Visiting Vip’s Spoons For 148 Million Ice Crea[?]
pp. 40-125 · Read in the full issue
Papua-New Guinea Diary
Visiting Vip’s Spoons For 148 Million Ice Crea[?] Five-Day Week Colled "Failure”
Papua-New Guinea was thick with VIP visitors during July. Native troops and Police were kept busy forming guards of honour and Administration officials spent a great deal of time showing the visitors what the visitors wished to see.
All were welcome, however, except the Indonesian Military Attache, Lt. Col.
Roekmito, whose visit to “inspect Australian Military establishments in Port Moresby, Lae and Manus” caused much criticism.
Australia’s External TT Affairs Minister Casey might say on the subject of Indo nesians, most residents of Papua- New Guinea feel that they could be fighting Indonesians on Territory soil some day.
They were reassured, on the occasion of the Attache’s visit that it was “in order.” Few cared what the diplomatic facts of the matter were, however; they felt that the visit was an “impertinence.” Mr.
Casey has a hard time getting his recalcitrant Australians to toe the Diplomatic line.
More welcome visitors taken North by Australia’s July cold were: The G o v e r n o r-General, Sir William Slim; the United States Ambassador and Mrs. Moffat, and the US Consul-General, Mr. Donald Kennedy; Ambassador for Thailand, Nai Konthi Suphamongkhon; Min ister for the Army Cramer; Minister for Works Fairhall; United States Military Attache Milner; Labour Member for Reid, Morgan (private visit); Deputy-Leader of the Opposition Calwell (also private); and last, but not least, six Federal Parliamentarians led by the Tas
man i a n Liberal Member, I Falkinder.
Lae Loses The Eekhoffr
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Eekhr pioneers of New Guinea since 15. will leave Lae to spend their I years in Cairns. Mrs. Eekhoff ! already left; her husband will foil as soon as he has settled some bv ness matters.
This best known of all ' couples, are Londoners, but arrii in Australia in 1906. Mr. Eekl was a Gallipoli veteran and wj
i New Guinea for the Ex-Pro jard in 1922.
By 1928, the Eekhoffs and their mily had moved to an Adminis ation farm near Lae, where they ew native foods for the labour les carrying cargo to the gold ilds. Later they set themselves up business.
After the Second War they were longst the first back in Lae, re tablishing their business, but later [ling out to Buntings. They have Bn living in retirement for a num r of years.
Both were keen workers for the IL and for the Church of England.
Before Mrs. Eekhoff left for Cairns er 70 of her women friends enter ned her to afternoon tea at the ►tel Cecil, where a wallet of notes ,s presented to her.
Ew Rubber Plantings In
New Guinea
rhe Markham Valley Develop mt Co., made its first commercial mting of rubber in New Guinea June. >eed was imported from Malaya 1 50 acres have been sown.
Jew Guinea is not, of course, a iducer of rubber in the same way Papua where it is of first momic importance. However, >ber has been grown and exported m New Guinea in the past—l 6 is as late as 1947.
Chere is no reason why rubber luld not thrive in parts of New inea, as it does on the other side
of the border. In the past, planta tions have functioned in New Britain, Madang, Kieta and Morobe.
In 1954, 414 acres were planted up m Bougainville and New Brltain -
Successful
A ton per day of native ration biscuits is being turned out from this factory of Buntings Ltd. (a subsidiary of A.
H. Bunting Ltd.) in Rabaul, New Guinea.
The modern plant was supplied by Smalls and Shattell, Ltd., of Mel bourne. Biscuits pro duced in the factory, which is in charge of Mr. J. Ford, are dis tributed to New Ireland,
local Rabaul Enterprise
Bougainville, Samara! and New Britain. Photo by C. M. Meen.
Big Droving Job Ahead
or the purpose of building up number of breeding cattle at Baiyer River Station, the ninistration will move some 200 d of cows from Erap, outside , to the Western Highlands rtiy. ne European will be in charge 1 the balance will be native :kmen. The whole project will j the best part of a month, and be through some of the most icult country in the world.
