Frees Are Returning To

The Ng Highlands

Written in Goroka, by R. W. Robson After World War 11, when 1 first saw this Goroka Valley—

from District Officer George

Greathead’s lonely hillside house

—it was featureless and practi

cally bare of any growth except

kunai and a very few wispy casuarinas.

LIKE so much of this Highlands area, the ancient native practice of burning off the grass to chase »ut the small animals (source of protein food) had completely de stroyed every vestige of forest, rhere were no birds, few animals, 10 fish.

Today, in the lovely little town )f Goroka itself, there are trees everywhere, flourishing beside the streams which flow through every nain street. But the most remark able thing is the way in which the forest is coming back into the sur rounding little hills and valleys, of ts own accord. [ Greathead first, and then Downs and Seale in turn, clamped down on ihe native grass-burners. Nowadays, I special police patrol goes racing Jcross country, to subdue the grass ires, at the first sign of smoke. [As a result casuarina and other indigenous plants have become well istablished, and are showing above he kunai. Even without afforesta tion aid, the bush will come back— if the fires are suppressed.

But the district officials led by district Commissioner Seale, are enthusiastic foresters. Bits and Pieces of plantations had already teen established by DC lan Downs,

and now a really worthwhile effort is being made.

Pim

Handy Man Edgar

A hard worker named Bill Edgar, a master plumber, was injured badly in Port Moresby, and could not fol low his trade. He was sent over to the DC at Goroka as a handy man.

He supervises native labour —but his heart is in tree-growing. The de lighted Mr. Seale has found his ideal forester.

In a little valley at North Goroka Seale and Edgar have established a tree nursery, with at least a million seedlings, green and flourishing.

Seeds have come in from every where. I was shown, in all stages of early growth, hoop pine, Aus tralian eucalypts, British Borneo pine, cypress pine, radiata, elliotta (from North Italy), palistria and patula (from Portugal), golden wattle (South Australia) and an in triguing host of others.

If the gremlins spare Bill Edgar, the Goroka residents of 30 years hence will travel between low

hills covered with lovely forests.

Thousands of silky oak already are planted out on the hillsides— hundreds of thousands more young trees will follow soon.

In the nursery is a huge pile of empty beer-cans, from the pubs, the clubs and the messes. Some are for potting-out; the majority, put end to end, provide just the little drains which that well-watered tree nursery requires.

A seven-man CSIRO team in October completed a three-months’ land survey in the Ramu valley of the Madang district of P-NG.

This was the fifth team to go to the Territory to study the soils, vegetation and mineral resources of specific areas. Mr. H. A.

Haantjens, a soil expert, said the purpose of the surveys was mainly to obtain an inventory of land resources in the Territory which could be used by the Administra tion to implement the country’s development. 15,000 square miles of the Territory had now been covered by the surveys.