LIFE IN NEW GUINEA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23047, 26 May 1938, Page 22

LIFE IN NEW GUINEA

DEVELOPMENT OF AIRWAYS LECTURE BY MISSIONARY Facts of interest, tracing the development of air services and their influence on the progress of New Guinea, were related by the Rev. A. H. Voyce, of Bougainville Island, part of the mandated territory of New Guinea, iti a lecture at a meeting of the Auckland Institute and Museum anthropology and Maori race section last night. Mr. Voyce, formerly of Palmerston North, is a Methodist missionary who has been working in Bougainville for the last 12 years. Mr. Voyce said the pioneer air services of New Guinea had been in operation for over 10 years. In that time they had made 35,500 flights, totalling over 3,500,000 miles, and transported nearly 60,000 passengers and 40,000 tons of cargo from the coast to the plateaux. Over the whole period, only one passenger and two pilots had lost their lives, and less than £IOO worth of cargo had been lost in any one year. Gold production in Now Guinea was also referred to by Mr. Voyce. He said the annual output was about £2,000,000 of alluvial gold, which was considerably more than the amount produced each year in New Zealand. Historical features of the islands and their flora and fauna were also dealt with. The lecture was illustrated with about 60 lantern slides and Mr. Voyce exhibited a variety of articles of' ethnological interest.