[?]o Priority

Land Applications

[?]o Priority For Chinese

,\ND in Papua-New Guinea was being made available pro

ssively throughout the Territory,

[no land would be allocated on J basis of limiting applicants to Ividuals of certain racial groups.

'his statement was made by the ector of Lands. Surveys and les (Mr. D. E. Macinnes) as a pel to “questions raised in certain risory Councils, particularly in ird to land for Chinese.” he New Britain Advisory Coun at a meeting on January 20, his sed the question, ivo years earlier, leaders of the nese community, at a Rabaul sting convened by the then Dis t Commissioner (Mr. J. K.

Jarthy), had agreed that pro- Dn must be made for the grow- Chinese population to expand ;o the land, and it was mentioned that time that the Warangoi ley was “No. 1 on the priority for the Chinese.” t the meeting on January 20. rever, the present New Britain trict Commissioner (Mr. J. R li) said that he knew of no son why land should be set le for the Chinese, e added; “The land, when avail ;, will be thrown open for lication, not for tender. The nese can apply for it the same anybody else.” i February, PIM commented t there was no reason why the nese should be singled out to e a land-settlement scheme of r own, adding; “There is eer ily no reason why the rich rangoi area should be ‘on the •rity list for the Chinese.’ ” was pointed out that the rangoi was merely a place-no i to every Tolai native until the few years, and “wild horses ;d not have dragged these people i it.” No one cared much about Warangoi until a Rabaul timber l built a road into it about 1950 then applied to grow cocoa re timber had been felled. Soon rwards, the local branch of the j asked for some of the land soldier-settlement. some of this land is probably essary for the resettlement of increasing Tolais,” said a PIM orial note, “and most thinking pie will concede this without ing nonsensical business of ve ‘claims’ pushed down their >ats. But there should also be >le for other settlement —and if ■e is any priority for the latter, hould surely go to the two in sts which have been plugging

away at the Warangoi land question for the last four years, namely, the people who roaded it and opened it, and the RSL. Certainly not the Chinese, who, as far as we know. have no particular claim to this rich area, and who should therefore take their chance with othei latecomers.”

I»*R. MACINNES’S statement is ItX as follows: “Land is being made available progressively throughout the Territory, and with certain limited restrictions, applications are open to consideration of race or blood.

“The limited restrictions are all members of the public without mainly those applying to missions and persons already holding fully improved plantations who wish to »ln g he area h s oldmgS " “ ,Ulr ” B from time to time in the Government Gazette, and. as stated. applications are open to the general public “No land will be allocated on the basis of limiting applicants to individuals of certain racial groups.”

Latest PIM advice from Rabaul is to the effect that the Administration has discovered that 26 natives have a “claim” to Warangoi land.

They live in a village a considerable distance from where the present road enters the valley.