at Sydney, who visited the Territory to look up American resi dents in the Islands. He went to Lae, Rabaul, Madang and the Central High lands, then Port Moresby. He liked not only the picturesque out-stations' but also the main settlements.
It is wise, sometimes, to look at things
which have become too familiar, through
the eyes of a stranger. And seeing the Territory through the eyes of Mr. Smith should make a lot of Australians review their notions about our oft-maligned Ter ritory.
If he is as hard-headed about business matters as some of our Yankee friends, then his comments on the economic pos sibilities are interesting. He sized up the Territory as a very promising proposition for economic development. Perhaps he did not have ;a stack of information about our .problems in this respect, but Americans are no novices about tackling problems. And there was neither wealth nor a great population when America was first developed.
A plywood expert was expected to arrive In New Guinea in May to inspect Bulolo Gold Dredging timber leases. If his report is favourable, BGD will probably set up a plywood industry at Bulolo. An agree ment covering the prospective plywood industry has already been signed by BGD and the Commonwealth Government.
Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Smyth, of Apia, Wes tern Samoa—he is one of the best-known merchants in Polynesia—arrived in Syd ney in June to attend the wedding of their grandson (Chisholm Junior), The prevailing wog caught up with them be fore they had greeted the Harbour Bridge, and they both endured a week of bad in fluenza. They had not planned an early return to Samoa; but the unusually cold Australian winter may alter the family viewpoint.