NEW HEBRIDES CONTROL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18711, 17 May 1924, Page 9

NEW HEBRIDES CONTROL

DUAL SYSTEM FAILS.

ACTION IN AUSTRALIA.

A. and N.Z. MELBOURNE, May 16. ' In the House of Representatives a petition was presented bearing 40,000 signatures requesting the House to consider at an early date " the intolerable state of affairs in the New Hebrides under the condominium."' The petition stated that the dual control system had broken down lamentably, and had resulted in the inadequate protection of natives, many of whom were helcj in a condition of practical slavery. The petition added that women were being degraded and outraged and used as decoys to secure labour for the plantations. The only solution was single control by the British. The petition asked that tho House should.bring the matter before the Imperial Government with a view of an amicable and honourable arrangement being made with France, by which the New Hebrides would pass under sole British control. A message from Sydney states - that the Presbyterian General Assembly adopted a resolution to the affect that the assembly learned with regret of the prevalence of abuses prejudicial to the natives under the joint British and French control in the New Hebrides. It had instructed its Foreign Missions Committee to continue its efforts to ensure that by some amicable arrangement with France the islands might pass under sole British control.