P-Ng Legislative

Council

From Our Own Correspondent

P. Moresby, Feb. 28

THE Legislative Council of Papu New Guinea contained fo new faces when it met for i second session on February 18.

Government Secretary S. A. Lo: ergan and Agricultural Director E. P. Dwyer were both back fro leave, and replaced Messrs. Clau Champion and Colin Marr, w] took part in the inaugural sessii last November. Also back fro leave to take his seat was Mr. J. : McCarthy, District Commission in New Britain. The fourth was IV T. Grahamslaw, acting Chi Collector of Customs, who replac the late Mr. T. P. M. Byrne, wi died last month.

The Council sat on seven da and put through a lot of busine With a minimum of formaliti this time, the Council quickly g down to business, and sevei measures were passed in the sev days in which jt sat in the latt part of February. Among them: A Bill to control the practice pharmacy, which, according to I John Gunther, was almost straight lift of a NG Ordinant but which would apply to the wh( of the Territory. Its aim is to co trol dangerous drugs, limiting th( sale to patients producing a dc tor’s prescription. The Bill, whi passed without amendment, a) requires that any business carri on as a pharmacy be at all tim under the direct supervision of

qualified pharmacist.

Two Bills amending Compani Ordinances, the purposes of whi relate primarily to the provisi for registration of charges or d bentures for company assets a: to create a central register wh€ persons interested in the financ: position of any company may a certain this by search. After a f< minor amendments, the bills we passed.

A Bill to provide for the suppre sion of leprosy which, under t terms of the bill, will in future called Hansen’s Disease. Dr. Gu ther, who introduced the bill. s£ that there were about 5.000 victii of the disease at large in the Ter: tory. About one third were inf€ tious. An amendment giving nath and Europeans the right to app( against a medical officer’s decisi to segregate was agreed to and th the Bill went through.

A Bill to regulate the cotton gro ing interests was passed after t Director of Agriculture had e plained that the aim was to bri the former Cotton Ordinance i

apua, now repealed, into line with :actice in NG.

A Bill to set up machinery for the gistration of persons providing ledical services. It provides for ;o non-medical men to sit on a egistration Board, and for the de gistration of any person deemed t the Board to be guilty of runkenness or addiction to any ‘ug.

A Bill to prohibit the sale of any >ods to which a false trade des iption is applied.

The Council ended its second ssion at noon on February 26. The ssion lasted 7 days, during which Bills were passed.

The next session is expected to len about mid-August.

Bills passed on the closing day alt with stamp duties, heavier nalties for supplying natives with luor, compulsory third party in rance for motorists, pure foods, id a re-drafted Town Planning :hool and staff shortage The existence of the School of icific Administration at Mosman,

Sydney, was given as a reason for the severe shortage of staff in the Department of District Services, when Mr. D. Barrett raised the matter in the Council.

Mr. Barrett referred to a state ment made recently by the Adminis trator that the frequent transfer of field staff from one place to another was undesirable.

“The staff shortage which causes so many movements.” Mr. Barrett said, “is largely due to the absence of so many officers at one time at the Mosman school.”

He pointed out that there were presently 28 officers at Mosman, 27 of whom would be lost to the Terri tory for two years. He submitted that if these men required any training then they should receive it in the Territory.

No Planting Of Palms

Mr. B. Fairfax-Ross. nominated member for Papua, told the Council of his alarm at the degree of seni lity in the copra industry. Com pared with pre-war figures, he said, there was already a drop in pro

duction of 20,000 tons a year and there had been virtualy no new plantings since the war.

He said the drop may be due mainly to the increasing senility of the plantations themselves, and if something was not done to re medy this drop, plantations might have to be abandoned in 15 years’ time.

Mr. Fairfax-Ross suggested that cut of an annual estimated expen diture of £400,000 the Department of Agriculture should be able to pro vide a competent agricultural officer and soil chemist to make a special survey of the Territory. He said a similar problem was already being tackled in Ceylon.

A memorial chapel to the Rev.

Father Binois, a Marist missionary who served for almost 30 years in BSI, was opened recently on Choiseul Island, Bishop Wade, SM, officiated at the ceremonies and Catholic missionaries, Government representatives and 1,000 natives attended.