NEW HEBRIDES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXI, Issue 9850, 31 October 1924, Page 5

NEW HEBRIDES

CONDOMINIUM TROUBLE, GOVERNMENT URGED TO COMMUNICATE WITH IMPERIAL ' AUTHORITIES. WELLINGTON, Oct. 30. Mr j 'Me Dickson, chairman of + i ie * Public ’ Petitions Committee, brought clown the report .ot an Auckland petition concerning the Government of the New Hebndcs. s?| lP committee recommended that the petition he referred to the GovernA ment for favorable consideration and od that the. Government should communicate with the Imperial GovC ' n Mr C Wassev said France would nev-',rh-e up its territory. He agreed that the condominium was wording unsatisfactorily, and said he could pot understand how Britain had •icrrced to it, Perhaps rt was the counsel of despair to advocate partition, Imt it was the lesser of two evils, • nui he could see no other way ait. ‘if it had not been for strenuous ad-voc-icv on the part of the -New- Zealand ‘and Australian representatives ilie v C islands would have been handset mStelo the French Government holes Ik-wSs That would liavo meant disaster. Tiie position of the New Hebrides was going from bad to worse nfier all the work of the missionaries during the past fifty veais. Y, ; v Isitt: Is there any chance ot the League of Nations doing anyljJj,,or tolimeliorate the conditions? ‘Mr Massey: If this had been a mandatory territory it would have I,cen different. Mr Wilford: There is no dispute between the two countries. ATr Massey: No. The Premier added that the matter Inched small from Europe but it was not- small as far as the natives were concerned. Britain had no more right to compel France to give up-terri-tory than France had to compel Britain to do so. It would be a good tiling, and it was his only suggestion, that from the next Imperial conference. the Australian and New Zealand representatives _ should personally visit Paris and interview the French Government, in which some impression might he made. There would have to be compensation, but that could be arranged, either in cash or in territory. It ought to be done in the interests of humanity and the interests of the natives. The attitude of people who ought to know better was _most discouraging at the last conference. Nr Wilford said there were hundreds of islands'in the South Pacific just as valuable as the New Hebrides. and it should be possible to make an exchange with France. Mr Holland opposed Mr Wilford's suggestion as one which would abolish one difficulty by creating another. The people o f tiie New Hebrides were being shamefully treated, and every credit was clue to the people of the Presbyterian Church for calling attention to flic matter. There was involved the eternal question that arose when white people irrespective of nationality set out to exploit islands occupied by primitive peoples. The demoralisation of the New Hebrides was net one whit worse than the degradation of Indians in Fiji, and a section of the French people was no worse than a section of the British, lice only real solution would he when wo were sufficiently developed to he able to form a real League of Nations that would be in a position to take charge of backward islands and conserve the interests of native people. Air Wil ford asked should dual control not be abolished without blaming either French or British. The report was then tabled.—B.A. - r *~- 7 GIRL DISAPPEARS $-V r ' STRANGE INCIDENT AT AUCKLAND COURT. PRISONER. C ALLS OUT -''GOODBYE ETHEL.” AUCKLAND, Get. 30. " lie disappearance of a gul. Ethel May Lane. 151-, from the Supremo Court building on Wednesday morning causing great concern to relatives. Ihe girl _ was to have been, an imwitness in a criminal trial from Waihi, but she did not have to give evidence, as the accused pleaded gubtv. He wars sentenced to twelve months’ iclormative treatment, and on lea’, ing the doT:. is stated to have culled out to the girl “Good-bve Efbv-i.” She was considerably affected and became somewhat hysterical after leaying the Courtroom. fhe girl was seen by her brother *■'* go into the ladies’ waiting room. Smr-e then all trace of her has been . lost.—B.A.