Decision On German-Swedish-Us Claim
pp. 131-132 · Read in the full issue
[?]aria "Rights" [?]iped out by War
To Vast Ng Concession
Claims by a group of German, Swedish and United States citizens to exclusive prospecting rights over about 5,000 square miles in the Morobe district of New Guinea, under a concession granted by the German Government before World War I, usually called the “Waria Syndicate”, were again rejected by Papua and New Guinea Commissioner of Titles, Mr. C. P.
McCubbery, at the end of November.
HE prime mover in pressing the claim of the Waria Syndicate, 43 years after World War I >ke out, is Mr. H. R. Wahlen, of mburg, and prominent in Ger n New Guinea between 1900 and 4. n dismissing this latest claim, . McCubbery said that Mr. ihlen negotiated an agreement the prospecting right in the area h the German Government when was in Berlin on a visit from Pacific estates in July, 1914. He > acting on behalf of a syndicate, main other interest in which 5 held by Mr. M. M. Warburg, 1 a company of German bankers. 1919, Ragnar Erfass, a merchant
of Stockholm, made an agreement with Wahlen, acting on behalf of a syndicate, to acquire a 75 per cent, interest in the concession.
AS part of the proceedings, under the Treaty of Versailles, by which German properties in New Guinea were expropriated (as part payment of German war debts), the Australian Government refused to recognise the validity of the 1914 agreement with the syndicate.
Between the two World Wars there was diplomatic correspond ence between the Australian, Ger man and Swedish Governments on the matter, but no legal action was taken by the syndicate.
Mr. McCubbery said that when he started to restore titles lost during the last war, which included docu ments of title to mining interests, claims were submitted to an interest in the Morobe concession by; • Alice M. Warburg, F. M. War burg, Eric M. Warburg and Ernest Spiegleberg, all United States citizens. • Ragner Erfass (now dead), of Sweden. • And later by Wahlen, on behalf of all the members of the syndicate.
Mr. McCubbery said: “The claims have been processed through various stages and I have finally rejected them.”
The main ground for rejection was that if any right to the con cession did exist, it was terminated by the First Mining Ordinance passed by the Australian civil Gov ernment of New Guinea in 1922,. which he believed nullified any earlier mining rights and started off mining in New Guinea with a “clear slate”.
Mr. McCubbery also stated that in his opinion, the actual Waria River (part of the claimed concession); was, in the days of German admin istration of New Guinea, subject to a concession granted by the Ger man Government in 1912 to a man named Kempf.
Mr. McCubbery said the original concession granted by the German Government included all the coastali
river valleys from Salamaua to what was then the German-Aus tralian border; and, on the internal border between Papua and German New Guinea, it included the head waters of the Lakekamu and other rich goldbearing rivers, fTIHERE is little doubt that, under A the terms of post-war settlement reached after World War I had concluded, all German property ir New Guinea in 1914-18 was forfeited to the victors (which included the Australians who had occupied Gern man New Guinea in 1914).
These repeated appeals to Aus tralia and, inferentially, to the in ternational authorities, were based on a claim that the Waria Syndicate was not German-owned, but wai predominantly Swedish and oi American. According to the Com missioner for Titles, the transfei from German ownership to Swedish ownership did not take place unti 1919, after the war had been fought and lost, by Germany; and in 1919 according to the Commissioner, th( property, if any existed, was n< longer the Waria Syndicate’s, to dis pose of.
Another Angle On The
Waria Claim
WRITING from Hamburg to PIM on December 2, Mr. H. R Wahlen (who obviously ha< not then been advised of the nev decision), says: “The property o the Waria Syndicate never was ex propriated after World War I; con sequently the German Governmen never paid compensation to thi German members of the Syndicate.
If Australia now is going to ex propriate, it must sell these Warn rights, or offer them for sale (and we now know those rights includi some very valuable metals) and th( result of the sale should be trans ferred to the Reparations Fund... !