FUTURE OF NEW HEBRIDES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 134, 7 June 1906, Page 5

FUTURE OF NEW HEBRIDES.

A FRENCH OPINION. [riUSSS ASSOCIATION.] PARIS, 6th June. The Paris newsjpaper Liberte declares that it Bs impossible for France to consider Australia's claim to annex the New Hebrides in return for tho cession of Mauritius, unless Britain makes a definite proposition, which appears doubtful. ; In view or the abovo message some particulars regarding the New Hebrides and Mauritius will bo of interest. Tlw New Hebrides consist of a chain of islands in the Western "aciiic, extending N.N.W to S.S.E., and lying w«st of Fiji and north-east of New Caledonia. There ara in all souw thirty islands (area 5110 oquare miles), of which the majority are uninhabited, the people being mostly of the Melanesian race. Ths climate is moist, out clear and healthy. Th« 'usual tropical plants are grown — yauij taro, banana, bread-fruit, sugurcane, and arrowroot. The islands were discovered in 1606, and explored by Cook in 1773. In 1886 they were seized by the French against Australian protest. Mauritius is an island in the 'ndian Ocean, situate 550 miles east of Aladagascar. It is irregularly elliptical — somewhat triangular — m shape, and is thirty-six miles long from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and about twenty-three miles broad. It is 130 miles ,in circumference, and its total area is about 713 square miles. Though pleasant enough in the cool months, the climate is very hot during the rainy season. The cfiief export is sugat. The inhabitants are Hindus, mixed races, and Europeans of French and 'British origin.