FROM WAR AREA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 April 1942, Page 4

FROM WAR AREA

NEW GUINEA REFUGEES. MANY REACH AUSTRALIA. With Government assistance, 1800 women and 400 men have been brought from New Guinea and Papua to Australia since the beginning of January. These figures were given by an official of the New Guinea Trade Agency, which has been handling the evacuations. He said that free passage to Australia had been arranged, and warrants over the railways had been granted to take the people to their destinations. When they broke their journeys at Sydney or other centres, accommodation had been provided. Only men declared medically unfit or who were more than 45 years of age had been evacuated. Younger men had been drafted into the territory defence forces. Except for women taken by aeroplane from the goldfields area, who had had their luggage limited to 301 b., most of the women had come away fairly well provided with personal effects, the official added. Many women and children had gone to the country.. . . Lady McNicoll, wife of the Administrator of New Guinea, BrigadierGeneral Sir Walter McNicoll, said in an interivew that all vital utilities likely to be of service to the enemy were destroyed when Lae and Salamaua were evacuated. Both towns possessed splendid aerodromes. “Guinea Airways operated from the aerodromes at Lae, from which all the machinery for the goldfields at Bulolo was transported,” she said. “Salamaua also possesses a magnificent aerodrome, from which the service to Wau operated. The harbour of Salamaua is better than that at Lae, but both have very good shipping facilities.”