Deaths Of Islands People

[?]ormer Governor of New Caledonia [?]ies In Noumea

M. Henri Camille Sautot, a former overnor of New Caledonia and a >rm e r French Resident Com issioner in the New Hebrides, died a clinic in Noumea on March 25 ter a short illness. He was 78.

I. SAUTOT, who was affection ately known as “Papa”, will go wn in history as the man who pt the French flag flying in the cific after the fall of France in 40.

M. Sautot was born in 1885 at lurbonne les Bains, in the Haut arne, France. After schooling in mcy, he entered the Colonial vice in 1922, and in 1929 he acted Governor of the islands of St. irre and Miquelon.

Later, he was French Resident immissioner in the New Hebrides. 1935, he acted temporarily as tvernor of Tahiti; and he then re ned to his post in the New brides. He was there when France I in mid-1940.

Dn July 20, 1940, M. Sautot lied Frenchmen in the New brides to the Free French flag— :y were the first Frenchmen to so—and on September 13 of that ir, General de Gaulle named him •vernor of New Caledonia, with the >sion of rallying Frenchmen in that ritory to the Free French move nt.

Bscorted by the Australian Naval iser Adelaide, M. Sautot sailed Noumea in a tanker. He was night to Noumea wharf in a pilot it and met by a large crowd, in ding members of the local “de ulle committee”. \t the head of this crowd, M. itot walked to Government House, rched into the office of the Vichy vernor, Colonel Denis, and almost rally threw him out of the office, his, in fact, scuttled out the back )r of Government House and was ir interned and shipped off to 10-China with other “Petainists”. \s Governor, M. Sautot dealt irgetically and competently with chaos then reigning in New ledonia. He organised the forma ts of a Pacific Battalion, composed

of New Caledonian and Tahitian volunteers, which left New Caledonia on May 5, 1941 (Sautot’s birthday) and won fame at Bir Hackeim in the Libyan campaign, and later fought in France and Germany.

In March, 1942, M. Sautot wel comed the US General Patch to New Caledonia and co-operated actively in the organisation of the defence of New Caledonia by American forces.

Meanwhile, Rear-Admiral Thierry d’Argenlieu, whom de Gaulle had appointed French High Commissioner in the Pacific, had arrived in New Caledonia. Friction developed be tween him and M. Sautot and finally, on May 5, 1942, d’Argenlieu’s men seized M. Sautot and deported him to Auckland.

General de Gaulle later sent M.

Sautot as Governor to the Free French colony of Oubanghi Chari, now the Central African Republic, He held this post until his retirement in 1946, and then returned to New Caledonia with his wife, a New Caledonian girl who had gone to Oubanghi Chari to marry him. He retired with the rank of honorary Governor-General.

In Noumea, he entered municipal politics and served for five years as Mayor of Noumea. He brought the same energy to municipal affairs as he had shown in higher administra tion.

Messages from all over the world arrived in Noumea the day following Mr. Sautot’s death.

Mr. James Louis Daly Mr. James (Jim) Louis Daly, one of the most respected men in New Caledonia, died at his home in Noumea on March 23. Mr. Daly, who was in his sixties, had led a life of labour —first on his family proper ties and later when he entered the commercial world. At his death, he was one of the heads of the big import-export house of Barrau.

Mr. Daly was a member of an Irish family which arrived in New Caledonia nearly 100 years ago.

He saw service in the First World War and was a prominent member of the Returned Soldiers Association.

He served in the first elected As sembly known as the Conseil General and he was a member of the historic Assembly which passed the motion in 1940 after the Petain armistice “that New Caledonia refused to recognise such armistice and decided

Lady McNicoll

Lady Hildur Marschalck McNicoll, widow of Brigadier-General Sir Walter McNicoll. Administrator of New Guinea from 1934 to 1942, died at her home at Rose Bay, Sydney, on March 16. Her maiden name was Wedel-Jarlsberg, and she was a daughter of Baron Oscar Wedel- Jarlsberg, who came to Australia from Norway in the 1860’s.

