that mother' will help

New Caledonia's Woes

Rench Writer Takes The Wraps

[?]FF FRANCE'S NEW PROBLEM CHILD . . .

. . . And the governor promises that mother' will help

m influential Paris newspaper has made a perceptive analysis of nch tardiness in solving the Cale ian nickel crisis and the subse nt deterioration in relations be en the territory and France, rench journalist J-C Guillebaud :ing in early September for Le tide (The World) presented a es of articles which Caledonians e hailed as the most accurate nch interpretation of current local blems.

Juillebaud wrote that New Cale ia, the only French overseas terri r with considerable wealth :kel), is the territory now giving >t problems to France. Admitting cyclic nature of nickel prosperity, writer noted the 1969 boom, d extravagant promises made by is, now followed by the brutality the current crisis with unemploy it, mines closing and bankruptcies. :n, whom do the Caledonians ne—the “colonialist” administra , the “zozo invaders” (metropoli- French immigrants) or Paris, ch continues to block the entry INCO to build the hoped-for md factory to develop the island? unid what some describe as the lure of the French policy” on the nd, Le Monde noted Caledonian umism and aggressive reactions ards Paris. The writer learned ; Caledonians prefer Americans French for the operation of a md factory, while Paris is deter ed to avoid American domination the island. is Paris dallies and fails to fulfil cel development promises made by Gaulle in 1966, Caledonian in sts no longer coincide with those France and anti-French feeling in ises. While promises of pros ity were once used to deflate the momist cause, the current decep i is a rallying point for the auto lists.

Meanwhile, the administration faces eased unpopularity among Mela ians and whites and in trying to md its position “now allows itself luxury of encouraging a process lisintegration—which serves metro itan interests”.

'he writer pointed out that what governor’s office most seems to

Prom a Noumea correspondent fear is co-operation between white autonomists and the Melanesians, a co-operation now achieved by ex tremists in the Union of Caledonian Youth (UJC). He also mentioned that while the Europeans are made to feel threatened by the blacks, the adminis tration is busy telling the Melanesians that they need the presence of France to protect them against exploitation by local whites.

However, it seems that Melanesians have not rallied to the French regime; official “smiles” during fre quent administrators’ visits to tribal areas fail to disguise “repressive” tactics employed at the slightest sign

of disrespect. The writer wonders at official insistence upon the efficiency of the “forces for the maintenance of law and order” and notes that such forces on the island have been in creased to 2,260 men, including 351 gendarmes, 131 police, 1,778 armed servicemen (for a population of 120,000).

Amid the general animosity over Paris policy on the island, the French writer sensed a certain “violence in the air—at least verbal”. And all the while, the Melanesians have not fallen into line to support the ad ministration, as they continue to vote autonomist.

From a Noumea correspondent

French Governor Louis Verger assured the Caledonians in October that France would support the terri tory through its current budget crisis.

The Governor, returning from a light ning trip to Paris, also repeated that the central government would assist the SLN nickel company in its grave plight (a loss of 3,000 million francs, over SA2S million, predicted for 1973). Government aid would help avoid further dismissal of workers and loss of nickel export tax for the territory.

Concerning the SOMMENI group nickel project for the north of the island, Patino company President, General R. Leveque, told the Cale donians in October he hoped work would begin on port installations by the end of 1973. Following the with drawal of French Pechiney-Ugine Kuhlmann and Swedish Granges from the project, the initial produc tion level is reduced to 16,000 tons with the first output hoped for early in 1976.

In the south, the French govern ment is intent on dividing the ore reserves between Canadian INCO and the Franco-American alliance of Aquitane Petrol (SNPA) and Free port Minerals. This division under lines the French determination to

stall off strong North American in terest in the island.

However, Governor Verger has insisted on France’s determination to guarantee the future of New Cale donia with investments amounting to millions of dollars. These assurances are destined to cut the ground from under the feet of the autonomists.

Paris is in fact repeating “Be patient and good. France will look after you. whatever your financial difficulties at the moment”. It is hard for Cale donians to shrug off such benevolent paternalism.

At the same time, the state-con trolled radio and TV network ol ORTF continues as a stronger defen der of the French administration. It was after extraordinarily lengthv publicity given on ORTF to a recent “split” in the Melanesian Union Multiraciale party that the leader of another autonomist party asked the administration whether all parties could now have their complete com muniques read over the ORTF net work or is this right only extended to certain parties?

The Caledonian autonomists thus face continuing obstacles with the lure of Paris subsidies and political propaganda in a tightly-controlled, isolated community.