165 Lae-Wau-Lae Sunday, December 13. Day spent on a visit to the Wau Show with Womersley, Cruttwell and young Jonathan Womersley. Flew on a Qantas special DC 3 with "high density" seating (44 passengers up, a couple of extra down from Wau). Flying time 35 min there, 25 back. All effort was put into the recent Lae Show at which Wau won first prize for its district exhibit, therefore European exhibits were poor today. Native exhibits good. Several hundred natives of different tribes, including Kukukus, put on dances. Horses and humans in ring courts. Met several people I wanted to see, including Joe Bourke, last seen at the Fly River in 1936. Using an official Land Rover and driver, Cruttwell and I went up the Kaindi road to the 5800 ft. lookout. Collected for van Steenis fruiting material of a common Pratia which may settle the question of whether Pratia and Lobelia are separable taxonomically. Monday, December 14. Busy day on business matters. Called on District Commissioner Niall. Saw our three Gosiagos off for home on the Bev in early evening (the boat grossly overloaded, big cargo of drums of gasoline on deck, about 40 native passengers, sponsons half under water). Visited Cruttwell on the Malaita, on which he was to leave for Samarai late in the night. Our expedition cargo was in cargo nets on two trucks ready to go on board the Malaita when I left the wharf at 9:45. Shipping bills, etc. have still to come in, so I left my bank account (Bank N.S. Wales) open, with a balance of about £2400. Signed an application for the export pf the residue in U.S. dollars. Lae has been very hot for several days. No cooling rain. The unpaved streets (most are that way) very dusty. Tuesday, December 15. Left Lae by Qantas DC 4. about 9:40 a.m. and arrived Port Moresby 10:50. Much clouded and could see little until we were close to the Papuan coast. Alan Willis met me at the airport. Big improvements there; new strip said capable of taking heavy jet planes; new terminal building which shows lack of imagination in design and is already too small for the traffic. The coastal hills very, very dry. The small trees of the savanna seem to have dropped most of their leaves; hardly any grass. But town colorful with orange-red Poinciana in full bloom. Staying at Papua Hotel ("Top Hotel"). Afternoon spent at Kenedobu visiting friends in Government (Joe Szent-Ivany, Dorothy Shaw, Ted Gray, Bill Sutter). Dusty Miller of Samarai at the hotel. Wednesday, December 16. Morning spent on official calls at administration H/Q at Konedobu, afternoon on letters and shopping. First call on Suttee, Director of Forests. Talk included the subject of a very serious loss of departmental personnel due to recent increases in living costs, the new income tax, and better conditions of emplyment now offering in Australia. Losses include chief clerk, chief air photo specialist (whatever they are called), typists, etc. with years of service. The Great Papuan Plateau of the Strickland watershed will be examined for timber soon (big stands have been seen from the air).