In the first World War Lady McNicoll was president of the 10th Brigade comforts fund. She later maintained a close association with returned soldier organisations.

Lady McNicoll was an active mem ber of the New Guinea Women’s Club, the Country Women’s Associa tion, the Girl Guides, and many Syd ney musical organisations.

She is survived by four sons— Major-General R. R. McNicoll, Master-General of the Ordnance; Rear-Admiral A. W. R. McNicoll, Flag Officer Commanding the Aus tralian Fleet; Mr. F. R. McNicoll, a Melbourne engineer, and Mr. David McNicoll, Editor-in-Chief of Austra lian Consolidated Press.

M. Sautot to continue the fight at the side of Great Britain”, After the war, Mr. Daly took little further interest in politics, devoting himself to business and returned soldiers’ activities.

He left a widow and one daughter, Madame Albert Lefevre, whose husband died in January ( PIM , March, p. 109). Mr. Daly’s funeral was the biggest ever seen in Noumea.

More and more people are looking to the Pacific as a place to spend their holidays, and with the winter coming on, the best time of the year to go there will soon be with us. So this month, we’ve devoted the whole of our Travel Talk to

Pacific topics.

GROUP air travel by all inter national airlines serving the Pacific was introduced on April 1 for economy class travel on scheduled flights. Under the scheme, groups of 15 or more may travel together from Australia to Hawaii or the United States west coast and back at individual fares as low as £268/-/- to Hawaii and £332/10/- to the US west coast.

This is a saving of £ll5/1/- be tween Australia and Hawaii and £142/10/- between Australia and places such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. The new fares are comparable with charter flight rates, and eliminate the need for groups to charter and fill an aircraft.

The adoption of the Group Fares Scheme by Qantas, PAA and CPAL completes a round-the-world circle of this type of economy travel.

Almost any group is eligible for the new rates under these conditions: • Members must have joined the group at least six months before travel; • The group must be a recognised organisation; and • It must not have been formed purely to obtain the cheaper travel rates.

The new fares may be used in con junction with the 90 dollars for 90 days PAA-Greyhound plan, and the “6 ’n 6” plan recently introduced by Sheraton Hotels. The Greyhound plan gives unlimited bus travel within the US for a three-month period for £A4O/3/7. The Sheraton “6 ’n 6” plan makes available comfortable accommodation and first-class meals for an all-inclusive £AS/7/2 a day.

Latest on Norfolk Island Visitors to beautiful Norfolk Island

have the choice of a good range of accommodation at reasonable rates at the hotel, guest houses and flats.

The island’s Tourist Bureau handles all inquiries and bookings free of charge. Here is the latest list of accommodation available: Central Guest House, accommoda tion for 8; tariff, £A2/5/- or £NZI/16/- a day (full board).

Glen Lyon private hotel; accommo dation for 20; £A2/10/- or £NZ2 a day (full board).

Paradise Hotel; accommodation for 56; £AI7 or £NZI3/13/- a week (full board).

Redleaf Guest House, accommoda tion for 10, £2/5/- or £NZI/16/- (full board).

Sandlyn Lodge, accommodati for 14 in main house and five additional cottage; £2/5/- £NZI/16/- (full board).

Hillsdene and Kozee holiday fla choice of bed-sitting room or thi bedroom, each self-contained, eh linen, crockery, etc., providi Laundry of household linen includ in rent; £A6 a week for two, 1( a week each for more.

Torrie Glen flats; all fully funis! and self-contained; £AI3/10/-aw( each.

Wellington Flat, suitable for c person only; fully self-contain £A2/10/- a week.

Bishop’s Cottage, accommodati for four; fully self-c onta i n e £A6/10/- a week.

Try Fiji's Coral Gardens

Fiji has coral gardens equal those of the Barrier Reef and riv those of the famous Bora Bora co gardens according to televisi cameramen and skin-diving < thusiasts who visited the Colony cently. The 12 members of the pai all from Australia, returned ho vowing to sing the praises of coral gardens.

