NEW CALEDONIA — BITS AND PIECES

Arty AnTiDote, Issue VIII, 30 October 1943, Page 4

NEW CALEDONIA — BITS AND PIECES

CELEBRATION OF FRENCH FESTIVALS AT NOUMEA

New Caledonia celebrates two inn ant festivals during the year one on. <ur-.y ih and the other on September T-h The former is the -ay of th j Republic and the other the anniversary of Prunes annexation of the island in 1853, The eve of these occasions is marked by a torchlight procession led by the military band through the streets of Noumea, the starting point being the barracks, The next day comes a review and children’s games in the Place Courbet, Government House is the scene of gaiety in the evening where Noumea society gathers* The women, it is said, are noted for their frocking in the 1a tes t p arisle nne styl es .

While the dance proceeds at Government House, the natives perform the pil ou p 1 1 ou. in Coconut S qua Io the beats of wooden drums, rnanou polled round hips, adorned with feathers and coconut loaves with bust and face striped hideously with rod> blue and white paint and brandishing tomahawks, the natives hark back to ths days not long ago when this dance re cc 0 d. h e satisfaction 01' oann ib 1A habit 5. 3

4- 4- •!•• +4- 4- 4-4- -I- -I- 4- 4* 4-4- 4- 4- 4- + + + • t + 4 •4He Nou is the New Caledonian ad ame run; of Pan-American Airways • The firs’; trial ' \y: ' L • C -’1- a y. ' „ An ■'■ :. ana.. * .-vly/ud •c’-.u-aCh brought; the Clipper a own on the waters of Noumea harbour on August 28, 1939* It was considered a step of great importance in the commercial life of the islands, The old -penitentiary buildings Cn Ils Pou wore pulled down to make way for Pan-American 5 © administrative offices and workshops.. The regular service which Included calls at Honolulu, Canton, Pago Pago, and later Suva in late 19’11, was commenced in the middle of 19UO o

New Caledonia has a counterpart of the New Zealand kiwic It is the cagon, a bird which cannot fly and is found in. the forests in the south of the island s It barks like a small pup and hides its head in the g round wh e n p ursued*

The great est contrib ut io n t o New Caledonia’ domestic economy is derived from the chromite and nickel mining industries, The principal mining centres are along the coasts at Thio, Voh, Ticbaghi and Nehoue. Cattle breeding is next in Importance, more important than husbandry as breeders do not have to contend, as have agriculturists, with Austv al i a supplies,

The native tree of New Zealand the Kauri is found prolifically in the forests in the douth of New Caledonia, Timber companies have \ realised its possibilities and are now engaged in exploiting it as a ma J ex’ commercial enterprise

A race meeting was part of any large festival celebrated in Noumea, The course is at Magenta and well laid oute. Australian jockeys were attracted by the events hold, while the majority of the horses were bred in the Commonwealth end imported specifically for racing* Among the must prominent local bred horses was one named Flaneur from Michael Daly’s stable* The horse was from a Katrain commencing at the outset of , the island’s colonisation Another less successful than Flaneur, but no vqr thlesea strong contender at the meetings vys Let Him Go, a des-* s Cendant of Prince Rupert, a prominent winner, of o’Donoghue' © stable

An essence manufactured from the leave© of the niaoull, known commercially as Gomenol, is used as a pre** ventative against . lung tcubic s 5 ’