THE NEW HEBRIDES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 105, 27 January 1908, Page 9

THE NEW HEBRIDES.

VISIT OF 'CAPTAijT BASON.

A GREAT OPENING: FOR CAPITAL,

iW-A'Mulent' British',;,Commissioner in thV New j&«l>ridcs Group, CAptain; Brnoat tlAson R.N., who has completed a term of five years and five months'in tho islands, has reecntly : arrived at ■ Sydney" on' his way to Europe on a . holiday trip which .will extend o.v.er ;I'2 'months, Speaking to a "Herald" .representative,' ho said that ho entertained gitrai hopes for tho nitiiro of tho group, for under tho now convention prosperity. was assured. ,Th'o coromony' of dual protectorate, Whioh toolt plaoe oli- fcho 2nd' qlt, ho says, of .it very improssivo character.A small , tho island 6f : Vila, "was cleared,, Jor' purpose,'■arid. I promptly nt 9.30.,- a.m.' .jbho • proclamation' was rend ;jn the presence of tho cntiro vvhito: population, consisting of about 240 Frenchmen and approximately 60 British subjects! J h «'«iwe;re two trarships in tho harbour— H.M.S. Chfiiionger and a new French cruiser —arid at tho conclusion of. tho ceremony tho Brikiy.h Mid B'rcnoh flogs woro hoisted musultooously at tho British and French Kcaidondes, to the accompaniment of salutes fired by both men-of-war. The Convention, )t m?.y bo iatonsting to.note, was read both to Engnsh and, in- French—in English by the Governor of. I'iji (Sir Kverard imThurn), wlio j5 slso High Commissioner for tho VV esfcorn Pacific,' and in French by tho Governor of New Caledonia (Mons. Laoatard), Who alas ccaupics tho position of French High Comiui«s)e'ner for tho Western Pacific. "Tins now Ooirrontion will work wOndoftt," Lapicin Bason remarked, ''for, while formwly ovwything was chaos, there will in future, bo lavr and on.ler. Hitherto there has been no security of tenure, and should » sovtler leave his plantation he would probably find it jtiinpod' on his return. Land uiayutoß multiplied every year, and in tho absenca of Oily proper system it was very difliouH to settle disputes. Now, liowover, under the limy rogimo a Court is to be appointed consistiug of three Judges-mi Jiughshinuii and a Frenchman, with a Spaniard as president br arbitrator. This Court will ba empowered not otilv to issue fit-to to kwl, but will' administer tho regulations framed undert-h<' Convention. "The ,\>»; Hebrides Group," ho continued, is now a true pr«i«torat<i in everv sense/ and white people aj ««)! n natives" will bo entitled to protf.rttinn tin Well as to punishment for violation of tho laws. Tho murderer of the JicT. Mr. Goddcn, the mission- {?. sHH serving a term of imprisonmentin riji, there vras prnviously no iwwe.r to deal with him. All that'could bo dona under tho old ctate of affairs w»s to eee-wionally punish the nntivo tribes by warships as an act of war, and in this connection 1 may say that tho expeditions of Captain D'Oyley, of H.M.S. Pegasus, and of Captain Gaunt, of H.M.S. Cambrian'-• have lliid a marvellous effect, on the nativ«v, Matters hare been my" peaenful and quiet now tor some time, and will under tho now order Of things probably'rotaain so. It is unlikely tli ut you will hear of any more murders in the New Hebrides.

•"AH ships are now compelled to call at VilA betflro they' conimcnco oruisias» among tho islands of tho group," Captain K,a soil added. "Thoy am examined at Vila in order t.o prevent contraband being distributed. Under the-new Convention illicit ■ stills ari now illegal, and two Frcnchnifrn who had established stills for making gin hav n 1 1OT stopped from further carrying 011 that business. The grcat.-r part of tho gin smuggled into the group from outside \v.i.v landed at Aohd and at Ambryin, but the end of eon-trs-band cargoes has now arrived. Tho natives, who'have always displayed an intense desire. to possrers rifles, are permitted under the now regulations t.o own ainp:l<v barrel sporting puns, with cartridge* of No. 5 shot, but powder ami shot, ar* illegal, This compromise h:iA pleased tho natives Terr much. 'They jiro able to shoot flying fozt« and pigMKis, and at the same time ran do an grwit in jury to white* from a. dis"Anvfinp wR!i a capital of £2000," Captain Ifcav-on wesit, 011 to s»y. "war. by investing it in a nocoannt plantation in tho New Hebrides, mat# pertain at the <md of 10 or 11 years of a steady awl sure income of £400 per'annum, without working. ■ Of onurao ho would huvo to ititperinlend the labour, but, the Now tlcbridw buya a.rs erwat wwk«rs: I have a great admiration for tho natives there—they aro a very lino raco, and always i;ive good return (or their vagos. Tlui president of the Commission at Hriibauo Mime time ago said that five kanakas were equal to four whites, while a Frenchman will toll you t.liint two kanakas are equal to threo Javanese ur three Tonipiineae. If they arc well treated ami well fed limy made' idea] labourers. The 2000 returned kanak.'m from Unw»»ilaiK{,' ! Captain Itawin -paid in eonclnsiiin, "have all been landed without n hiteh. and have settled dawn. Some of those who bad been e.s|iifially \vi-ll (rented in Queensland have devehnicd 'meal-hunger,' and a>'e now allowing ilieniselveii to 1)0 rrcniited for notations in different parts of tho islands." (