RULE IN NEW GUINEA

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28012, 5 July 1956, Page 11

RULE IN NEW GUINEA

Report To U.N. By Australia v NEW YORK, July 3. Australia was acting with “energy and initiative” in its New Guinea Trust Territory, Mr John Jones, special representative of the administering authority told the United Nations today. Mr Jones was discussing in the Trusteeship Council the report of a visiting mission to the territory. He said that on the basis of the evidence of the mission that the Administration’s policy was tending to outstrip the demands of the people of the territory. The Administration, he said, did not share the uneasiness conveyed in the misison’s report that the wealth of enthusiasm and goodwill in the territory would run the risk of drying up if the development was not sufficiently rapid. Mr Jones said he was surprised by the mission’s assertions that the administration had been too slow and over-cautious in the establishment of local government councils. As to the mission’s suggestion for the appointment of additional New Guinea members to the Legislative Council, he said that the Administration did not recognise any obstacle to such appointments, except the shortage of qualified persons.