MODEL FOR WORLD

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 6, 6 July 1940, Page 6

MODEL FOR WORLD

THE NEW HEBRIDES

RUN BY TWO COUNTRIES

BRITAIN AND FRANCE

A group of scattered Pacific islands, primitive, volcanic, out-of-the-way, has suddenly assumed particular significance, for citizens of Britain and France' to whom it was only recently but a name in the back pages of--an atlas, said a writer in the "Christian Science Monitor" early in May.

The, name is "New Hebrides.", fHere in an irregular 440-mile long chain of islands in the South-west Pacific fewer than iOOO Europeans and around 40,000 natives -arid .Asiatics, find their;livelihood, mainly- oil coconut; coc6a,s:and coffee plantations. And, here,' to use the words of Sir Harry:,^ijke>vßntish High Commissioner for "the^ Western. Pacific,.is "a microcosm of the Entente.*

The New Hebrides have come into the news because while statesmen and civil servants in London and Paris are hard at work completing a farreaching, scheme for co-operation and co-ordination in Allied colonial possessions, citizens of the two "Mother coun- ! tries"' are reminded that these far away and half-forgotten islands form a picture of Allied colonial co-opera-tion taken to the ultimate extreme. They are administered jointly, and successfully, as a condominium by Britain and France and have been so administered for thirty-four years. They have been a joint sphere of action for more than fifty years and a. joint sphere of exploration for 150 years.. ;■■ : DUAL SYSTEM USED.' Although there is' no • suggestion of extending the condominium - system to any other part "of the Allied colonial possessions—not yet at any rate—the islands of the New Hebrides form, - what is looked upon now as a kind of model Entente community, ' The language difficulty is solved by there being two official languages,, British and French. Legal-difficulties are solved by there being two legal codes, British and French, as well as a common one. Currency difficulties- are solved by there being two legal tender currencies, British and French. Personal postal predilections are' indulged by two seta of official stamps, British and French. The Entente is furthered in such mmor details as the provision in the capital's main club of two types of billiard tables, British and French. The particular significance of this considerate condominium at this particular moment in history is not so much the fact' of its existence as the genuine appreciation wihch it, is now being accorded in official and unofficial discussions. For some years, until quite recently, the system of dual control in the New. Hebrides has ' been most frequently described as unsatisfactory. .There have been many difficulties, to overcome and some misunderstandings. And very strong movements —particularly in Australia and New Zealand— to end the condominium and give sole contrpl to Britain. But now friction would seem to have been overcome and it is a sign of the times^.that the dual control system is.the subject of many friendly congratulations, its success praised, its;'pr6blem&*minittusted> ATTITUDE CHANGES.. ": "British and French officials jointly conduct the administration of the condominium in close harmony and cooperation," Sir Henry Luke declared in a' recent letter to '"The Times" of London. And those are among the-few words the public has heard about the situation from official sources for a number of years. They -contrast sharply with the statement of William F. Massey, New Zealand Premier, in 1924, that "the only way out (of the present state of utter failure) is a partition of the territory." The New Hebrides have been an Anglo-French concern since the eighteenth century, during which they were twice "discovered," first by a French navigator in 1774. Two other French explorers also visited ; the islands in that century, and —rounding off the Entente in regard to pioneering —Captain William Bligh came across them during his famous voyage in one of the Bounty's boats after the mutiny. First discoverer of the islands was really the Spanish explorer, Le Quiros, who came there in 1606. Under the impression they were the longsought Southern Continent, he called them Australia, so he can perhaps be considered as having made a false start. ESTABLISHED IN 1906. British and. French interest in the islands continued in the nineteenth century, and in 1887 a Joint Naval Commission was appointed to keep an eye on them. By 1895 a number 'of British and French colonists had settle^ in.the group and an Arbitration Court was set up by the colonists themselves, but was vetoed by the Naval Commission. This stressed the need for some regulation of the joint interests> and in 1906 a condominium Government was established. British and French Resident Commissioners act in concert^ each assisted by a staff of officers. The main judicial body is a joint court composed of a British Judge, a French Judge, and a neutral President. There are also British and French courts with jurisdiction over all' civil cases, other than certain classes reserved for the joint court, and .pver crih?: *tal cases in which a rioii-native is ck \ ndant. New residents of British and French nationality choose which, legal system they prefer within a month of arrival. Finance, posts, customs, public health, land registry, and public works are administered jointly. Administration of, this area is parti- : cularly difficult owing to the complicated native social organisation and primitive mode of living. On Gaua Island, only 12 miles broad, there are two native languages. .In spine of ihe remotest villages, which "ar&r rafely visited by white men, the to^ps of the houses only reach shoulder-high. v CO-OPERATION INTENSIFIED. The 600 or so French citizens and 200 British work plantations, the chief export being copra. For them- ihe I condominium has at length become a perfectly natural mode of government, although each group likes to maintain its national identity and interests. For them the recent moves towards making the Entente even more cordial come as a signal to intensify their own cooperation, for they know that the eyes of the "folk back home" are on them. And they seeiin to be succeeding. To an outsider, one small sign, suggestive of the: naturalness of present New. Hebridean co-operation, is seen in a two-line "acknowledgment" printed on the unpretentious ipap which is included in the 1940 British Colonial Office report of the islands. It says, "Compiled from" British -and French Admiralty Charts."