BAD TIMES IN THE ISLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13456, 5 June 1907, Page 8

BAD TIMES IN THE ISLANDS.

The New Caledonia papers show that the French possessions in the Pacific are experiencing bad times. One- journal says: — "For several years the French settlements in Oceania have been experiencing a grave crisis (une, crise fort inquietante), and the colonists are complaining to the mother country, and demand that she will, if not come to hftr assistance, at least enable them to ameliorate the present situation by judicious reforms. But their appeals receive ;no response—no notice is taken of them." Now Caledonia has to face a series of deficits. .The administrative staff has been reduced, probably as a result of the diminution of convicts under direct supervision. The dozen miles of railway in the colony is run at a loss, not a large loss, only something like £500 a year, but sufficient to cause a fear that it will have to. bo abandoned. Private houses have had to go in. for retrenchment, and the newspapers announce that owing to the financial crisis they have been compelled. to suspend their Australian cablo services. This means that New : Caledonia, only three days' sail from' Australia, will be shut out from the. rest of the world for periods of three weeks. An equally disastrous state of affairs exists at Tahiti, where the Budget receipts are set down.at £32,000 (800,000f.) to meet liabilities amounting to £68,000 (l,700,000f.), and the oversea | trade shows a persistent shrinkage. '•: In i 1903 the exports and imports amounted to £346,416; in 1905 they had fallen to £204,109. The -■ommercial position is described as most precarious.",'