Dargenlieu-GÒD Service To French

Pacific Colonies

KEEN interest in Pacific affairs still is

being shown by Rear-Admiral G.

d’Argenlieu, Commander-in-Chief of

the French Naval Forces in Europe. He was High Commissioner in the Pacific for the de Gaullist French Government,

between July, 1941, and. mid-1943, durmg

a period of great political difficulty and military danger; and it was due, in large measure, to his work that the large French Colonies of New Caledonia and French Oceania are tranquil and pros perous. He became Naval Commander in-Chief in November, 1943; and he then

received the following letter from General

de Gaulle;

Dear Admiral, —At the moment when, in agree ment with you and owing to the duties of your present command, the Commissioner for the Colonies has proposed to the French Committee of National Liberation to suppress the High Commissariat of France in the Pacific of which you were the chief since July 9, 1941, I want to express my gratitude and that of the French Committee of National Liberation for the ser vices rendered by you to France in the Pacific.

The conditions in which you had to assume command in this part of our Empire on the eve of the Japanese aggression were dramatic.

As for myself, who have personally followed every one of the stages of your mission, I shall always remember with emotion the period dur ing which, having to rely solely upon the exist ing forces in New Caledonia, with an insufficient and obsolete armament, you were making pre parations to resist the Japanese attack, until the supreme sacrifice.

When all military danger disappeared, it feu upon you, in order to defend French interests in the Pacific, to develop a diplomatic activity which largely contributed, at some particularly delicate moments, to safeguard the position of France in New Caledonia.

You have well deserved the gratitude of your country. Believe, dear Admiral . • • (Signed) C. DE GAULLE.

History Of French Colonies,

1939-44 AS a matter of history, it is worth noting that the French Colonies in the Pacific were affected by the following events: Sept., 1939: Outbreak of European War.

June, 1940: France over-run by enemy.

July, 1940-June, 1941: French Pacific Colonies completely isolated, and torn between pro- Vichy and anti-Vichy factions; and economic ally dependant upon British Dominions, which furnished all possible help.

July, 1941: D’Argenlieu arrives, and confirms and establishes the Fighting French Govern ment.

Dec., 1941-March, 1942: Japan attacks; and New Caledonia, already economically penetrated by Japanese, is in deadly danger of Jap invasion.

Japan hopes that New Caledonia will co operate with Vichy, and will not resist. Pre parations for defence made by French settlers under d’Argenlieu and Sautot, with some help from small Australian force.

March, 1942: Large American expeditionary force lands in New Caledonia, and military and economic position thenceforward improves.

Mrs. Robert Cooper has been elected president of the New Guinea Women’s Association of Melbourne, Mrs. Geoffrey Bliss, honorary secretary, and Mrs. Stan ley Best, honorary treasurer. At a suc cessful party, recently, £2OO was raised for prisoners of war.

Lieut. H. E. Josselyn, RANVR, and Lieut. D. C. Horton, RANVR, have both been awarded the United States decora tion, Silver Star, for distinguished ser vice in the Solomons. Prior to war, both men were District officials in the BSI Colonial Administrative Service.