NEW GUINEA.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 169, 18 July 1924, Page 5

NEW GUINEA.

VAST EMPTY LAND, INCREASE IN TRADE. NO ORDINARY SLAVERY. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received 11.30 a.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. The report to the League of Nations on the administration of New Guinea was tabled in the House of Representatives and states that the total value of imports during the year was £116,455, an increase of £37,744 over the previous year. The value of the exports was £ 630,892, Revenue from taxation amounted to 1152,380, compared with £135,785 for the previous year. The number of natives recruited during the year was 13,370, an increase of 2208. The Rabaul district was divided into sub-districts, each containing up to 3000 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 common language. At Kokopo School there wero 11 pupils from different districts, 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. — (A. and N.Z. Cable.)