NEW HEBRIDES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18549, 26 November 1925, Page 9

NEW HEBRIDES.

ASIATIC IMMIGRANTS. PROBLEM OF MIXED LAWS. (raOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) SYDNEY, November 18. A problem that is continually vexing Australian missionaries, especially those of the Presbyterian Church, is the question of the control of the NewHebrides. The matter of bringing tho islands under the entire control of Britain is the subject of ever-recurring agitation by the Presbyterians, as they urge that the Condominium at present existing between • Britain and France is disastrous from the point of view of the natives. The system oT administering the laws is, according to Presbyterian missionaries, cumbersome ancl ridiculous, as there is a law for the French, one ■ for the British, and one for the natives. On© of the most distinguished of Presbyterian missionaries, the Rev. Frederick Paton, recently returned to Melbourne and he issued a grave warning to Australia regarding the future of these islands. "I regard this question as on© of the most seriods problems Australia has ever faced," said Mr Paton, <'and I cannot understand the indifference of tho Australian public towards the matter, which is rapidly -developing into a serious menace. Under the Condominium, equal rights are assigned to France and Britain, but in practice the French dominate the islands, and it is because the interests of Britain and France are v so divergent that the position is so serious. The three outstanding considerations are the strategic importance of the islands, the trade possibilities, and the welfare of the natives. Asiatics are being imported into, the islands by the thousands, ;uid as in Fiji, there is the prospect of the .New Hebrides becoming entirely Asiatic.

Menace to Australia. "France is indifferent to this, but Australia should realise the danger of having a large Asiatic population at her very doors, or she will be faced) with tho same difficulty as confronts America in Hawaii, where 50 per cent, of the population are Japanese. The New Hebrides contain the finest hurricane-proof harbours in the Western Pacific, which would be ideal bases for submarines and aircraft. The French recognise no colour bar, and their ambitions to extend the French empire in the Pacific are fostered by the Napoleonic spirit which still animates Fraiice. This predominance in the Pacific is supported and fostered! by her increasing trade. French lines of steamers are competing with Pacific and Australian lines, and are heavily subsidised by the Government. French trade is favoured by the peculiar geographical circumstances, since French ships are able to make the round voyage from France via tho Pacific and Panama, thus handling two or three different cargoes and making separate profits on each." After referring to the future possibilities of the islands, 'Mr Paton said that as, far as the welfare of the natives was concerned, France was not "placing the game," but was exploiting the system of indentured labour on a wholesale scale. While the British laws regarding the recruiting of labour and the general treatment of natives were rigidly enforced, the French law was administered with notorious leniency. The consequence was that French settlers prospered, while British and Australian failed, and the value of the islands to Australia as a trading centre was negligible. "France is perfectly justified in attempting to establish her hegemony in tho Pacific," Mr Paton concluded, "but those who are familiar with the facts and figures and have followed the position through all its stages are alive to the dangers and are convinced that t.he time has como when Australia should make a determined effort to assert British control in tie New Hebrides."