BOMBERS OVER NEW GUINEA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 135, 23 January 1942, Page 10

BOMBERS OVER NEW GUINEA

A Land Of Contrasts And Surprises

This is the first of two articles specially written for "The Listener" by B. W. COLLINS, M.Sc. F.G.S., who spent a year in New Guinea prospecting for oil.

likely to be more so in the not so distant future, is the largest island in the world. At least that is how New Guinea is often described. The two possible exceptions ‘are, of course, Greenland and Australia, both of which come in a sort of intermediate category between continents and islands. Three times the size of both islands of New Zealand, larger than the whole of the Japanese Empire (including Korea, Formosa, and South Sakhalin)-facts obscured by the distortion of areas on ordinary maps, on which, New Zealand appears to be larger, if anything, than New Guineathis queer-shaped island is referred to by those who ought to know as probably the richest and at the same time least developed of the territories of the South Seas. Of even greater importance at the present time than its natural resources is, however, the strategic value of the island to Australia; and Australians will be asking themselves the questions: Will Japan attempt to occupy New Guinea? Will she be able to use it as a base from which to attack Australia? How strong is the new Port Moresby air base now under construction? Will the Dutch and Australians be able to hold this sprawling, largely unknown land-the natural barrier to the northern approach to Australia? Sorong, a settlement at the western extremity of the " Bird’s Head" (Vogelkop Scherieland tothe Dutch) has been bombed, but at the time of writing the landing of troops has not been officially confirmed. Canberra announces that the Australian Air Force is keeping a watchful eye on all developments, but that there has been no Japanese activity over the Australian half of the island. What kind of a land is this, that before long may be the scene of violent conflict? Rather Like New Zealand New Guinea, like New Zealand in some ways, may be described as a land of contrasts and surprises. In the first place it is not one country but three-each with different laws and separate administrations. Within its 300,000 square miles. are only about 10,000 white people and a million and a-half natives. It boasts the highest mountains in the Southern Hemisphere with the sole exception of a few peaks in the South American Andes. Some are giants of more than 16,000 feet, which, though within four degrees of the equator, are perpetually snow-capped. On either side of the main mountain chain lie healthy and fertile upland valleys, with comparatively dense native populations. Nearer the coasts A ¢ in the news, and

stretch vast areas of fever-infested man-~ grove and sago swamps. Huge rivers, navigable by power-driven craft for more than 500 miles, penetrate the island’s inner fastnesses. Tumbling mountain streams and waterfalls give New Guinea a potential hydro-electric power greater, for its size, than any other country in the world. It is a land of cannibals and missionaries; of head-hunters and _ firstclass engineers; of stone adzes and modern gold dredges; of bows and arrows and the latest oil-drilling equipment; cf birds of paradise and ten-passenger aeroplanes; of Australian and Dutch administrators, German and Polish missionaries, American company directors, and Chinese traders; of squalor and dirt and superstition, and of refrigerators, telephones and wireless sets. It possessed until a year or two ago the world’s largest freight-carrying aeroplane service — now possibly overshadowed by Canada’s service to the mining camps of the Northwest. Its one and only "railway" of about two miles, with open trucks for carriages-has fallen into disuse, and the whole country has probably under a hundred miles of motor roads. Although named in 1528 "Isla der Ora" --the island of gold-by a Spaniard, the first European to set eyes on the country, it was not until 1926, 400 years later, that two Englishmen discovered in what had ten years before been German territory the goldfield which has made New Guinea famous. And to conclude this catalogue of memorabilia, one of her territories was the only unit of the British Empire, apart from Great Britain herself, for which were designed and minted coins bearing the head of the uncrowned King Edward VIII. ( Plumes of Paradise As late as 1931, Dutch New Guinea, the western. half of the island, was described by a returning Australian visitor, as largely terra incognita. The bulk of the country is entirely unexplored, the Dutch apparently having their attention fully occupied with the richer, more nor(Continued on next page)

NEW GUINEA (Continued trom previous page)

therly provinces of the Netherlands East Indies. They have been content to let Dutch New Guinea wait. On the coast, however, are a few small towns and isolated plantations. It was reported, in 1935, that con. siderable numbers of Japanese had ‘settled along the northern coast, and were exploiting the rich marine and timber resources. Merauke, the main port of the south coast, near the Papuan boundary, had a brief period of fame us the centre of a thriving trade in bird skins and feathers-mainly bird of paradise plumes. Since 1926 this. traffic has been prohibited and the 60,000 florins annual trade has ceased. The value of copra exported was once more than 100,000 florins annually, but this too has declined recently. During ‘the last few years there has been a revival of interest in prospecting for gold and oil, but results have not been made public. ‘ Exciting Days In striking contrast. to Dutch New’ Guinea’s uneventful history, the British half of the island has had a very chequered career. Papua, now a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, and formerly known as British New Guinea, was first annexed by Queensland in 1883, after repeated requests that the British Crown should acquire Eastern New Guinea had failed to produce any result. This proceeding was not ratified by the Imperial Government, but in 1884 Britain and Germany each declared a protectorate over part of the eastern half of the island. The south-east coast and adjacent islands became British New Guinea, the Australian colonies of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria undertaking to guarantee £15,000 a year for ten years to defray the cost of administration. In 1906 the territory was taken over by the Commonwealth Government and its name changed to

Papua. Germany’s share included Northeast New Guinea (Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land) and the Bismarck Archipelago. Later the Protectorate was extended to the German Solomon Islands, Nauru, and the Marshall, Caroline, Mariana ‘and Pelew Groups. In August, 1914, an Australian Expeditionary Force occupied Rabaul, in New Britain, the largest island of the Bismarck Archipelago, and the capital of the German New Guinea Protectorate. After the war the Protectorate was divided between Japan and Australia under the Mandate system, the equator being the boundary between the two mandated territories. Japan administers the Territory of the Marshall, Caroline and Mariana Islands; Australia the Territory of New Guinea (including the Bismarck Archipelago and the former German Solomon Islands, Buka and Bougainville), where the phosphate island of Nauru is administered jointly by Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Japan’s Main Target? It was in the Mandated Territory of New Guinea (New Guinea for short to Australians) that I spent just over a year in 1937 and 1938 as geologist for an oil-prospecting company, and it is this part of New Guinea which probably constitutes the main target of Japanese aspirations. It is the nearest of Australian territories to areas under Japanese control (from Truk, one of the main settlements in the Caroline Islands, to Rabaul, until a few months ago the capital of "New Guinea, is only about 500 miles, and the equator is the common boundary between the two mandates). It is the richest in natural resources of the three political divisions of the island of New Guinea, and possesses the finest harbours for naval bases and the best sites for aerodromes. It is also the most developed part of the island and contains the greatest proportion of the white population. And also, perhaps, it is going to be the hardest part to defend.