Mayor Of Noumea

Dead

M. Massoubre's Link With Fighting French Movement

From Our Own Correspondent

New Caledonia, Oct. 19.

THE Mayor of Noumea, M. Ernest Mas soubre, died suddenly this morning.

A man in his fifties, and a veteran of World War I, he was a Republican and anti-Vichy, and interpreted cor rectly the feeling of the majority of Nou-

means when, in 1940, he lent his support to deporting pro- Vichy Governors and inviting Henri Sautot to rule the country in the name of General de Gaulle, with the promise of economic help from Australia.

M. Massoubre’s term of office was the most strenu ous and exciting since the last century, when the town was subject to cannibal raids by stone-age savages.

He would have preferred a

quieter life, but accepted with good grace the added work imposed on him by the presence of Allied troops (Australian, then American and New Zealand), and became a familiar figure at local demon strations, whether military or political, Allied or purely French.

The Mayor of a French town under takes certain duties and receives a salary, which makes him more of a Government official than his British counterpart.

One of M. Massoubre’s duties which he preferred to carry out personally, was to inform families of Caledonians fighting overseas when their menfolk became casualties.

Mens. E.

Massoubre.