New Building in Port Moresby

On present indica tions, Port Moresby which before the war was a sleepy hollow of two or three hundred resi dents will eventu ally be one of the most attractive tropical towns in the South Pacific. New buildings that are going up are sub stantial and at tractive, as shown by these semi-completed structures.

At top, is the new Bank of NSW premises, at the corner of Musgrave and Douglas Streets, which will replace the old tin shed which has done duty

as banking chambers and staff quarters since the end of the war. It is built of small cement bricks, and cement pillars along the facade and side of the building are a feature of the “Colonial” type architecture.

On the corner across the street, the foundations of the new Commonwealth Bank, which will be of modern design, are taking shape.

The lower photograph shows the new freezer being erected oj ing Company in Douglas Street.

When the two banks are completed, there will be only one blank corner on

Musgrave and Douglas (the third corner is occupied by the Papua Hotel) and this contains the remnants of foundations of a hotel begun by Steamships before the war and never completed.

The corner seems to be used now for assorted purposes—a taxi stand and what seems to be a depot for native police.

A couple of very - large dogs, which make the night hideous with their barking, also seem to live there somewhere. No one appears to know when or if STC intends to complete that hotel—but no town ever needed an additional hotel more than does overcrowded Port Moresby in this year of 1954.