Noumea
p. 14 · Read in the full issue
British Consul in Noumea How Vichy Ordered His Arrest
From Our Own Correspondent
Noumea, Aug. 14.
It/rONSIEUR Bayardelle, Secretary-Gen -I*l eral of New Caledonia at the time when the Colony rallied to the Free French Movement, and who is now at headquarters in London, reveals that, pre ceding the Conseil-General’s repudiation of Governor Pelicier on August 26, last year, two telegrams were received from the Vichy Government.
One ol them ordered the arrest of the British Consul in Noumea (Mr. John ston) and the other ordered the Colony to give priority in its mineral exports to Japan and to Russia (meaning, of course, Germany).
He adds that Vichy’s official repudiation of the French Republic was the signal for the Noumea Municipality to repaint all the town’s public buildings with the words: “Republique Francaise —Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite”.