QUIET AT NOUMEA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24405, 17 September 1940, Page 8

QUIET AT NOUMEA

STRONG PRO-BRITISH FEFXING CONFUSION IN NICKEL INDUSTRY T(Peb United Press Association) •V'y -■ ■ AUCKLAND. Sept. 16. No indication of unrest likely to lead to open revolt against the French administration of Noumea were noticed by travellers in the American Clipper which arrived from Noumea to-day. They reported that the island seemed quiet, though the strongly pro-British opinions reported by former Clipper visitors to Noumea had in no way abated. . .. “I saw no sign of revolt at Noumea,” said Mr Julius M. Rapaport, of Pennsylvania. “ I was told that a very large majority of the people there are for General De Gaulle and are strongly, in sympathy with Britain.” Confusion in the nickel industry was also reported. Statistics and vital information has been prepared and entrusted to M. Paul Vois. who had visited Australia. He was returning to Noumea on a ship that was thought to have fallen a victim to an enemy raider and with him had disappeared the important documents he was carrying, together with much-needed information about the results of his mission. Stocks of nickel were now accumulating and those on the island did not know how to dispose of them or what action to take.