Floods In New Caledonia
p. 111 · Read in the full issue
LIKE many Australian towns and cities Noumea, New Caledonia, has re cently been half drowned by sudden floods.
Inhabitants assert that never before has so much rain fallen in so short a time, turning the roads into lakes and making traffic impossible. Many people had to be evacuated from their flooded homes, and the scene of the inundations were visited by the Governor-General, the Mayor of Noumea and the President of the General Council.
Every available pump was kept busy and the Police Commissioner and his helpers patrolled the town (usually so dry and waterless save for open drains) night and day. Whole gardens were washed away.
At Anse Vata, near Noumea, the race course is a large lake, and the buildings at the Polyclinique stand in acres of water. In the bush torrential rains and river flooding are reported from places as wide apart as Yate, Thio and Houailou.
Executive changes at the Vacuum Oil Company’s branches at Lae (New Guinea) and Noumea (New Caledonia) have been announced by Vacuum’s Pacific Islands Manager, Mr. W. C. Fraser. Mr. C. R.
Heavey has been appointed manager for the Company in New Guinea, in succes sion to Mr. G. J. Rice (now on leave in Australia), who becomes manager for New Caledonia in place of Mr. F. H. Davey.
Mr. Davey returns to Australia for leave and re-assignment, and until Mr. Rice completes his leave, Mr. B. Hamilton of Melbourne Head Office will be acting manager at Noumea.
The former Director of Shipping in Papua-New Guinea, Mr. Leighton, in a communication to the PIM, says that he iid not resign his position because of the change in Government last December, )ut because of bad health. He was the nctim of more than one tropical com- Dlaint, and he discussed his condition vith the Director of Health in Port Moresby towards the end of 1949. The norfling he was due to depart on leave le collapsed, and he was seriously ill in Sydney. Finally, as he could not return o the tropics, he offered his resignation n November, but it was not accepted mtil some time later.
Sauni Kuresa, a Western Samoan, is in New [?]ealand at present, as a Samoan delegate to the [?]eventh Day Adventist Conference at Palmers [?]n North. He is a staunch churchman, but is letter known as a Samoan composer and band laster. He is held in high regard by both [?]uropeans and Samoans. Sauni’s sister, Momoi [?]uresa, is matron in charge of Samoan nurses [?] t Moto’otua Hospital, Apia—the only Samoan [?]ho thus far has attained this rank. —Superflash Studio.