GERMANY'S LOST COLONIES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 204, 24 May 1920, Page 5

GERMANY'S LOST COLONIES

AUSTRALIAN COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDATIONS. Melbourne, May 22. The report of the Royal Commission on the administration of former German territory in the Pacific considers tho cost to the Government will bo .£280,000 annually. The Teport recommends that .£200,000 of this sum should be raised by local taxation, principally by import and export duties, and tho granting of a Commonwealth subsidy of i!!) 0,000 per annum, the subsidy to ba withdrawn later. Tho report advocates nationalisation of German properties, which, would be carried on by the Commonwealth.

A majority Teport recommends a Government organised on the lines of the present Papuan Government, with an Administrator, Excontive, and Legislative Council, at a cost of ,£168,000 yearly. It advises the imposition of a supertax on the export of copra. It does not recommend the nationalisation of plantations, stating that that would involve a capital outlay of at least two and a half millions. A preferential territory tariff, first in favour of Australia, and next of tho Empire, is recommended, also preferential Australian duties in favour of Papua and territories over which Australia has been given mandates. The report also urges that liquidated German trading companies and their assets, consisting of town blockß, should be held by the Government and leased—Press Assn.