Free French
p. 10 · Read in the full issue
Colonies
Regularisation of Finance and Exchange
AN agreement which was signed in London on March 19 between the British Government and General de Gaulle (leader of Free France) provides for credits necessary to finance the ad ministration of the Free French Colonies and also covers financial arrangements and foreign exchange.
It fixes the rate of exchange between the French Colonial franc and the pound sterling at 176.625, which was the parity of the franc against the pound before the capitulation of France.
It is provided that each Colony of the Free French Empire can dispose of the foreign exchange proceeds of exports and its gold production under the control of the Council of Defence of the Free French Empire. This Council is in a position to use the surplus exchange re sources of one colony to meet the deficits of another. This Council is also seeking to organise markets for the products of the various French Colonies.
The new arrangement gives the Free French Colonies access to practically all the facilities available to the British Em pire. The new arrangements are of special interest to New Caledonia, New Hebrides, and French Oceania.
RE-ORGANISATION of France’s South Pacific colonies as units of the Free French Empire, in close collabora tion with British Dominions and United States, is proceeding rapidly . . . Mons. R.
Brunot, on a diplomatic mission from General de Gaulle to French and British Pacific territories, arrived in Auckland on April 13 . . . Earlv in March, 329 Europeans and over 1,000 natives had enrolled in New Caledonia, as volunteers, to fight for General de Gaulle . . . New Caledonian Nickel Co. has sold most of its output to America; and, to save freights, it now is proposed to refine nickel matte in Noumea, which will re-open a large proportion of the fur naces closed when France capitulated . . .
With the object of presenting to General de Gaulle a fighter plane, a tank, an anti-aircraft gun, or any other type of armament, a committee consisting of the following has been set up in New Heb rides to collect funds: Mme. G. Hill, Messieurs L. de Gaillande, F. Rossi, E.
Reid, Jnr., R. N. A. Larney.