Ladies Of Fashion
he Fourth Annual Fashion ade, organised by the Caroline )n, was held in Stewart Hall, , on July 13. ine mannequins took part— icilla Howes, Ann Stockton, Muffle lling, Pam Margin, Judy Sara, ;y Potter, Patricia Freeborn, raine Roberts and Jennifer ries.
Jhool funds are expected to sfit to the extent of £loo—it ht have been more but heavy i dampened the spirits of some he patrons.
Rabaul Race Meeting
Postponed
abaul’s first post-war race meet had to be postponed from early r until a date to be fixed in Sep ber. he meeting was to have coincided i the visit of Orient Liner nsay, but has been put off be
cause a number of horses which were to have run have not arrived from Australia, (Over)
e Rev. and Mrs. D. E. Ure, of the London [?]onary Society, Port Moresby, photographed [?]une with a large group of native LMS
teachers who attended a conference at Port Moresby.
Photo by Papuan Prints.
At the Annual General Meeting of the Rabaul Amateur Turf Club members voted the committee back into office, with the exception of Mr. J. T. Allen, who resigned. His
position has been filled by Mr.
Theo Thomas, of Kokopo.
The president, Mr. Foley, told the meeting that the new racecourse was progressing well; 33 acres of land had been cleared, the track
was laid and a number of buij ings had been erected.
Rabaul Had 1,200 Cruis
Trippers And 2 Stolen Ca*
The arrival of the first touj vessel to Rabaul in 17 years,
Dr. D. Carlton Gajdusek, pediatrician from Harvard University, USA, who has been in New Britain on a survey of the disease pattern and growth and development of children in primitive societies. He is working under the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis of the USA and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research of Melbourne. He has visited Cape York, the Gulf Country of Papua, West and Central Nakanai, and the Bainings, in New Britain and Manus.
Photo by C. H. Meen.
nsay, brought 1,200 visitors labaul on July 3. y 8 a.m., 150 motor vehicles were d up at the landing wharf to ' the tourists on conducted tours. 10 o’clock, 45 of the cars and iti-s had arrived at Bitapaka Cemetery, where relatives of (y of the passengers were buried. >cal stores, especially Chinese es, were packed to capacity most be day, while the native market small road-side stalls were well onised. demand of all was for a baskets. iring the evening and night, the
visitors could attend two balls one dance, or go to the golf club.
Local police had a busy night, too looking for three vehicles that had been stolen—one of them by a member of the Oronsay’s crew The man, Colin Marshall, failed to appear in Court on July 4 and forfeited his bail of £25.
Two other seamen, both members of the crew of the Malaita, were fined £2O on July 4, for illegally using motor vehicles.
Moresby Ignorance Of
Outport Affairs
The Lae Town Advisory Council is seeking representation on the Territory Town Planning Board on the grounds that the present Board is made up of Port Moresby
residents who have little idea of tl— requirements of other centres A resolution to this effect wa passed following the rejection by the Board of a suggestion to bu:* a through road to the new Euro pean Hospital.
TThe proposal was rejected by Moresby after the Advisory Council the District Commissioner, th e Police and the Regional Works Officer had all approved it.
Ex-Pir Members Form
Rabaul Association
An Ex-Pacific Islands Regiment Association was formed at Rabaul early July at a meeting at Anzac House.
Those present at the meeting said*
(Continued on Page 117)
[?] the IMS Church at Metoriea, Papua, on 20, Miss Beatrice Dalgleish was married Mr. Kenneth Coss, of Port Moresby. The [?]g couple are well-known residents of Port [?]esby. —Photo by Papuan Prints.
second Customs shed for Port Moresby [?] course of construction by Hawkes Con [?]tion Co., on the foreshore near the wharf. first new Customs shed can be seen in background. It is now in use.
Photo by Papuan Prints.
7 believed there were about 30 opean ex-PIR members living in Territory, and these were being ;acted immediately. Later, if the iciation was well supported, it is ?d to contact potential members Lustralia. le initial aims of the Association (a) to work within the frame
work of the RSL for the welfare and advancement of members and of the League; and (b) to assist native ex-servicemen throughout the Terri tory.
