If they can't drink they can swim

From a Noumea correspondent

The prolonged drought, lasting two summers, continues to cause anxiety among New Caledonian graziers, who claim to have lost over 15,000 head of cattle, 15 per cent of the island’s total herd. Illegal slaughtering, to beat the government’s fixed meat prices, also diminishes the herd.

Energetic appeals have been made to local graziers’ associations to have France declare the drought a “national disaster” with the allocation of appropriate relief measures.

Among the areas most affected is

Bourail, the island’s second largest town, about 110 miles (177 km) north of Noumea. While Bourail residents are urgently clamouring for a proper town water supply, the French administration is planning to spend French funds to build a swim ming pool in this coastal centre. When Territorial Assembly protested *^ at Ihe money would be better spent ° n Providing adequate drinking water, the representatives of the French Ad ministration replied that it was im possible to re-allocate these funds from France.