The Month in Papua-N. Guinea

From Our Own Correspondent

Port Moresby Aug. 1.

More And Better Elec

Tricity For Moresby

THE prospects for a full power supply in Port Moresby are on the up grade.

There are three new generators in the Konedobu power house, one with all the pieces assembled under the same bit of roof.

This is the Ruston-Hornsby, a slick piece of machinery now being assembled by the agent’s engineer

sent from Sydney.

He expects to have it turning over by mid-September.

The other two engines are Crossleys, already set up and await ing delivery of the alternators which arrived in Sydney for trans shipment early in July.

Satisfactory progress is being made on the new switchboard to carry the high loading rate from the three important engines, and the powerhouse itself has been ex tended and improved.

It looks as though Port Moresby residents should be fairly free from blackout troubles when all this new gear gets into use—even now, we are far better off than friends Down South in Sydney.

And, of course, for the future there is the Rouna Hydro-Electric scheme. Even this seems to be mov ing, with tenders closing for equip ment, and stacks of paper covered in engineers’ drawings.

More Coastal Ships

AT last Canberra has been jolted into doing something about the coastal shipping service, and the jolts have produced two 300ton wooden ships.

One has been coaxed out of the grip of the Army authorities for a seven-month spell in Territory waters; and another of the same type is to be released from Naval reserve for an indefinite period.

The ex-Army job will be on the coastal run some time in August, but it will take a little longer to get the Navy ship into service again.

Meanwhile the Kelanoa is still perched on a couple of coral nigger heads along the New Ireland coast.

The Production Control Board is seeking some salvage firm who might be interested in tackling the refloating job. All hope for this ship has not yet been abandoned.

Another 300-tonner is back in the news. This is the Kelaua which has been waiting in the queue for replacement parts and repairs since somewhere around 1948. It tangled with a reef at Kar Kar Island, was towed on a Cook’s tour around the Islands and finally reached the Steamships slip at Port Moresby in July of this year. By the time this is in print, the Kelaua should again be making itself useful on the coastal runs.

The improvements to the shipping service were announced during a visit to the Territory by the Board’s Chairman, Mr. J. C. Archer, who is also the First Assistant Secretary of the Territories Department.

He did the rounds of Port Moresby and Rabaul waterfronts with the Deputy Chairman, Mr. lan Mc- Donald, on his first trip to the Islands since 1949.

“Retirement” Of Govt.

Printer

Mr. Walter Bock, The Gov

ernment Printer at Port Moresby, officially retired on July 11, as he had reached the com pulsory retiring age.

Next morning he was back in the office shaking hands with himself in the capacity of a Temporary Gov ernment Officer.

He has forgotten more things about Port Moresby than most of its present residents will ever learn, for he first set foot in the town in 1912.

He admits that his first impression of the “capital” was not too favour able, but after 39 years he thinks that it has a lot of advantages over present day Australia.

He is still as spry as a spring morning, and his decision to stay on at the job has been welcomed by his many Moresby friends.

New Flying-Boat

BY Christmas Qantas Empire Airways will be operating a Plymouth flying-boat around the Territory in conjunction with its Catalina service.

This aircraft is one of four pur chased by QEA which were formerly used by the BOAC on the Britain- Singapore-Hong Kong route. The Plymouth is already in Sydney but has to be specially fitted for Island use.

New Traffic Regulations

THE postwar Rafferty’s Rules on traffic went into the discard on August 1 when the new Traffic Ordinance came into effect for the whole of the Territory.

This was a reform long overdue.

Anything mechanically propelled on four wheels has been permitted to rattle its way around imperilling the lives of other road-users. And there was nothing the police could do either to stop natives swarming over trucks like ants on an anthill, or check dangerous driving by Euro peans or natives.

Now there is a heavy list of regu

lations which should get some order into road traffic. nxRFrTOR nr * ■RTf’TTi T’fT'Rir

Director Of Agriculture

waimuu ONE of the latest, key Administration jobs to go into the “Help Wanted” column is that of P-NG Director of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries.