Meanwhile, the native ex-service men themselves have raised several hundred pounds and hope soon to start building their own club
house. The newly formed ex-PIR Association had promised its full support with this venture. px P pTß in^ o^K olment P f all known ATrrS' ™ emb ers ln the Territory, Mr. Don Barrett is acting as Chair- Mr ‘ Alan Hatherle y as
Pir Into Line With Police
Meanwhiie serving native mem bers of the Pacific Islands Regiment will receive substantial sums in
[?]E Recent Weddings In Rabaul: At
[?]t the Catholic Church on July 30, Miss [?]ed Loory was married to Mr. L. Enkera Rev. Father Dwyer, left to right: W. [?]best man; groom and bride; Miss Mary [?] bridesmaid; Father Dwyer; Julie Anna,
flowergirl. Centre: At the Methodist Church Rabaul, recently, Miss Betty Chung was married to Mr. Peter Cheong by the Rev. John su. left to right: Mr. Henry Cheong, best man; the Rev. John Su; groom and bride; Mr. Johnnq Chong; Miss Lily Chung, bridesmaid. Right:
Miss Philomena Na was married to Mr. Peter Seeto at the Catholic Church, Rabaul, recently.
From left to right: Mr. August Chow, best man; the Rev. Father Franker: groom and bride; the Rev. Father Dwyer; Miss Emerline Seeto, bridesmaid. Photos by C. H. Meen.
back money as a result of pay ri announced in Rabaul early the Minister for the Army, I Cramer.
The increases range up to per cent, of current rates and retrospective to June last yr except in the case of certt specialists.
Mr. Cramer said the new pc rates would bring native Army p sonnel in the Territory into . with native Police.
The new rates range from 6 to 100/- per month for privates vi several years service; with a ms mum of 300/- a month in the o of third-year sergeants. (There seems something ext ordinary about this business. If new rates are retrospective to Jt 1955 (14 months ago), then eit the PIR has been made to wait; too long for justice; or the IV ister is now leaning too far bs wards to do the “right thing/
House-Building Loans Co
More
Increased interest rates for hu ing loans were announced e July by the P-NG Commissionen Housing, Mr. Reeve. From Jul the new rate will by 5 per cent, increase of \ per cent.
The Commissioner said the e: of the increase would mean the monthly repayment on maximum loan of £2,750 for a pe of 25 years would rise from £l5 to £l6/1/7. This works out at) a week.
Since the scheme got away slow start three years ago, hou loans totalling £135,000 have granted.
148 Million Ice-Cream]
Coming Up
Australians last year lie: 148,000,000 ice-creams from woe “spoons” and sticks made Bulolo pine from the Golden R.; Sawmilling Company.
As well, one Australian comi produced 33,000,000 battery arators from the pine.
By using the Territory tin Australia was thus saved thous of dollars. The only other sun timber for these goods is Arne;?
Douglas Fir.
Economics Of Native Cc
A P-NG Native Affairs ot believes that within ten i native-grown cocoa in the Gi Peninsula of New Britain wr worth about £500,000 annually (;
present price prevails).
Last year, more than 470 toe cocoa was produced in the This alone was worth in the vkj of £lOO,OOO.
Native growers were reo; granted permission to borrow £BO,OOO from the Bank of NSW* so far have used £38,000 of th© to extend fermentaries, com new buildings, and purchase
necessary equipment.
would probably be a truer ,te of the position if the official tiat production would be five more in 10 years. The price is an unknown quantity. Low are something native pro have yet to get acquainted
► Still More Experts
O, which is the happy hunt round of every brand of t” and expert, was visited by mtatives o f the well-known )rld-famous American Summer te of Linguistics late July, vill make a preliminary sur the linguistic set-up in the •ry. leader of the three-man team, Pittman, says if all goes well, ts of the Institute will be to the Territory to study )f the P-NG languages.