The initial tour was so success that more are planned for later t year—in May, August, Septemb October and November. The V and August tours may be filled Americans. A tourist promoter Oakland, California, has indica that he could fill the May tour wi out trouble.

The "Pacific Islands Monthly" is a member of the Australian National Travel Association (ANTA) and the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA), which are pledged to promote tourist travel in their areas.

Rabaul Hotels:

Visitors to Rabaul have the choice of two hotels, both of which have accom modation for 40 people. The Hotel Ascot (above) on Mango Avenue, has a number of air conditioned bed rooms. Tariff is up to £4/10/- in the air conditioned rooms.

The owner is Mr.

Arthur Brown. The Cosmopolitan Hotel (below), known as the "Cosmo", has a waterfront view. It was built about 1946.

The overall cost of the tour from dney is about £AIS6, made up £.76/5/- air fare, and £B2 for the i-day tour in Fiji. The tour groups ivel on their reef exploring ex ditions in Captain Stan Brown’s aroro. There is no set itinerary— -3 tourists arrange that for them- Ives. If they like a particular spot ;y may decide to stay there; if they n’t like it, Captain Brown will )ve elsewhere.

The recent inaugural tour took in i Mamanuca and Yasawa Groups iur days) and the Great Astrolabe goon, Kadavu (also four days). On ) of that there is a day at Suva • shopping and sightseeing, and a p at Korolevu on the way back to idi to see the Saturday night mekes.

Fwo champion Australian spear lermen in the first party, Ron ylor, 28, and Ben Cropp, 27, were little disappointed because they jld find nothing bigger than 9 ft the shark family.

Inquiries about future tours should i made from PAA (Sydney), Cap ra S. B. Brown (Suva) or the Fiji sitors’ Bureau (Suva). ormation on the w Hebrides LTHOUGH the New Hebrides - has many charms for tourists, v people ever consider going there a holiday, mainly, no doubt, be ise information on where to stay, at to do and what to see is difficult obtain.

But this situation will soon be altered as the Vila Cultural Centre intends to publish an illustrated brochure this year giving all the in formation the prospective tourist is likely to require.

The brochure is being printed in France in both English and French, and when it is ready copies will be available from the secretary of the Cultural Centre. It is also hoped to have a tourist office at the Centre eventually to dispense information to tourists.

The Cultural Centre, incidentally, is already one of the most interesting places in Vila for a tourist to visit.

It is a single-storey building on the waterfront, erected with funds pro vided jointly by the British and French Governments to mark the jubilee of the Condominium in 1956.

The foundation stone was laid by the British and French High Com missioners in the Pacific when they visited Vila in October, 1956, and

the building was finished in October, 1956.

Since then, the Centre has built up a library of between 3,000 and 4,000 books in both English and French, and many French and English magazines are on file.

The Condominium Government now makes an annual grant for the operation of the Centre and some books and magazines are purchased.

An effort is being made to build up the New Hebrides section of the library.

The library is free and is in the charge of a permanent librarian. It is open on week days between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. On Saturdays, the opening hours are 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The nucleus of a museum has also been established at the Centre, and it is hoped to build up a big col lection of native artifacts, stuffed birds of the Group, geological speci mens, etc.

Art displays by local and overseas artists are held at the Centre from time to time.

The Centre is run by a board of management composed of private members and Government officials who are responsible to the French and British Resident Commissioners for its operation. The president of the board is Mr. G. des Granges, and the secretary Mr. K. Woodward.

Suva Tour Hunts Travel Service of Fiji has inaugurated a daily scheduled tour of Suva and environs with a 14-seat limousine which will pick up passengers at city hotels at 9 a.m. each day. A driver-guide will provide a commentary on places of interest over a public address system. The tour, which lasts three and a half hours, takes in all the main beauty spots and places of interest.

Vila, with Iririki Island in the harbour, background.

Captain Stan Brown's "Maroro" makes an attractive picture as she passes Bulia Island on the way to the coral gardens in the lee of the Great Astrolabe Reef.