Needs Tough Vehicles

Oad To

He Highlands

Needs Tough Vehicles And Iron Men

TWO men and a jeep made the . first return journey from Lae to Mount Hagen, in the West n Highlands of New Guinea, in igust, taking ten days and a lot fortitude to do it.

The trip has been attempted he re. but after the gruelling out ird journey previous adventurers

,ve often sold gir vehicles and burned by air.

The two men, r. N. Palmer d Mi\ J. Far ;r, both of Lae, irted their irney at sea r el, and at one ice climbed the nous D a u 1 o ss at 8,175 feet. iey believe they ivelled to the •thermost point which any ve 3le has pene ited in the wild d rugged intry around amt Hagen.

Delays were ised by river >ssings where ,ti v e s pulled

ir vehicle across the wide and ftly flowing Umi and Leron r ers by strong ropes. At times 'ing this operation the vehicle > completely submerged. (Since y returned to Lae, a new 5-ton ck was lost during one of these dng operations.) Commenting on the trip, the vers said that it was an eye ner to see just how beautiful i rich the Highland country is, how impossible to reach these ces except by air. n their opinion, it will still take rs of work and a lot of money establish an all-weather road, it is almost impossible for even jeep to hold the road in wet ither, where one skid could send . crashing down hundreds of

: into the river bed.-

P.R.

'he Fiji basketball team which irned home early last month ti a tour of New Zealand, illed spectators with their fast n play. Off the field their ?ing delighted thousands of pie. The tour lasted a little re than a month during which e the 12 girls played 30 matches, m two on the same day, for wins, four losses and a draw.

Messrs. Palmer and Farmer with jeep.