NEW GUINEA GOLD

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 70, 20 September 1933, Page 10

NEW GUINEA GOLD

BY AIR TO THE FIELDS

VERY MIXED CARGOES

DREDGES TO CATTLE

A visitor to Wellington during the last few days has been Captain E. A. Mustar, a quiet man who does extraordinarily difficult jobs in out of the way places—though ho will probably deny the difficulty. He is managing director of New Guinea Airways, Ltd., a company of which New Zealand has heard a good deal from time to time, for its-work is certainly spectacular, but this is the first time that its head has visited New Zealand. New Guinea Airways transported over high mountain ranges sections for the building of gold dredges, gold batteries, and sluicing plant from the sea coast to the interior. Today the machines are still carrying in more plant for various mining companies, and provide the whole of the regular passenger, goods, and gold transport between fields and coast. "We started the service in January, 1927," Captain Mustar told a "Post" reporter, "and we made the first actual flight on April 18 in quite an historic machine, too, a DH. 37, GA —AAA, historic because it was the first machine of tho Australian Civil Aviation Department. Since then we have grown quite a piece, and today there are four single-engined Junkers in commission —two were lost—three Moths,' and a big Junker, a three-engined job, weighing 19,0001b all up, and with a useful load of just on 10,0001b. That is a fairly substantial machine, but then it has substantial work to do." NUMBER OF FIELDS SERVED. Captain Mustar explained the general location of the main mining centres in the interior, operated by various companies in different styles according to the nature of the gold deposits, Bulolo, where the gold is recovered by dredging, Edie Creek, extraordinarily rich in alluvial gold, and other fields where reef mining is done. Further afield, in some cases as far distant as two hundred miles from the coast settlements, other parties are working and prospecting in very wild country and among wild people. The company keeps in touch with these parties by air as far as possible, and ,if they can show a strong front generally they are all right, though land transport is very arduous. AERODROME EQUIPMENT. On account of the rather short runway, about 700 yards, at Lac, the port centre of the company, the big machine is operated from an aerodrome, with a run of 1000 yards, a short distance along the coast and a little inland, which means that goods have to be brought to' the beach by lighter, and then railed or trucked to the aeroplane. No hangar is used, for the all-metal machine is simply anchored out of doors. Because the spot is so remote from supplies a very complete range of plant and spares is required and the remarkable cargoes that have to be carried call for extras not usual on most aerodromes, for instance, steam cranes, and trucks for heavy going. Grass cutting is quite a business, for grass grows fast in New Guinea, and special mowers had to be imported to keep it in bounds at all. Because the wind direction is constant only a narrow strip is needed for handling the machines on the aerodrome. BVERYTHINO BY AIR. "You have heard about the transport of dredges in sections," said Captain Mustar, "so we won't say much about that. The heaviest single piece was a tumbler shaft, 69001b, but that was just heavy. We have taken more interesting cargo than that: tons of steel plate, of course, four units for a hydro-electric undertaking for one field, a steam plant boiler, in sections, of course, reef mining battery plant, miles of pipe and fixings for the sluicing areas, plates for the cyanide process, and just about everything you will find in your own wharf sheds—and some others besides. : Pianos are easy, a baby car which sat firmly on a ton of rice was another item, with a steel safe to make weight, and on one trip in the big machine blood stock cattle, a heifer and a young bull. They went in easily and just went for a ride. Probably we got a bigger thrill out of it than they did." ..,'*' The dredges at Bulolo are similar to those used on the West Coast of the South Island. One has now been running for twenty months, and another for"almost a year. A third is to start this month, and then sections for a fourth are to bo carried in. In addition to tho heavy transport the machines carry as routine work the whole of the supplies necessary to keep the growing inland settlements going. FIVE DAYS OR HALF AN HOUR. Actually the distance flown is small, but so difficult is the country that on foot each trip is a fivedays' struggle, and to transport heavy machinery, even for all the gold in New Guinea, would be almost an impossibility except by air. Though the normal flying time is about twenty-five minutes —say an hour return —the company makes sure by carrying fuel and oil sufficient for two and a half hours, for frequently heavy cloud covers the mountain ranges and makes the usual route, through a pass about 6000 ft high, not feasible.

"There is plenty to be said about New Guinea," said Captain Mustar, "but just now we are talking about flying and gold. All over New Guinea there are indications of gold,, and that is why prospectors go away back and take a chance. The only trouble is that, except at certain points, there is such a terrible lot of New Guinea mixed up with the gold."