COLONISING FORCE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10163, 18 July 1924, Page 5

COLONISING FORCE

FORMER GERMAN ISLAND. NEW GUINEA ADMINISTRATION. | AN AUSTRALIAN REPORT. (Per Press Association—Copyright.) (Received July 18, 10.10 a.m.) - MELBOURNE, This- Day. -A report to the League of Nations on the administration of New Guinea has been tabled in the House of Representatives. It states that the total value of the imports during the year was £516,455, an increase of £37,f44 over the previous year. The value of. the exports was £130,892. The revenue from taxation amounted to £152,380, as compared with £135,785 in the previous year. The number of «•; natives recruited during the year was • 13,379, an increase of 2208. The Rabaul district was divided into Bub-districts, each containing up to '3OOO natives. These were periodically medically examined. There had been *" a striking improvement in the general health. Three schools had been established by the administration. The difficulty was to find a common lan- | gnage. At the Kokopo School there were 11 pupils from different schools, whose tribal languages were totally distinct from one another. There was nothing to indicate that slavery in the generally accepted meaning of the term existed anywhere in the territory. There was no known manufacture of intoxicants by the natives.