THE NEW HEBRIDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12430, 20 February 1901, Page 4

THE NEW HEBRIDS.

The Presbyterian miasionarie stationed in the New Hebrides are lapparptly determined that their appeal to the federal Government for some satisfactorysohrtion, of the land dispute shall not go The Rev F. H. L. Pat-on, of i island of Tanna, has addressed' a publidneeting in Hobart and resolutions have teen carried urging British annexation of tligroup. The history of this trouble must hpiirly , familiar to our readers. Mrpaiton was spokesman of the deputation fjm the Presbyterian Synod of New SouthfVales which recently fluid a statement ofjhe case before Mr Barton, Federal Hitter for Foreign Affairs. He said that thFrench New Hebrides Company was delibtjtely and improperly securing control of feat areas of land in the centre of the grip. It planned possession, for instancchf the whole west coast of Epi, the stri|indicated extending three miles inland' Included in this were a number of nat-jr villages that had never been approach? by the company’s agents. Land in tljNew Hebrides is fur the most part held j small sections by individual natives, wh are absolutely unprotected, and there is > properly constituted! authority to sett disputes. iWe

'have already published' an account of the trouble on Epi, where a native school has been burned down four times by a French settler. The group is supposed to be controlled by a joint commission consisting of the commanders of the French and British warships in its waters, but the commission has no power to deal with land disputes. In spite of this, Captain Rich, of H.M.S. Ringarooma, and the commander of the French vessel, Eure, are said to have determined several land cases against the natives, and the missionaries, in desperation,’ determined to appeal to the Imperial Government, through Mr Barton, for a remedy. The difficulty, as Mr Barton pointed out to the deputation, is /that no settled Government exists in the group. The French would naturally refuse to abide toy the decision of a British subject, while the British missionaries and settlers would object to the appointment of a French arbiter, The precedent established in Samoa might he followed, and an independent judge appointed, hut Samoan precedents are not happy ones. Mr Barton explained that until the Federal Parliament met he could not deal personally with the matter, but he would forward a statement of the position to the Secretary of Stats for the Colonies. It is obvious that the present condition of, affairs cannot be allowed to continue. The natives, we are told, are with difficulty restrained from' retaliating violently against the French settlers, but apart from the prospect of bloodshed in the group and apart from the moral duty laid upon us of securing justice to the natives, there is the consideration that the divided control, or rather the want of control, may lead to deplorable complications. The settlement we all desire is, of course, the annexation of the islands by Britain. That, from our point of view, would be in every way the most satisfactory solution. But if the French cannot be.induced to sell or barter their interest in the group, it would be better to leave them in absolute possession; for however unpleasant might be the establishment of a strong French colony so dose to Australia, it could not be* more dangerous to the welfare of these colonies than the present system of dual supervision with its resulting friction andl unrest. The Imperial Government, it is understood,, has directed the Admiral on the sta'l-jon to investigate the complaints of the missionaries and to visit the so that the Colonial Office should shortly be in possession of reliable information.' A strong memorial from the Commonwealth should induce it to take action, #nd we have Mr Barton's promise that when the Federal Parliament meets it will have an, opportunity of discussing the whole situation. -