The successful applicant will get a salary ranging from £1,346 to £1,436, and the closing date has been set at December 31, 1951, in order to allow time for replies from countries beyond Australia.

There are some knowledgeable people who think that the Government needs to look no further than Konedobu for the right man.

And their view has been rein forced by high praise from overseas experts. In fact one outstanding authority invited to the Territory to advise on a key crop, remarked that he had found himself learning rather than advising after meeting a certain well-known official at Port Moresby.

Quakes And Volcanoes

evening of July 16 an earth " tremor was felt simultaneously at Lae, Madang, Wau, Port Moresby, Hishu and Yodda.

It did no more than rattle a few pieces of crockery, and in Port Moresby was not so violent as the tremor which occurred early in March.

There have been a few regional tremors at Popendetta, and Mt.

Lamington has been sending debris avalanches down the side of the crater dome.

The volcano has also been sending up dust clouds, and pumice has once again been drifting over the countryside.

However, there is still no indi cation of renewed large - scale i activity.

Documentary

A Commonwealth Docu- .

mentary film entitled “Aus tralia in New Guinea” is to be screened at all the major centres in j the Territory as soon as a 16 mm j copy is available.

It was given its Territory pre- • view in Port Moresby on July 10 to i what, of course, was a highly critical J audience.

On the whole, most people agreed J that it was a pretty fair effort, al- • though there was a rather heavy l overlay of propaganda in some por- • tions of the feature.

Processing costs, of course, are a j big factor, but the same film in j colour would have ten times the;

publicity value.

Road Smash

LADY Luck was abroad in Port: Moresby in the early hours of 3 July 16 when a jeep and a j three-ton truck tangled on the Koki i Road.

They collided, jumped over thee sea-wall and landed a few yards e from rocky outcrops, but the eight: occupants of the two vehicles shook: themselves out of the wreckage and counted nothing more than a couple c of fractured bones.

Four were admitted to hospital I and the other four were sent homes with a few bruises and abrasions.

Aerial Maps

AN RAAF Mosquito aircrafts arrived at Port Moresby early v in July to carry out a photo graphic survey.

The plane crew were also in- structed to complete the gaps in thee aerial photographic map of the Mt..

Lamington blast area if weather i permitted.

The major portion of the blast J. zone was photographed by a Mosquito from Australia earlierr this year, but certain sections couldb not be completed due to the con — stant drift of the cloud crater oven; these areas.

A mao complete except for theses, small areas, has already been issuedb by the Department of Interior map ping section.

Better Mail Facilities

THERE are now 86 private mailli boxes at Port Moresby, and 600? each at Lae and Rabaul.

These boxes are proving a great), help in reducing the mail queue at)

the Fort Moresby post office, but mary more are still needed. ” jie slowness with which manu fa> ourers can make them available, however, puts the delivery date a good way off.

Promotion

TUCKED away in a long list of Commonwealth Public Service promotions published in a recent Commonwealth Gazette is the name of Mr. E. A. F. Head, the Territory’s Public Service Commis sioner.

This notice announces Mr.

Head’s nrcmotion to Public Service Inspector at Perth.

When seconded to the Adminis tration as Public Service Commis sioner he was Assistant Public Service Inspector at Adelaide.

This little notice caused a lot of speculation among members of the Administration here. At the time it appeared in print, Mr. Head was in Australia selecting additional Territory staff.

One school of thought points out that he was seconded to the Administration in September, 1949. for a four-year neriod, and regards the promotion as a routine jump in status against the day when his term in the Territory is completed.

The other view is that Mr. Head may have decided that Perth is quite a nice place to live and that the thorns in his path are not as

sharp or numerous as in Papua and New Guinea.

DR. N. H. WHITE, the Assistant Public Health Director, has temporarily departed the Terri tory on long leave. He will visit Britain and take a course in Tropical Medicine at London Uni versity. He will not be back at his office desk for about a year.