Interesting Plan

[?]Tel Chain Taking

[?]Rm In N. Guinea

Interesting Plan [?] Territory [?]rist Development

LAE, July 12. lESENT indications are that, before long, a chain of hotels on the mainland of New Guinea be operated by Morobe Hotels ited. will have a two-fold purpose— iely, the provision of a good hotel ice for local interests and nary travellers and —what is now ortant —the development of the obe and Highlands section of r Guinea as a tourist resort, orobe Hotels Ltd. is a newcomer, l some hard money and shrewd ;ment behind it. It is Harvey ider money (Messrs. Harvey ider and Co. being the well vn Sydney insurance brokers); i a McEachern plan (Mr. L. F. lachern being the head of the vey Trinder firm, in Sydney); the good judgment is shown re fact that famous “old-timers” tie Morobe goldfield, in the per of Joe Bourke, Roy McCannon, Doris Booth, with John Burton, among the Directors and leading

shareholders of the Company.

The Company, or its associates, recently bought the Goroka Hotel, from the estate of the late Mrs. Pitt; and the Wau Hotel, in which Mr.

Bourke was interested.

It is generally known that negotia tions are at present (July 12) in progress between Mrs. Flora Stewart and Morobe Hotels Ltd; and, although the principals flatly refuse to comment, it seems to be ex pected by Morobe residents gener ally that the Hotel Cecil, Lae, will soon pass into the hands of the Company, at a mutually satisfactory price.

If that happens, it is possible that Morobe Hotels Ltd. will not proceed with their plan to build a new hotel on the terrace, in Lae: but will concentrate on the Hotel Cecil and make it the chief unit, for tourist purposes, in the hotel chain. But an important factor here is that the Hotel Cecil, under to day’s conditions, is almost always full.

It is reported that the new Com pany would like to purchase, also, Mrs. Gilmore’s well-known hotel at Madang, but apparently Mrs.

Gilmore is not a seller.

MRS. FLO STEWART has a re markable record in the Terri tory as a hotel pioneer. She and her late husband established the first hotel of the New Guinea gold

fields—the Wau Hotel, along the top of the Wau airstrip; and from the hard-earned profits there, Mrs.

Stewart built the original Cecil Hotel, in Lae, and handed it over to the management of her sister, Mrs. Baldie. Both establishments were totally destroyed in 1942-45.

Before the smoke had cleared from the South Pacific battlefields, Mrs. Flo Stewart was back in New Guinea, pioneering again. She did not return to Wau. Instead, she got possession of a group of Army hut ments in the jungle behind Lae; provided hotel accommodation and some amenities out of war-time material and anything that was suitable, and, in the face of terrific obstacles, rebuilt the Hotel Cecil on the old site.

THERE is no reason why the Morobe-Highlands section of New Guinea should not be at tractive to tourists. Lae is a pleasant place in which to spend a few days.

Already there is a road to Wau, and a stay in Wau and Bulolo (with its excellent Pine Lodge Hotel) could be delightful: and Edie Creek, the Bulolo Gorge, and the great new timber industry, right beside the old dredges at Bulolo, are things worth seeing. A visit to Goroka, the very new capital of the Highlands, and the glimpses there obtainable of a strange new world, could put the coping-stone on a unique tour.