Pittman explained that the )f the Institute were three- To make a scientific study guages for Universities and pological Societies. (2) To
prepare literacy material in the local vernacular for the teaching of English. (3) To translate the Bible into the local languages.
Atom Bombs Or Sun-Spots
The Result Is The Same ’
Weather patterns all over the Southern Hemisphere continue to be reversed.
Little rain in most of the Morobe district, which is usually over endowed, if anything, has in recent months made the area drier than "old-timers” can remember.
In the Finschhafen area, native crops have been seriously affected and the natives are finding it hard to get sufficient food for their needs- This same area usually supplies a
in g L§e rti ° n ° f th 6 Staple food sold In the Bulolo area, the Baiume Cieek has less water than ever be lore, and the entire vast valley if, parched. J Police in Lae spent two hours late ouly fighting a fierce grassfire which broke out in the area be tween Huon Taxis and the sawmill.
Fanned by a sea breeze, the fire was out of control within minutes of starting. Four European police and the crew of the DCA fire tender fought hard to check the fire sweeping onto the taxi premises, The fire had its sequel the follow ing morning in the District Court, when a native was fined £2 for lighting a fire. (ove n
hats at a Hatters' Party in Port Aviat Club at end of June—Miss Oriel and partner.
Photo by Papuan Prints.
Central Dis [?] Papua has [?] a Euro [?] and a [?]n to the [?]ct Ad- Council for [?]t time, [?]vera is the representa [?]Mr. John [?]own here, [?]s the part [?] popu [?] Papuan
Jf Links Murderer Has
Sentence “Recorded”
the P-NG Supreme Court, in ,ul, on July 30, a part-European, erick Phillip Smith, was found y of the murder of Adele Woo Leo Wattemeno, in Rabaul, in sentence of death was “re d” but not pronounced—which
probably means that Smith will not hang. The Governor-General of Australia will make the final decision.
The body of Miss Woo was found on the Rabaul golf links on May 20. She had suffered head injuries. Watte meno was found near by. He later died of his in juries.
Smith made a confession to local police officers. In court he retracted this—he said that he had made it only because he wanted to please the police, and was frightened of them. He said he had been in bed and had slept all night on the night of the murder.
The Chief Justice of P-NG, Sir Beaumont Phillips, who heard the case, described some of Smith’s explana tions to the Court as fantastic. He said that there was no doubt in his mind that Smith had com mitted the attacks that had led to the death of the victims.
os show, top to bottom, Leo eme n o, Adele Woo and ick Smith.
Ationists Will Work
Ng The Sophisticates
isation marches on l The on Army is to open a new f work—a Training Farm as m at° r y for native delinquents Moresby area. A former indmg Officer of the Army fcaue. Major Baker, accom by two other officers—one P 1 a nurse—will leave Bris or Moresby at the end of i Baker said that the Army begin medical work later on oubt the Army in the Terri ml., have many supporters the native people—par
t cularly if they bring with them their uniforms and their bands If they don’t, and only bring themselves, they are certain to con tinue the good work they carry out in other parts of the world It is interesting to note that the Army’s accent will be on welfare work—and not, apparently, to com pete for souls in the overcrowded Highlands’ area.
New Airstrips, New
Services
An important new airstrip in Papua which will shorten air operations into the Southern High lands, is about to come into opera tion.
It is at Vaimuru, near Kikori in the Gulf District. * Vaimuru will initially take air craft up to and including Ansons, but later, DC’3’s will be able to operate from it. This strip will save the Administration thousands of pounds annually in freight charges.
Goods going to the Southern High lands will now be shipped from Moresby to Vaimuru and then flown direct to the Highlands area At present, everything consigned to the Southern Highlands goes to Madang and is then flown over the vast mountain ranges into Mendi or other strips in the district.
Mr. V. Rule, Regional P-NG Director of Civil Aviation, has an nounced that the Department is planning to reconstruct the air strip at Daru. This is used mainly by light aircraft flying to and from the Territory from Australia.
The airstrip at Wau once tv,* “.the world, IsstUlhandlto? ras, quantities-||(Pgoods, but instead
of being flown in they are being flown out.
