BULOLO TIMBER LEASE INQUIRY LASTS 44 DAYS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22917, 8 April 1949, Page 5

BULOLO TIMBER LEASE INQUIRY LASTS 44 DAYS

(9 a.m.) SYDNEY. April 8. After 44 days’ continuous sitting evidence has ended in the Royal Commission inquiring into the New Guinea timber leases. Legel men cannot recall another case which survived four criminal proceedings and was then the subject of a Royal Commission.

Since December 15. 1947. when the New Guinea timber deal was first handed over to the Commonwealth investigating officers, the story of the Bulolo timber and the payment by Hancock and Gore, Limited, of £50,000 for an alleged concession, has been told five times.

Witnesses at the Royal Commission included the Prime Minister, Mr. J. B. Chifiey, the Minister of. Defence and Post-War Reconstruction. Mr. J. J. Dedman, the Minister of Customs, Senator Courtice. the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Lemmon, and the Minister of External Territories, Mr. E. J. Ward. Mr. Ward, who asked for the appointment of a Royal Commission and who has been relieved of his duties pending the finding, has never left the court during the hearing. The courtroom was always packed and 10,000 people are estimated to have attended. The transcript of the proceedings ran into 3000 pages containing 1,500,000 words. There were 163 exhibits. Legal men estimate the cost of the commission at £20,000, including legal fees.

The cost of the four criminal proceedings last year was £45,000.