Papua-New Guinea Round-Up

(From Our Own Correspondents in the Territory)

Papua Aliens In Line With

New Guinea Aliens

T H taance Alien m? egiS in'f tion P ff r

1 Slhout and New

Guinea on November 1.

It is now compulsory for Aliens over 16 to register within a month; a great number of the people affected are in the Missions or are medical officers working throughout the Territory, They must supply their addresses and occupations and inform the registering office whenever they change their locality or their occupation.

There is believed to be a strong security background behind the

altofare asked if thf aXfnt°of

ml ™ ary ser vjce ‘hey may have had The new Ordinance is the first £ or Pa P ua .. where aliens have not k oo * l r £ qi V£ ed register before, although they have been required register in New Guinea. It is one of those Ordinances which rile some ?* d residents of Papua that is, it is "designed to bring Papua into line with New Guinea.”

Before aliens leave Australia for the Territory they will be asked to

supply photographs of themsee and to fill in their registrar forms. This is to relieve the pic sure of work in the Territory, i to avoid any delays to new arriw

Modernsing Of Territoc

Telephone Services

There are big plans in the air' expansion of the telephone sys< throughout Papua and New Guii in the next few years. Only del' likely will be caused by a lag in livery of equipment.

Some of the plans include: • A new trunk route between H Moresby and Sogeri. • A complete automatic telephr exchange for Port Moresby^ • Possible public trunk link tween Wau and Bulolo. • Laying of underground cab at Rabaul, Lae and Madai.

The new trunk route betw?

Port Moresby and Sogeri already started. The Post Office i pects to complete it in aboutd months. The line will be erectedfc steel poles and will replace the army line, which is in poor conu ion.

This line will become more ; portant as Moresby developma expands outwards along the rn towards Sogeri.

Installation of underground phr cables has almost been finished!: Port Moresby, and will give sa scribers a more trouble-free s vice. The old Army lines have d<L a good job, and the marvel is td the Post Office has been able s hold them together over all thl years of heavy work.

All the underground cables shoo be installed by the time the n Moresby automatic exchange is erating. Delivery is expected at end of 1954, and will go into new building to be put up at back of the present Port Mores Post Office. Besides the automsx central exchange, which will hri provision for 2,000 lines, there t be two satellite exchanges at Koo dobu and Boroko. These will hri 1,000 lines each.

Between Wau and Bulolo ted will take place to see if it is possia for a V.H.F. link to be establish to take public trunk calls. Equji

nt will be obtained for the sys i if the tests prove successful, 'he underground cables to be laid Rabaul, Lae and Madang, will be ialled in the next two years, ierground cables will mean that towns will be ready for auto tic exchanges when the equip it is available, and when it is ided that the traffic warrants it. s getting telephone connections P-NG manual exchanges appears ie several degrees more infuria ; than getting manual exchange elections anywhere, the change lutomatic will probably result in mass lowering of the blood sure of Territorians generally.

Siccated Coconut Still

“Frozen”

octor Michael Wilson, leading tralian Bacteriologist, inspected coconut mills in Papua in Dber, with the object of finding how desiccated coconut from ua became contaminated. He le his investigation with the stance of the Territory’s Health ;ctor, Dr. J. Gunther. (Papuan »nut is suspected of having sed an outbreak of typhoid in bralia in August.) r. Wilson thinks that bush rats r be the cause of the contamina . He trapped some of the rats took specimens with him to bralia for laboratory examina . In a statement, Dr. Gunther that the four desiccated mills ?-NG were infested with bush that desiccated coconut at ted them like magnets, r. Wilson will return to the Ter ry in November to continue his stigations on rats as the con inating agent. He will also look other sources of possible con ination. le ban on the export of desic d coconut from the Territory inued, meanwhile, and mills are ig thousands of pounds. (In V alone about 6,000 packs Of >s. each, worth a conservative )00, are still “frozen”.)

Icoration Presented To

Planter

planter, Clendyn Edwin Searle, wala, Fapua, received the M.B.E. ih he won for outstanding work ng the Mount Lamington dis r, at an investiture by the Gov )r-General, Field Marshal Sir iam Slim, at Port Moresby on )ber 19. wring the eruption Mr. Searle ained at his wireless transmitter despite stone and pumice ; showers and kept the link to ; Moresby open.

Former Angau Chief

Returns On Visit

ajor-General B. M. Morris, the ler G.O.C. of ANGAU, visited Territory on October 15 after an ;nce of seven years. He was one ie official guests at the unveiling lemonals in P-NG war cemeter (Overleaf)

here was a guard-of-honour of members of the P.1.R., and a e group of personal friends to :ome him back. He now lives in rement m Victoria.

Irchbishop Duhig Lays

Swak Foundation Stone

tie Roman Catholic Archbishop Brisbane, Doctor Duhig, aged 84, ;ed the Territory in October, had a few interesting com [ts to make on the things he s made his visit to bless the idation stone for Wewak’s first ledral, which will be built by Society of the Divine Word, le Missionary Fathers of this r had a flourishing mission in rak before the war, but bombs ced it to rubble. They started hard task of rebuilding after ivar and invited Dr. Duhig to the fruits of their work. The ledral will take about a year to plete and will cost £15,000. •. Duhig said he found the yes in New Guinea, especially nd Wewak, to be intelligent ile and willing to work. He said while there he saw many of i coming home “without cere y” from periods of recruitment, he felt that this must have ipted family life. He advocated ter terms of recruitment.

Sinking Of Stc Ship

le 56-foot “K” boat Kone sank ier moorings in Port Moresby our on October 16. She was ifing a cargo of 30 tons of copra rubber, but this was all taken ind dried out. le Port Moresby Fire Brigade assistance by pumping out the so that she could be taken to slipway. Not much harm done; is owned by Steamships Trad 2ompany, and was put into ser a lew days after the mishap.

Territory P.S.A.

The Council of the Public Ser vice Association in the Territory decided at the end of October to set up a sub-committee to investi gate the cost-of-living. The idea is for the committee to arrive at a cost-of-living figure for P-NG a difficult business at any time.

The cost-of-living in the Terri tory is a perennial subject for dis cussion and particular interest was attached to the abolition of quar terly basic wage adjustments in Australia. At the end of October it was not known in the Territory exactly what effect this would have on Territory public servants.

The South Pacific Post has been carrying out its own survey on a cost-of-living figure. But figures seem to vary with different house holders.

Road Contract For

Quarries Limited

Quarries Limited of Port Moresby, in late October, was awarded a Commonwealth Works Department contract, worth £33,000, for the con struction of roads, water-mains and storm-water drainage, in the Ili- Dorina sub-division of Lawes Road, Port Moresby. Contract time is 40 weeks.

Land Available At Lae

On November 7, tenders closed for the lease of approximately 200 acres of agricultural land on the Lae- Nadzab Road, about 5 miles from Lae. Lease is 99 years, and the proceedings created quite a lot of interest. ff Mr. J. L. Macduff, a senior magis trate in Fiji, who has been stat ioned in the Colony since 1945, was recently appointed a Puisne Judge in Kenya.