No Change In Rents Of

Sr Commission Houses

From Our Noumea Correspondent SOUTH Pacific Commission affairs were discussed in the Conseil- General of New Caledonia when [ the Government asked for a reduc- I tion in rents of houses occupied by SPC personnel. ■ The request was refused.

These houses, built by the Noumea [ Town Council a few years ago, are, [ by Noumea standards, small palaces.

Rents were fixed at 20 pc of [ salaries, and the Administration r wants them reduced to 15 pc.

It was indicated that the reduc tion was proposed because some of ’ the SPC people would like the Commission’s headquarters to be trans ferred from Noumea to Sydney—an implied threat at which some members of the Conseil-General

i protested.

A member said that the threat of ! transfer had already been used by [the French delegate to the SPC (M. sLasalle Sere) when applying for an SPC loan from FIDES (the Paris Government organisation for the development of the French Empire). [ The member added that he hoped [more serious reasons had prompted ithe SPC to establish its head quarters at Noumea. (At one time a considerable body of opinion held that the Commission ; should have been based at Suva).