Bank Of Indo

China

Now Wholly Controlled From London

Letter to the Editor IN your issue of May, 1943, an Editorial Note, following a message from your correspondent in New Caledonia, giv ing the history of the Bank of Indo china, states that it has never been shown that the ownership of this bank has been changed since the collapse of France; and you ask: “Who gets the profits nowadays?”—evidently meaning: “Is it Vichy?”

I am glad to be in a position to give you the facts of the status of French banks since June, 1940.

All branches of these banks situated in the sterling area—that is to say, operating in parts of the French Empire having rallied to General de Gaulle, or in various parts of the British Empire— are run from London, under the auspices of the Bank of England.

The London branches of all French banks in such a position have become head offices, as opposed to the former head offices in Paris, which are under Vichy rule.

Therefore, all profits, if any, are re maining in the sterling area, and not going to Vichy, as you seem to infer.

I would be much obliged if you could publish this letter in your next issue of your magazine, as your readers should be told the real facts and not left in ignor ance of measures which were promptly taken in Great Britain immediately after some parts of the French Empire rallied to General de Gaulle. I am, etc.,

A. Brenac,

Delegate in Australia of the French National Committee. 60 Hunter Street, Sydney.

EDITORIAL NOTE: We are grateful to Mr. Brenac for the information. But it is not altogether reassuring. The owners of the bank, presumably, still are the shareholders of 1940; they, presum ably, still include those head office direc tors (Badouin and others) who were once so prominent among the pro-Nazi Men of Vichy. There is nothing to show that the profits from this bank’s present trad ing will not accumulate in London, and go on into the bank’s head office, in Paris, when France is restored to free dom.

If, as is expected, the people of Met ropolitan France rise against the hated Nazis as soon as the Allies arrive in France, then all the property in the French Colonies will be automatically restored to the French nation. The French people, in rejecting Fascism, will be repudiating the Men of Vichy. But, until that time comes, it would be well to proceed cautiously. France still is honeycombed by the sinister, unscrupu lous forces which brought about her downfall in 1940—none know it better than the Fighting French themselves.

Those forces, even yet, may control the post-war France.

It would have been better that the Bank of Indo-China were suspended for the duration—just as other concerns, with headquarters in Prance, were suspended.

The Rt. Rev. P. N. W. Strong, Bishop of New Guinea, who made a brief visit to Australia in April, has now returned to his work in Papua. Archdeacon Stephen R. M. Gill, who was in Australia at the same time, has also returned to the Papuan mission field.