OUTPOST OF FREE FRANCE

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23191, 30 November 1940, Page 12

OUTPOST OF FREE FRANCE

Life in New Caledonia A COSMOPOLITAN COMMUNITY (SPECIALTY WRITTEN EOS THE PRESS.) [By H. E. L. FRIDAY] A„ .count of the social and'economic life of a French possession which has lately become internationally important.

For a little over a year I have lived in one of the most picturesque of South Sea countries. When I say that you will probably think at once of Tahiti. But the place I mean is a much closer neighbour, as near us as we are to Australia. I refer, of course, to New Caledonia. Papeete, you are looked on another tourist « n aniards the The Portuguese, the Sparaaros Dutch-they all miss ® d % g So it discovered places not far ft. d ■ was left for Captain Cook to tod an name the island after The first glimpse you get of its barren highlands explains why. “™ c r g. too, that its eucalyptus-clad areas re ambled New South Wales. It is also f Tact of the valleys running up from the east coast, with then coconut palms, their bananas, waterfalls, resemble Tahiti. If ■ had iourneyed some miles into the in he would hove come W 22 forests and tree-ferns that to day would make any New_ Zeaiander feel at home Even the handsome, grey wingless' cagou wouid not seem very strange to him, after the kiwi.

Joined to New Zealand The resemblance is natural, for it is said that New Caledonia, a very ancient land mass, was once J oi ned to New Zealand, as it also once formed part of the Continent 1 of Australia. Then, aeons ago, the land between submerged, so that to-day the moun tains, some over 5500 feet high, .dip steeply into the sea on the eastern sidef y The striking result is drowned vallev effects and fjord-like inlets. Although 250 miles icing, the sausageshaped island averages only 25 to JO miles across. The west coast is rather different from the east, Her ®» fringed with mangroves, are a numoer of plains between mountain and sea. On these are occasional townships, mostly at river mouths. Sometimes the land is cut into by grand islanddotted bays, the best-known being the fine harbour at Noumea. During last century the native fought the white settler for these plains, in. a series of outbreaks reminiscent of the Maori wars. But although his race then began to decline, the Melanesian now seems secure in his reserves, and fits more or less into the economic life of to-day. It is mainly on these plains that the colonist keeps his prosperous-looking cattle, herds that are added to occasionally by imported Australian bulls. Here, too, and up the eastern valleys, he grows his coffee, 2000 tons annually, half of it the finest grade Arabic; also his copra, his tropical fruits and vegetables. Potatoes and onions, however, are often imported. Economic Resources Timber is cut in the mountain forests, a large proportion of the kauri and tamanou going to Australia. In addition, 450 tons of trochus shell are exported In normal years, as well as tinned meat and deer and cattle hides. Deer shooting and fishing are the two, great sports of the colony. In them the New Caledonian combines business with pleasure. Deer are so common as to have become a nuisance. , But it is the mineral wealth of the barren slopes that makes New Caledonia rich—in this regard perhaps the richest place for its size in the world. International capital has not been slow to grasp that fact. Rothschild money has helped to develop the nickel resources, in which Japan is also interested; British and American capital is specially interested in chrome, and the Japanese again in iron ore, of which the supply seems to be unlimited. If only payable coal were here, this would be a land of iron furnaces. Annual nickel and chrome production is something like 10 per cent, of the world output. New Caledonians are specially good customers of Australia, their ships continually calling there for coal, foodstuffs, and merchandise. They even buy Australian racehorses and bring over Australian jockeys for the races at Magenta, near Noumea. Given shipping facilities it seems certain that New Zealand also could work up a bigger trade connexion.' New Zealanders and Australians seem like brothers to the New Caledonian, who looks on us as fellow colonials. When, in 1903, they celebrated their fiftieth anniversary as acolony, their guest of honour was an envoy specially sent by the Commonwealth Government.. They received him so heartily, that the then British Consul, a brother of the novelist, Rider Haggard, sent the Foreign Office a

