1 Franc

Madagascar was under French colonial administration, and the island's monetary supply during the First World War was severely disrupted by the near-impossibility of shipping currency from metropolitan France. These emergency fractional notes were authorized by local decree to substitute for small coins that had effectively vanished from circulation — hoarded by a population with no faith that supply would recover.

The "and Dependencies" designation encompassed the Comoro Islands, which shared the currency arrangement. Pick 20 belongs to a small issue that was always intended as a stopgap, and surviving examples show heavy use consistent with notes that circulated until they fell apart.