NEW HEBRIDES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1924, 5 December 1913, Page 4

NEW HEBRIDES.

NOT TO iIK CFDfiD TO FRANCE COLOXIAI. SIXTH';.!AMY'S DISPATCH. During the debate on the .Supply Bill in the Commonwealth lions;', of KcpscKculatives last week, Air, Glvnn, Minister of External Affairs, attired members that the Governments concorned \\eiv. fully seized .>f the neecnsitios of the New Hebrides. The rrnuK, of tho recent deputation which waited mi him had been sent to the Imperial Government. V'ilit, tho seat ol gyverMment of tho New Hebrides, was about 1100 miles from Sydney, and 1300 from Auckland. The population of tiia 40 islands in the group was tii.oUO, of whom 60-1 were Europeans. Of tiiese bob' were. French and 288 British. This.fact threw serine light on the question of recruiting, which was moie heard of on the part of the French than on the part of the British. In ISIU tho British recruited natives, and the French 1179, the figures being not far from the proportion of tho respective populations, in ISJOB there was a marked difference in the numbcj' of natives recruited by the British ' and French, the lormer having recruited u!J4 and the latter 2202. As tin; question of the future of tito New Hebrides might shortly be raised, it might bo mentioned that Fiji, and the Solomon Islands were the nearest British possession to tho New Hebrides, each being oQU miles away. Australia had u direct strategical interest in the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, the nearest French possession, was 1058 miles from Sydney. It Imd no harbours worth talking about., but there were three splendid harbours in the New Hebrides. Now Caledonia had an area of 70(10 gipmm Wiles, and the area of tho New Hebrides was SSOU square miles. ■ Tho populatiou of New Caledonia was about 50,000, of whom 28,000 were kanakas. And the number of Japanese in the mines'was about 3500. On August 20 the Governor-General received a dispatch from tho Imperial Government, which was not cojiiidciitmi. It referred to a petition alleged to have, been scut. by a British resident in 'the New Hebrides to the French Resident Commissioner, advocating that tho Islands should be ceded to France, in this dispatch Mr. Harcourt, Secretary of State for the Colonics, said: "1 will be glad if you will assure your Ministers that His Majesty's Government is not considering any proposal for* allowing the New Hebrides to become a French possession."

The Commonwealth Government had endeavoured, in its communications with tho Imperial authorities, to interpret tho Australian sentiment regardin;.; tho Now Hebrides, and he'was fciirc that Australia-would be consulted before'tho Imperial Government did -anything tc dispose of the islands.