The Barrier Reef

memorandum commenting on the “rather severe course ol entertainment” the delegate had to undergo. Now a word about Noumea, the administrative capital. It is a town of some 10.000 inhabitants, the second largest in the South Seas. Architecturally it is not much to look at. but is charmingly situated and interesting on account of the large number of countries represented by the people you see in the streets, whether some of these are necessary to its prosperity is another matter. Apart from the dominant whites, there are people from Java and Indo-China, from Japan and Hong Kong, soldiers and sailors from French Atlantic and North African colonies, and natives from many a Pacific isle. In fact, it is one of the most cosmopolitan places for its size anywhere. I have counted members of 15 different nationalities in a single afternoon. .. . The town itself extends from the foot of its signal hill, and branches out into the valley suburbs known as the Vallee du Tir. Vallee du Genie, and Vallee des Colons. A few miles out is a charming coconut-fringed bathing be Noumeans rise between 5 and 6 in the-morning and drink a cup of coffee. Then the housewives go to the openair market on Coconut square. They lunch or breakfast at 11, have a siesta, till 1 when the shops reopen until 5. Evening is the genial time to sit at your ewe table and drink an aperitif. Then you dine at 7 and retire to bed at 9.

To get an idea of the country you must travel the length of the two roads; one along the east and the other th* west coast. You must also make trips on one of the coastal trading boats, as this will give you an opportunity of seeing not only the harbours, but a lot of the 400-mile long Barrier Reef which , encloses the whole New Caledonian archipelago. It is the second.larges, reef in the world, complete with all the turtles and brilliant fishes that make coral reefs so interesting. On your coastal voyage you will pass wild and magnificent scenery, and will also observe some of the 60 wrecks that the reef has claimed. They include La ' France, acclaimed the world's largest sailing ship when she left Wellington . in 1922, a month or two before her fatal voyage. You will hear, too, something of the explorers, missionaries; whalers, convicts and sandalwood trad- 1 - ers of the old days. French names are those of Bougainville, La Perouse (who may have called here), d’Entrecasteaux and Huon de Kermadec, The lastnamed died here on the search for la Perouse and was buried at night for fear the cannibals might dig him up. The English were just as active, discovering the Loyalty Islands, which are now a New Caledonian dependency. They likewise named Havannah and ; Woodin Passages in the south. v Here and there along the coasts you may still see hive-shaned native huts of bark and straw with carved totem posts, and if you’re lucky you may even witness a pilou-pilou, a dance something between a Maori haka and,; an Australian corroboree. ... ■ The best-known English name, after Cook, is that of James Paddon, a Ports- ~ mouth sailor. He built up a vast establishment in these seas, with 60 Europeans and two or three hundred native? to work for him. He was there before the French admiral came m 1853. just beating the English for possession. It was Paddon’s small schooners that pioneered the first mail service between „i Noumea and Sydney; he was alsq whaler and sandalwood trader on 8 large scale. He lived dangerously, too; on one occasion 17 of his crew were massacred and only his courage apo seamanship saved the rest. The Penal Settlement

Paddon’s daughter, one of Noumea# oldest inhabitants, whose mother,wM a New Hebridean, has told me many to interesting yam about her father s afl* ventures and her own. Paddon s estoplishment was at He Nou, the island ta« protects Noumea Harbour. The French bought him out with 3000 hectares on the mainland, where Paddon introduced, settlers from Australia, whose descendants are still prominent in the colonyThen the French turned He Noutotp a vast penal settlement. Transporters* who came out under a system generally less harsh than that which had pre« ceded it in Australia, played their part in draining Noumea township and Constructing roads. Transportation was dl£ continued after 1896, and to-day, the walls of the old establishment have been pulled down to make way for a military and commercial air base, it » here, on the sheltered waters of Paddon Bay, that great modem air chppeu* rest for a night on their way between San Francisco and Auckland. , Such. then, is the thi vd°£ modern phase of He Nou's eventful history, ® phase which brings America. New donia. Australia, and New -distends potentially also other £ a Pj^ p L_i n to like Fiji and the New Hebrides—i closer union. -