Death Of M. Milliard

>THE death has occurred in Bordeaux, 1 France, at the age of 68, of M. Henri Milliard, who went to Noumea, New Caledonia, at the age of 16, and who, for many years until his retirement at the end of the war, held the position of manager of the Establissements Ballande in Noumea and the New Hebrides. Part of the war period he spent in Sydney as he was out of favour with the Free French administration in the Colony.

M. Milliard, as head of the largest trad ing concern in the French Pacific, played a prominent part in colonial life. Be sides their stores and their shipping ventures, this Bordeaux firm of Ballande played a prominent part in nickel and chrome mining developments, often in close association with the Nickel Co.

Ballandes also own many of the best cattle ranches in New Caledonia, and this has at times made them a target for critic ism by small holders who were cultivat ing interior land.

M. Milliard was in his time President of the General Council, Vice-President of the Noumea Chamber of Commerce, Pre sident of the Neo Caledonienne Sports Club, the Veloce Club, the Societe Sportive (race club) of Magenta; and, pre-war, the French Government had re cognised his merits by making him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He was also a prominent Catholic, and President of the Catholic Schools’ Association. It was only after the collapse of France in 1940 that he was criticised for alleged coolness to the Free French cause. He was frequently in Sydney where the Ballandes enterprises are well known. He was a French director of the Chagrin Chrome Co., run with Australian capital.

The LMS held an exhibition in Sydney on August 14.