An Australian "Consul"

at Noumea

AUSTRALIA'S first Consul to the ad joining French Colony of New Cele donia, Mr. H. S. Barnett, was officially appointed on December 18. Mr.

Barnett, a Jervis Bay graduate, was a lieutenant-commander in the Australian Navy in 1939; but, during most of the Pacific war, he was Naval Liaison Officer at Noumea. He now becomes “Australian Consul—second class.”

Australia previously has been repre sented by a Trade Agent at Noumea— the last of whom was Mr. Noel Deschamps, who has now gone to “the Australian Legation” in Russia, as First Secretary and Charge d’Affaires.