THE NEW HEBRIDES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1947, 2 January 1914, Page 4

THE NEW HEBRIDES.

So much evidence'has already been adduced.by British missionaries and others regarding tha unsatisfactory state of affairs in tho New Hebrides that there seemssto be, an evident ncces,sity for some amendment of the arrangement, in terms of which the islands arc administered, "under the joint control of. Great- Britain and prance. , The ~Bev. J..GnuK, a 1 resbytcrian missionary, whoso remarks on the subject (made when he returned to, Sydney from the Now Hebrides a few days ago) were, published. in The Dominion-yesterday, confirms previous statements as to the .wrongs, that" arc being inflicted on the natives, aiid the inequitable conditions under which British' sottiers in tha islands are labouring. Like other witnesses, Mk. GiWn alleges that the law which prohibits the sale of liquor and firearms to the natives is not enforced by tho French' authority against the French settlers, 1 but is rigorously enforced by the British authority against the British settlers. Ho confirms,-also, the accusation that the. Frcneh have prac- : tically enslaved a section o! the native population, and that in a number of instances natives have bees subjected to barbarous ill-usage. Judging from comments that have appeared of late in some of the principal Australian newspapers, the faets regarding tho conditions that obtain in the New Hebrides avc scarcely in dispute. It sccmp to be a ease of utterly opposed ideals and methods of colonisation mooting on a common ground, which can only be otto of conflict. ' Under the AngloFrench Convention of 1900, conditions were laid down which guaranteed tho'interests of French, British, and natives respectively, and fixed the conditions of land-holding in the islands. The .Convention, or Condominium, also provi'des for the regulation of the recruitment of native labourers, and prohibits the distillation or importation of spirits. A Joint- Court- exists to deal with breaches of tho Condominium regulations, but British settlers and missionaries complain that Frcneh -settlers convicted by the Court either go free altogether, or suffer only a nominal , punishment, while British settlers in the samo circumstances, suffer the fines or imprisonment imposed by'tho-Court. Apart from the moral question involved in the treatment ox the natives, which must be regarded, as of the first importance, the British settlers have an unquestionable fight to bo considered, and to be relieved from the injustices incidental to- the • makeshift' arrangement concluded by the two Governments concerned in 1008. In view of all the circumstances, most, people in Australasia will agree • with Mn. Gillan that tho only satisfactory: solution of the New Hebrides problem would be the placing' of the ; Group under British or Australian control, France being compensated with equivalent territory in some other part of the world. ■ Support- ; in;? this' proposal, Mb. Gtr,i,As has pointed out that. Captain Cook was < practically the,discoverer of the New Hebrides, British missionaries Jiad J evangelised them, and British capital and energy had developed and made them habitable. To-day, he added, the- French settlers outnumbered the British, but twenty years ago the French in the New Hebrides were, only a handful. Hitherto the Foreign Office has been deaf to representations emanating from Aus- 1 tralia on the subject of the- ' New i Hebrides, but the Commonwealth ] Government; does. not seem disposed to let the matter drop. It was reported recently that .-Mr. Giynk (Commonwealth Minister for External Affairs) might visit England dur r ing th-.e Parliamentary rcccßs, in order to place the views of his Government regarding the state of affairs in the Group before tho Imperial authorities., If Mr. Glynn adheres to his intention, the prospects of arriving at -some satisfactory settlement of a very vexed question will be materially 1 improved.