UNKNOWN NEW GUINEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20641, 13 August 1930, Page 15

UNKNOWN NEW GUINEA.

LAND OF VAST WEALTH. "It behoves each one of us to have some idea of the extent, the nature and the people of the countries which have been entrusted to U3 as mandated territories, said Mr. W- R- McGregor in a lecture on "The Mandated Territories," given beforo tho Karangahape Road Business Promotion Society yesterday. , Including tho outlying islands, Australia was responsible for tho administration of about 182,000 square miles of New Guinea territory, which was largely unknown and densely forest-clad. It was a land of vast potential wealth, as almost all tropical products could be grown there, and enormous mineral deposits were known to exist, although no thorough geological survey had yet been made. The population comprised about 300,000 natives and about 3400 Asiatics and Europeans. , , . "New Guinea lies at tho gateway to the East, and if no steps are taken to develop the land it will bo impossible to hold it," said Mr. McGregor. Because of the humid climato and numerous diseases tho country was most unhealthy for white people. Those who had settled there were finding it almost' impossible to recruit native labour.