U.K. May Leave New Hebrides To French

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31110, 13 July 1966, Page 17

U.K. May Leave New Hebrides To French

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) PARIS, July 12. Britain may be prepared to cut its colonial empire still further by giving up its share of the joint British-French rule of the New Hebrides.

General Pierre Bllotte, France’s Minister of Overseas Territories, flew to London yesterday. Informed sources said he planned to sound out the British on their intentions.

cut its colonial costs—already infinitesimal compared with the vast expenditures of 50 years ago—by pulling out of the New Hebrides. France apparently is quite willing for this to happen. French Influence The Tricolour and the Union Jack have flown jointly over the islands since 1906, but in recent years French influence, particularly in the commercial sphere, has become predominant and the islanders have tended to look more to Paris than to London. Spread over 5700 square miles of the Pacific northeast of New Caledonia and west of Fiji, the group comprises 11 main islands and 69 islets. Their estimated population is 61,000 and the major crops are copra, cotton, cocoa and coffee. 1

Reports said the British Government was anxious to