NEW HEBRIDES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 440, 24 February 1909, Page 9

NEW HEBRIDES.

A:VETERAN MISSIONARY,

INCREASE OF TRADE.

The Rev. Dr. J. W. Mackenzio, ono of the oldest'.missionaries of the New .Hebrides, '.is, staying at . /present :in Wellington'. Dr. Mackenzie went to the New Hebrides thirty-, seven' years;? ago from, tho Nova' Scotia Presbyteriaii (Jhurch,' which'has had .the, honour, in. his own simple phrase, of giving two martyrs' to the .mission history of the. group. They wcro the brothers Gordon, of whom the relder,;.;with" his'-'wife',. w»s;'murdered, ;by tho natives before Dr. Mackenzie .went'to the' islands.' '• His .younger- brother, / the; _ Rev. James to go out in; his place, and: when Dr. Mackenzie mado nis first acquaintance: .with' the ho\ expected': to bo welcomed by .this missionary. Instead, the;, first . words . which he heard on reaching land, were that' tho Rev. James Gordon, after eight years', labours in the islands, had been .murdered; four .weeks previously.' The 'island where he was done to death is ' ri6w,; a ; ; ' Christian:' island. Dr. Mackenzie settled in Efati,. now the principal island , of the group,; and the headquarters of, the Government.. The islands are under ; dual control,,'a British and " also, a: French' Resident 1 being quartOTed :at.-.Vila,' where; Dr. Mackenzie has: his' station:Efati'.has been\ a••:Christian, island for . years . past.- -' Recently' .tho; cable news; announced a horrible; crime which was there, perpetrated, Mr. Greigj a planter from New South v Wales,,: aM'.his.' two: daughters, heiijg murdered', but Dr.'Mackerizie points out" that it .is:. no inbre:: reasonable, to. condemn' the New,:_ Hebrides .nativcs,.;as -a whole, for an atrocity of ' this' .kind, , ,than : ' it' would . bo ...to: ;dondemri . .the ,:people' of,-New - Zealand: for -a . 'crime which. might be.committed in a country town., The. Greig murders were perpetrated i by an inland tribe, in an outburst of anciont; savagery. /;;. On tho .'same';', island; .there .are" hundreds of natives connected, with tho Church..v.Over,.a' dozen. islands.in the group .(ire now. ; ; Christian,' andthe 'Presbyterian: •mission is working in all the.. islands except four in. : the' north, which. cbme withinrthe' area of tho.Melanesian mission.. :: ■ -

v'j.The' ol tho.missionaries,are milch; increased by ' tho circumstancQ- that everyisland ;has_: a'Vdifferent 'language.' ' 'Portions "of;;tho.'.'Soriptureß.' have/been' translated..'into, about' vpn fourvsihall islands the. natives; a ' language which'is . closely akin tb.Maori.V- Yeoirs ago, some of the young, men from Vila wero'taken to New Zealand to_ learn flax-working. Somo of t-hem are still alive, and thoytold Dr. : Mackenzie :that : after. they had been in Zealand, a yery short' time they :.-cbuld 'converse .with the Maoris;! ,The.'.trade ;of;'. jie. : islands ''is/incre'aßihgi : ;; : - A; very largo trade is done in . copra, ana tho prospects' would "-' be much ' more . encouraging if the settlers were not handicapped by the high; duty, imposed, ,by' tho Federal;' Government. Largo quantities of'.maize ' and; coffee: Many of-the :,Frehch'planters have, dono;splendidly, bccause .they.'have' been:/assisted ; by. their . Government. ~ Tlioy get their coffee to the market almost' free,, while the British: havo to pay a very high : tax,' ; Anyone-going 'to ' the islands to plant requires _a good deal of capital, but,., Dr. Mackenzio • states that ; if;' he., were going''to the group again as a young, man, ; ,: -he'would Slant cocoa-nut palms. The prico •of copra as kept up so well .f.or' many years :that a : cccoanut : plantation,, is. a ; ;,very. good invest-' ir.cnt. There is less risk than enters into the.' :.maize;.=.coffeo, arid- other' products, and. comparatively little, attention is; requirsd. - : ; .'takes the.'cocoa-nut :.tfees five or. six years to-bear, .and during that time maize or other crops may bo grown to cover current expenses. The. weeds havo to bo • kept; down till the cocoanut trees. hear, and after. that there is very little, trouble. The process; of drying the copra, also, is .'a very simple orici Several .settlers' are cultivating tho cocoa plant, but 'coffee is much •more; widely 'favoured.;.-A beginning ;is being made with ,the,;grbwth''bf:;riibber,;:which,.. how-; everj - has,' not to permit of. any i«turris. , , The dualLsystem,'of , government- is-, still ,oh its. trialj■; but; so;-' fari.; according"., to . ; pr..;Mac-. kerizie, it has. been working fairly well.';v' It : isV certairily..-better;^';he states, •.thaivnb'.-govi; eminent: It has. greatly reduced the .sale, of liquor to kanakas, and this is no small mercy;. A great-many people supposed. that when the repatriated kanakas from Queensland returned to the islands,'there would'bo. violence arid trouble,' but. so.fari;Dr. Maclren-, zie ' sta'tes;' they, havo been' quiotly absorbed into tho- native population.