Had Its
p. 83 · Read in the full issue
And New Caledonia
Guillotine
NEW CALEDONIA’S guillotine, which is said to have been the same one that was used in Paris on January 21, 1793, to behead King Louis XVI, was in use in the Pacific in quite recent times.
According to PIM of June, 1934, it was shipped from New Caledonia to Vila, New Hebrides, about 1930 for the execution of several Asian labourers who had been found guilty of “violent crimes against the French population”. It was then returned to New Caledonia, The above photograph, which was taken on its return, shows the guillotine standing behind the prison buildings on notorious He Nou, just outside Noumea, all ready for business.
PIM has no information on when the guillotine was last used, or if it is still in existence. If it is, and if the prison authorities don’t still use it, it would make an interesting, if rather grisly, tourist attraction.