NEW GUINEA

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 133, 1 March 1929, Page 18

NEW GUINEA

4> ENORMOUS UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES AERIAL TRANSPORT “Great developments are in progress in transport to and from the goldfields of New Guinea?’ stated Mr. Charles Lexius-Burlington, of the New Guinea Goldsflelds Aircraft Explorations Company, when on a visit to Adelaide recently. He has been in New Guinea for three years, and has studied the use of aircraft there. He considers that when the air services are fully developed other rich gold deposits will be opened (states “The News”). Speaking of the company of which he is a member, he stated that it was newly formed and had a Gipsy Moth aeroplane specially fitted for aerial survey. Within a year the company intended to import an all-metal amphibian machine to carry a minimum road of a ton. It would operate direct from Salamoa, would be capable of taking off from the water and, by its retractable wheel gear, would be able to alight at the goldfields at Wau. This would enable the field to be reached in half an hour.

“The unpleasant sea journey of 16 miles from Salamoa to the Lae aerodrome will be eliminated,” said Mr. Lexius - Burlington. “Amphibians, which arc of much greater carrying capacity than the land ’planes, will play an important part in carrying the heavy machinery so essential to the development of the rich areas in sight.

“The L-U Company of London is constructing a railway from Lae along the Markham and Wampit valleys to the Bulolo goldfields. It Is estimated that the railway will be completed within two or three years. That company is spending £300,000 on preliminary work, and has stated in its prospectus that it will expend £3,000,000 on its properties. “Some idea of what London thinks of the goldfields was given in ‘The Mining Journal,’ a London publication, on December 15. It stated that it considered the New Guinea goldfields to be the most important undeveloped areas in the world. This opinion is shared by all those who know the goldfields well.”

The L-U Company recently issued an order for the recruiting of 2000 native labourers at a cost of £30,000 as a fee to the recruiters,' Mr. Lexius-Burlington continued. This meant £l5 a head, and it cost £5 a head to recruit.

A vast amount of recruiting would take place in the near future by amphibian aircraft, which would operate in lake districts at the headwaters of the Ramu and Sepik Rivers, which were untapped sources of native labour. These districts were unapproachable by recruiters on foot. “It is the opinion of the New Guinea flying fraternity that there is a vast field for aircraft mining exploration in the central region of Australia, as well as in New Guinea,” he ad i. “It is the intention of mining

panies in New Guinea to advocate importation of the Hindus of Southern India, Chinese and Malayans as semiskilled workmen and deputy supervisors. “Residents of New Guinea are also agitating for the importation of Sikhs to replace the unreliable native police force. “It must be remembered that New Guinea is the third largest island in the world, and is only a hundred miles from Cape York (Queensland). There is no doubt that it could supply Australia with the spices and tropical products now imported from Java and Ceylon. In turn it would provide a first-class market for Australian machinery, and a source for investment of Australian capital.

“In the Bulolo Valley the climate is identical to that of Adelaide, and with the cultivation of citrus fruits and the grape vine, which is proving successful, and the progress of vegetable gardens, the populaton of white women residents will be increased.”