Post-War Plans
p. 23 · Read in the full issue
For Noumea
Good Feeling Between French and "Kiwis"
Prom Our Own Correspondent
Noumea, Aug. 20.
AS the result of a meeting of business men, held at the Noumea Chamber of Commerce offices recently, it is proposed to form a hotel and tourist company in New Caledonia with the object of developing a flourishing tourist industry after the war. Prior to the war most of the foreign visitors—and they were not numerous—who arrived by ship, were Australians on the monthly “Pierre Loti” from Sydney.
Pan American Airways passengers for New Zealand and Australia scarcely counted as visitors, since they only stopped overnight. However, before the line was suspended (after Pearl Harbour) the American company had negotiated land options with the Noumea Munici pality with the idea of constructing a 100-bedroom hotel at one of the town’s beaches. Qantas Airways was also con templating a flying service from Sydney.
There is certainly room in Noumea for one or two good tourist hotels; and, out side the town, there should be a string of hotels at scenic spots on west and east coasts, whose farmsteads and townships need electric and other modern facilities.
A hill resort for Caledonians is con templated by the Government, on the Montagne des Sources, not too far from the capital.
Most New Zealand servicemen who have studied the coqntry with a mind un influenced by the monotony of camp life, say that there is nothing wrong with New Caledonia except reliance on coolie labour, a virtual mining monopoly, and the absence of modern conveniences. A few soldiers have bought land on the east coast, intending to return when the war is over. rrtHE Kiwis have been tremendously A popular with the French, as were Matheson’s Australian commandos.
The reputation of the NZ Division stands as high among the French here as it did among the locals in Fiji and Tongatabu. They have proved excellent ambassadors in the cause of South Pacific solidarity.
They leave 40 or 50 of their number behind here, in the little hilltop cemetery seen from the main road out of Bourail towards the Col de Boghen, The good wishes of the French go with the rest, wherever the fortunes of war may call them.