Dutch New Guinea Progress Speeded

Press, Volume C, Issue 29497, 26 April 1961, Page 20

Dutch New Guinea Progress Speeded

t*v snriMM cosmxoiu The establishment of the Dutch New Guinea Council is part of a programme of “accelerated evolution.” International pressures brought it into existence, and it has started at a stage which appears still far removed for its counterpart in Papua-New Guinea.

The Dutch Gevwnment through ita Stata Secretary for Home Affaire, fir. Theo 1 Bot hae told the CouncU to ] preaent ita viewa of eelf- < determination within a year. 1 Alonfaida the meaaured tread of the other aide of the , border, thia appear* to aet a j frantic pace. I Are they ready for it? The Dutch Government, whether* it believe* *o or not, ! ia actina aa though the Dutch New Guinea native* are more than ready. Yet the viaitor aeeing Hollandia for the first time eminent in .a place which does look like > * possible future capital Miner Tewnahip* Hollandia comprlsea minor townahips scattered along about 30 miles of waterfront. Steep-tided limestone mountains with a green profusion of jungle seem ready to move a few yards and push the austere public and private enterprise buildings off their terraced perches. Some sections of Hollandia are simply the width of the road beneath the mountains. Modern Hollandia has been built mainly over the last six years, but the new site was chosen about 10 years ago. One prominent Dutch official told visiting Australians one of the reasons for its existence was that Americans had left large dumps of sup-

•lies behind after the Second World War, and thia had encouraged early resettlement. There are still plenty of place* where one ean take one step off the road into thick jungle—■one will be lost after a 10-yard walk. The people for whom Holland)* is a permanent home mostly live a village life. Several of the villages are conglomerations of silt homes built over the water. Mostly they are corrugated iron shacks standing on twisted tree limbs—marine slums—with outboard motordriven praus skimming between them like hydroplanes. The motor-driven praus signify a new phase of life.