Softens Up
pp. 13-14 · Read in the full issue
... And France
The Kings
From a Noumea correspondent A delegation from the Wallis and Futuna Islands returned home early in July after holding talks with French government officials over the main economic problems facing this distant overseas territory of France.
The nine-man Wallisian mission in cluded hereditary chiefs and mem bers of the local-elected Territorial Assembly.
Their Paris discussions centred on improving sea and air transport facili ties bringing provisions to the islands which, having only a subsistence-level of agriculture, depend heavily on im ports, In view of the territory’s limited resources, the local cash flow is maintained chiefly by re mittances from Wallisians working in New Caledonia and subsidies from France.
The mission expressed general satis faction after the Paris talks with latest French government hand-outs promising to cover a variety of needs.
These, reportedly, included the pro vision of vehicles for the hereditary King of Wallis and the two Kings of Futuna as well as about $A 18,000
towards the renovation of the Wallisian King’s palace. Other grants were promised for water and elec tricity installations on Wallis as well as a fuel depot, which would avoid the expense of shipping petrol in drums from Noumea.
While there are only about 5,000 islanders left on Wallis, about 11,000 Wallisians live in New Caledonia.
For this reason, the Paris govern ment has promised about $A 150,000 for a Wallisian centre in Noumea.
Depending as they do on the gene rosity of France, the Wallisians have always been relied upon to vote anti autonomist. The French administra tion counts on the large Wallisian community voting in Noumea to continue this tradition. At the same time, the recent Paris subsidies pro vided a happy conclusion to the in cidents in Wallis last November, when island protests forced the re moval of the chief French adminis trator, Mr Jacques de Agostini. • The New Hebrides tourist in dustry will get a boost in 1976 with the new cruise liner, the Pacific Princess, scheduled to make four visits. P and O recently bought the liner from a Dutch company. Twenty one visits by overseas liners are so far scheduled for 1976, and more are likely.