Pouvanaa a Oopa Re

elected in Fr. Oceania

THE lively interest taken in September in the election of a member of the French Cham ber of Deputies to represent French Oceania served to direct public attention, more than ever, to M.

Pouvanaa a Oopa, the picturesque gentleman who was elected in October, 1949, and who again appeared at the head of the poll.

The candidates included Pouvanaa a Oopa, M. Emile Edouard Vernau don, M. Francis A. Sanford, M. H.

Hoppenstedt, and M. Alexis Bern fast. All are respected and esteemed.

M. Bernfast has been associated with Wallis Island, and is well known in the Eastern Pacific. M.

Sanford is a young man, with a clear-cut and ambitious programme.

M. Hoppenstedt is a well-known lawyer. M. Vemaudon has a good record, and would have been a capable Deputy.

Pouvanaa a Oopa is the son of a Dane, and his mother was a native of Huahine. He served in World War I, and his son in World War 11, and he professes a great love of France, and of French culture. He cannot speak any language except Tahitian, which handicaps him in the National Assembly. He is a man of strong personality, and noted for rather forthright views.

He is opposed, for example, to the practice of making the French National Day (July 14) a Tahitian holiday. It is reported that he has been recently in holts with some very high French officials.

Mr. and Mrs. W. Kearsley re turned to Suva, Fiji, by the October Matua from a holiday visit to the United Kingdom.