Over Houses

Src Under Fire

In Noumea

Certain members of the South Pacific Commission staff and the SPC itself came under criticism during the session of New Caledonia’s Territorial

Assembly early in March.

THE occasion was the examination of a request from the SPC that the rents be revised of certain houses belonging to the Government and rented by members of the SPC staff.

Since 1952 the SPC has occupied 13 houses at Mt. Coffyn, Noumea’s choicest site, right in the heart of town. The houses were built especi ally for the use of SPC staff mem bers.

The rent was fixed at 20 per cent, of the salary of the occupant or occupants. This meant that the rent brought in by these houses increased in proportion to salary increases of the occupants. In 1964, the total rent amounted to $A 18,000.

The SPC was perturbed at the way its rents rose, and as it is usual to base the rent of a house on its size and comfort, rather than the salary of its occupant, the SPC sought to have another method adopted for fixing the rents.

It proposed to fix the total amount to be paid yearly on the average of the sum paid over the last three years.

This would be 1,800,000 Pacific francs or $A 18,000. The fixed rent would then be divided by the amount of land occupied by each individual house, giving a figure of about 55 francs (Assc) per square metre.

Leases of six or nine years were suggested, with a periodic revision of the rents.

"Grounds Too Big"

Something of an explosion occurred among members of the Assembly when the matter came up for debate, and the Commission narrowly missed having its rents substantially in creased.

One Assembly member declared that the grounds attached to the houses were too big, were badly kept and were invaded by false pepper trees and Leucaena glauca which hardly beautified the town.

“If we accord moderate rents to the Commission, the least the Com

mission can do is to keep the grounds in good order,” he said.

Senator Lafleur said: “I think the members of the SPC are paying cheap rents and that some means of calcu lating the rents to bring them in line with general rents in town should be found.”

Another member brought the dis cussion on to an almost international plane when he suggested that the Anglo-Saxons were renowned for having beautiful and well-kept gardens and lawns. So it was normal that the South Pacific Commisison should make an effort and keep the house gardens in order especially as a “Clean up Noumea” campaign was under way at present.

When the SPC proposal was put to the vote, it only just scraped through, with some modifications.

The average monthly rent of the houses will now be 11,000 francs (SA110). • A woman parachutist and a pilot were carried to their deaths in Rabaul, NG, in March when the pro peller of their plane fouled the parachute lines, sending the aircraft spinning out of control with the woman dangling helplessly behind.

The dead woman, making her first jump, was Miss Doreen Woodage, 25.

The pilot was Ross Smith. A second man in the plane, parachute instructor George Tyres, escaped.

MF135 with MF560 Toolbar

MF175 with MF65 Disc Plough

MF165 with MF35 Loader