Captain d'Argenlieu Arrives in N. Caledonia

From Our Own Correspondent

Noumea, Nov. 17.

ENERAL de Gaulle’s representative, Captain Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu, High Commissioner of the French Pacific, arrived in Noumea on November 5, accompanied by his staff. He has been busy ever since, in the knowledge that the possessions administered by him play a fundamentally important role in Pacific strategy, now that aerial com munications and the organisation of land ing grounds for aerial fleets are the prime consideration in the defence of such a huge, island-dotted ocean.

The High Commissioner arrived aboard a French vessel. Interviewed, he said that Hungs were now as they should be in Tahiti, under Lieut.-Colonel Orselli of whom he spoke highly. The new Governor there, he said, was particularly fitted for , P os t, owing to his acquaintance with Japan and his knowledge of econo mic problems in the Pacific, quite apart from his standing as an airman,'as a Poly technicien, and as a several-times-decor ated veteran of the last war. Orselli is now 46 years old.

The High Commissioner, en route from Papeete, touched at Rarotonga, Suva and Port Vila. He discussed economic collab oration and defence with Sir Harrv Luke and the French and British Resident Commissioners in the New Hebrides.

One important question he is investiga ting is policy towards Japan, against

whom a temporary ban has been imposed on Caledonian mineral exports.

The High Commissioner is accompanied by Frigate Captain Cabanier, a popular submarine officer with a fine career, who is in charge of defence, and by Lieut.-

Commander Galsworthy, RN, British liaison officer, whose father was a cousin of the author, John Galsworthy. Noumea will be their headquarters.

The High Commissioner was received with ceremony; and, later, at Government House, he forcefully addressed the as sembled fonctionnaires, telling them that because of Free French effort, France ap peared across the world as a nation which did not capitulate. France had one enemy —Germany—and she would continue the fight alongside Great Britain until that enemy was destroyed. His words; “France does not capitulate and will never capitu late” roused a great burst of applause.

Among the 22 civil and military officials who arrived with the High Commissioner (eight of whom are accompanied by their wives) are M. Fourcade, formerly an African official, of the Colonial Adminis tration; Dr. Devaud, formerly of the Mes sageries Maritimes shin “Ville d’Amiens”, and hence well known in Noumea; and M. Brault, jnr., whose father is an avocat in Tahiti.

It is of interest that M. Fourcade is a Caledonian, though he left this Colony as long ago as 1919. After a successful career as student, he entered the service and was finally appointed to the Cameroons.

It was at the capital of this Colony, Yaounde, where Brunot was Governor- General, that he rallied to de Gaulle in June last year.

Captain d’Argenlieu standing before the microphone after addressing New Caledonians on his arrival in Noumea last month. —Photo: Dunne, Noumea.