For the six months ended June 30, more than 435,000 lb of vege tables alone were air-freighted from Wau, consigned to Moresby, Lae and Manus Island.
This figure, however, represents only a fraction of the total weight of goods flown into Wau from Salamaua in the middle thirties.
In these “gold-rush” days, every thing from the giant dredges to small handtools, had to be carried into the valley by air. 1 Now most heavy freight gdes by the war-time-built road.
Two pilots and two engineers of World Wide Air Services based in Moresby will leave the Territory for training on Sikorsky S5B heli copters—three of which will be coming to the Territory early in the New Year.
In Melbourne, in July, the General Manager of APC, Mr. Pym, an nounced that following completion of the drilling sites at Kuru, Barakewa and Morehead, it was planned to continue exploration drilling in Papua in 1957 on the basis of two outfits operating con tinuously. These would be trans ported and served entirely by heli copters.
The Chief Pilot of World Wide, Mr. Frank Minjoy, says the Sikorsky is at present the largest helicopter licensed to be used commercially.
It has a pay-load of more
than 4,000 lb weight, and when moving large objects, such as pipes and motors, carries them in a net slung underneath the aircraft.
The three Sikorsky’s it is planned to bring to the Territory will be shipped to Port Moresby, assembled at the Company’s heliport at Badili, and flown to the oil-drilling sites.
The Sikorsky’s carry two pilots. , World Wide already operates H helicopters for APC in Papua m have made a notable contribud to Australian aviation. These m the first commercial helicopters j Australia and it was this Comps that trained the first official of ' Department of Civil Aviation to *
3licopter. In its infancy, World e was an all-American personnel it. Now all its pilots and neers are Australians or New anders.
-Day Week “Complete
Lure” In Customs Dept.
ie Port Moresby Town Advisory icil is seeking the re-opening the Customs Office in Port jsby for normal business on rday mornings—without the lent of overtime for duty jrs by the public, len the 5-days week was intro d in the Territory, the Customs e was to be opened on the pay ; of the Duty Officer’s overtime ie person or organisation which ed to transact business; but in ;ice this had not worked out. e Customs Department has 1 that it will open only for gency business—and the De nent says what constitutes mt business.” e TAG is in agreement that six months’ trial of the five week has proved a complete •e as far as the Customs De lent was concerned.
Rors— If There Are Any
Available
; P-NG Administration denies not enough is being done to it qualified doctors for service le Territory—the Territory is e same situation as the rest ie world—there is a general ige of doctors and very little e done about it. its recent report, the 1956 d Nations Mission to New ;a commented on the shortage ictors in the Trust Territory uggested that the entire system iruitment be reviewed.
Administration official said ting was going on continuously istralia and in the United :om. As well, the Government ponsoring a unique Cadetship i whereby medical students, completing their third-year !. could have their fees paid eceive a salary on signing an nent to work in the Territory pecified periods after they ed.
Ccord-Length Phone
Ntversatton Leads To
Arrest
? T work by Police and esence of mind on the part a European woman resulted Papuan being fined S2O, in t 3 months imprisonment, for obscene language over the one early July. woman, working in a oy retail store, managed to the native talking in a ion conversation for 45 Js while the call was traced ohce went to the office from he was phoning, was the first case of its kind the introduction of the auto exchange in Port Moresby.
Jap Salvage Team Arrives—
And Departs
After all the preliminary controversy about Japanese examining the wrecks around Rabaul harbour with a view to salvage, the team of two experts arrived in the town unnoticed went about their business, also virtually unnoticed, and departed within a few days for Sydney (July 10) en route to Tokio.
They made only one appearance in public—at the local picture
thlm r6 ’ WhBre no ' one recognised . f he manager of Pacific Distri bution Company, Mr. Csolle who is the Rabaul representative of the f t al Jf 9 g c e Company, said in Rabaul it was not possible at present to evaluate the potentialities of the scheme to salvage the eyesore wrecks. The survey party^wUl and ol if lts . Com P.any in Japan, and if the scheme is commercially sound further action and repre sentation will be made.