LIFE IN NOUMEA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 December 1942, Page 6

LIFE IN NOUMEA

SOME RESTRICTIONS LIFTED ENTERTAINMENT OF TROOPS. CINEMAS AND DANCE HALL REOPENED. NOUMEA, November 12. The sum of 700,000 francs has been set aside for New Caledonia’s anti-air-craft defence organisation. At the same time, on the suggestion of the Mayor of Noumea, M. Massoubrs, the Governor has decided to amend the blackout restrictions, hitherto rigidly enforced, by allowing a percentage of street lamps to operate for a few hours during the evening; Vehicles will be obliged to carry suitable rear lights. Cinemas are again being allowed tlo open at night, and under certain conditions dances will be permitted, but must end by midnight. The result has been to brighten up the town somewhat, though not to a very great extent, for it has always been the custom of the majority of inhabitants to go to bed about 9 p.m., and in the bush areas at an even earlier hour. Citizens have recently been reminded of the arrangements made and what they are expected to do in case of an alert. After having been abandoned for a year or more the “semaine anglaise,” giving servants the right to a holiday on Saturday afternoon, has been reintroduced. , RESIDENTS RATIONED. .1 Large queues of residents are lining up every morning at the offices of the Economic Bureau waiting for tickets for petrol, boots and shoes; while meat and other foodstuffs are being put on a ration-card basis. Some weeks there is such a shortage of wine, beer and spirits that the town is practically dry, but generally supplies are adequate for the civilian population, if not excessive. So long as the supply of ordinary red table wine keeps up, the average French inhabitant is usually satisfied. Another drink he much appreciates as an aperitif is anise, the green drink which succeeded absinthe when absinthe was forbidden. It is now being manufactured locally, but the price has recently gone up 20 per cent owing to a rise in the tax on the alcohol that goes to its making. Rum bought in the stores varies greatly in price and quality, from the best Queensland brands to locally-pro-duced rum of dubious origin. In this, as for whisky and beer, a certain amount of bootlegging goes on to the profit of the local populace, but, nevertheless, Noumea remains a comparatively sober town, soberer for all the activity going on than it was before war broke out in the Pacific. Post Office Savings Bank deposits amounted to 36,000,000 francs at the end of October, compared with 24,000,000 a year ago. HOTELS AND CAFES. Save for licensed sandwich bars and restaurants catering for troops visiting Noumea from the bush, the sale of foodstuffs to soldiers is forbidden. This regulation was necessary because hotel and cafe keepers wove neglecting 1 the local population, including their old clients, in order to make extra profit out of the military. The troops are almost universally well behaved and popular, and for their part they appreciate the least hospitality extended to them and any opportunity of social contact with the civilian population. Many of them have become serious students of the French language, which presents so many difficulties in the early stages. _ A recent Franco-American tennis tournament proved enjoyable* In the semi-finals Meacher, tennis coach in an American university, beat Berge, a New Caledonian, and Meacher s fel-lovV-countryman, Chambers, who has played against many Davis Cun players including Brugnon. and the Australians, beat Lhuillier, another New Caleedonian. So there will be an all-American final.