GUANO FOR N.Z.

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23168, 4 November 1940, Page 6

GUANO FOR N.Z.

* New Caledonia’s Supplies WAITING FOR SHIPS [By a Special Correspondent.] NOUMEA, October 23. The principal news of the week is the decision of the Governor, M. Sautot, at a meeting with the de Gaulle Committee, to abolish the General Council, the Colonial Commission, and the Privy Council, and to govern the colony with the aid of a deliberative administrative council of 18 members representing all branches of industry, mining, commerce, shipping, agriculture, and so on. This for the time being will apparently be nominated by the Governor himself, but eventually an assembly elected by universal suffrage is envisaged, with wider powers of influencing or controlling the colony’s destinies than those hitherto wielded by the bodies now suppressed. The decision has been well received, both because New Caledonians have up to now had little enough say in their own government and in the appointment of the officials who run the island, and also because several members of the Council General, who talked big a few months back about continuing the war at the side of Britain, betrayed th,e public cause when put to the test. They Have lost everyone’s respect and are scornfully referred to as “degonfleurs” (deflated ones). Concern About Economic Position The new Administrative Council will -have its work cut out, because New Caledonia’s economic position is/the subject of some concern. To help reduce budgetary expenses it will be necessary to see that every franc spent is used only for needs that are indispensable. An even bigger task is to find satisfactory markets for minerals and agricultural produce hitherto sent to Europe. From New Zealand I received recently an inquiry about what is happening in New Caledonia with regard to shipments of guano from Walpole Island. “The position,” said my correspondent, “has become rather serious, since fertiliser supplies are of first importance in our ‘more production’ effort, and no Walpole guano has arrived here since March.” I was asked to find out whether shipments were being delayed by official action, what prospects there were of deliveries being expedited, and also whether .correspondence from overseas was being delivered to ordinary traders in Noumea. Shipping Difficulty Well, correspondence is being delivered, and guano shipments have been held up, not by official action here, but solely because no ships have arrived to fetch the guano away. The remedy lies with New Zealand or Australia. Some 3500 tons are ready to ship, and a further 2500 tons are in dock ready to treat at a rate of 240 tons a day, if day and night shifts are worked. The Government will accord immediate authorisation on the usual conditions and is most anxious that shipping should be resumed. Some two or three months ago an attempt was made to get a small Messageries Maritimes steamer, the Polynesien, to load for Christchurch, but this fell through. Then the Matthew Flinders, a vessel of a suitable size, capable of loading 3000 tons, was expected from Australia on September 25, but this sailing was suddenly cancelled, because of the political situation. All is ready for her, and the agents tell me they will be glad to see her arrive as soon as possible. Walpole Island

Walpole is a little island dependency some 150 miles south from Noumea. Both it and the Surprise Group to the north of New Caledonia are rich in phosphates and were for many years exploited by an Australian company now in liquidation. The Surprise Islands have been abandoned, although .there are still 76,000 tons at 36 per cent, phosphate awaiting exploitation —possibly it will prove worth somebody’s while to reopen them. But Walpole continues to send fertiliser to New Zealand at the rate of 11,000 tons a year. The labour employed is Javanese, Indo-Chinese, and island “boys,” under white ipanagement. I understand there are 60 or 70 of them there at the present time, and a small vessel, a former Japanese sampan, now owned by Captain Houssard, a'member of the de Gaulle committee, has just left Noumea on the 18-hour trip to take them stores. The ; sland is little more than two miles long and is like a horizontal table, 240 feet above sea level, 800 yards wide at the two extremities, but only 250 yards across the middle.