Noumea
p. 16 · Read in the full issue
No Tourists for Noumea Exchange Rates Kill Traffic
From Our Own Correspondent.
NOUMEA, December 20.
OWING to lack of co-operation be tween the shipping companies, the Administration and the mer chants, the tourist traffic has never really developed into anything substan tial; and it may be now considered to have faded into insignificance on ac count of the small number of francs exchanged for an English pound, and the even smaller number received for the Australian pound.
Apparently, the Messageries Mari times Shipping Co. bases its fares be tween Sydney and New Caledonia on the rate of exchange, as the first-class fare for the trip from Sydney to Nou mea has now reached the extravagant rate of over £7 per day—viz., £29—the return ticket costing £49.
These fares, of course, are quoted in Australian currency. There has been a recent reduction of about 10 per cent, of the fare from this end in French currency.