THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NEW HEBRIDES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3115, 26 November 1913, Page 73

THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NEW HEBRIDES.

[Communicated.]

New Zealand is keenly interested in the condition of the New Hebrides, inasmuch as many of the best of her sons have there devoted their lives to the uplifting of the natives,' and she has expended treasure freely with the same object. Moreover, if New Hebrides Islands are badly governed they constitute a menace to the whole of Australasia. It is not our intention here to discuss the results of the work of the missionaries but to give an account of the present political state of the islands. For many years the New Hebrides were a no man s land, only governed by men of war from Britain and France, but in 1902 a British Resident Commissioner was appointed, and in 1906 the Anglo-French Condominium was agreed upon between those nations. The islands are now supposed to be governed in terms of the convention agreed upon between Britain and France. That document was drawn up in London with a good deal of care, and is supposed to regulate such matters as the proper treatment of the natives, to provide for their recruiting, engagement, and return, to prevent the sale of liquor to natives and to set up courts to enforce these provisions. Tne intention was excellent, but the carrying out has been a complete failure. The chief cause of complaint appears to be that the French have made no attempt loyally to carry out the objects and intentions of the convention. The French Resident pays little attention to complaints about the ill-treatment of natives by his co-patriots Or sale of liquor and guns by other Frenchmen. The description of the Joint Court which is set up under the convention reminds one of a qomic opera. The President is a Spaniard, whose knowledge of English is practically nil. The explanation of his appearance on the bench is that it was left to the King of Spain as an uninterested party to make the appointment. He is assisted by a French judge equally unable to understand the English speech; and by an English judge who se’ema to cany but little weight. The native advocate who is appointed to assist and represent the natives is a Dutchman, and the Crown prosecutor® is a Spaniard. There are also no fewer'than five other courts of one sort or another—the Britis . National Court, the French National, and Naval Commission, and two others. '-As a natural result technicalities and questions of jurisdiction continually arise. The Joint Court struggles through its cases, and when at- last it decides to convict imposes ridiculously small penalties —and even these it cannot enforce. It remains for the National courts to enforce the judgments, and the penalties against French nationals are very frequently remitted ‘by the French Resident, who lias power to do this under the convention. Not long ago the Joint Court made an extensive journey round the islands, heard a large number of oses of selling liquor, etc., and imposed fines in all amounting to only £ls ; while the cost of the trip was about £7OO. Of the £l6 only about 8s has been collected. One of the most glaring cases of injustice was that of a Frenchman named Le Clerc, who was tried by the French National Court for murder of a native. Particulars of the case are as follows : —Le Clerc was indicted before the French National Court, on July 18, 1912, for the murder of a Santo native named Nip, at Big Bay, Santo, in the month of December, 1911. It appeared from the evidence of six natives and one white man that Le Clei’c, who was the captain of a small recruiting ship called the St. Joseph, was at anchor near the shore. Several natives came on board for the purpose of trading, or partly out of curiosity. Le Clerc suddenly pulled up anchor and hoisted sail. There was then a scene of some disturbance, the seven natives protesting against their being taken away. The boy Nip jumped overboard, apparently with the object of swimming ashore. Le Clerc then fired two shots at him with his revolver. Blood was seen on the boy’s neck by six of the witnesses. He was seen to struggle for a moment, and then disappeared from view. The accused, in his evidence, stated that he considered the boys as recruits, and not as mere traders. 'He admitted firing one shot at the boy in a moment of excitement, but denied that the shot had touched him. He also admitted that he gave orders for a volley to be fired at natives on the beach, but states that no one was hit, and that no shots were fired in reply The court found the accused guilty of common assault, and under 311 of the French penal code he was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, with the benefit of the First Offenders Act, and walked out of the court a free man. It is worthy of remark that the judge who presided ’n this case was Judge Oolonna, who made a well-known anti-missionary speech some years ago, and that one of the two assessors was a M. Gabriel brouin, who was himself tried some years ago for murder, and that the bailiff of the court, a M. Langlois, underwent a similar trial on a similar charge. In contrast to this, all the coses brought under the cognisance of the British National Court have been dealt with according to British procedure, and where convictions have been obtained, penalties have duly followed. For example, Young, the white man referred to in the above Le Clerc case, being a British subject, \\us prosecuted in the British Court, and although he had no direct part in the death of the native, was convicted as accessory, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, and duly served his sentence. Some of the most objectionable cases, too, are those where French traders have illegally carried off native women. In other cases children are enlisted by French-

men, although it was plainly the intention of the convention that such abuses should cease. We could give particulars of many of these cases, but enough has been said to give an indication of the injustices and gross abuses being perpetrated on these islands. No wonder, when it is known how French officials act towards natives there is on the part of those desiring further to exploit those children of Nature, a desire to have France alone take over the group. It is undoubtedly the fact that although some mistakes have been made, Britain has loyally endeavoured to carry out its undertakings. British wrong-doers are sharply dealt with by the National Court, and no illegal recruiting, grog-sell-ing, or gun-running by British people is tolerated. What then is the remedy for the existing state of affairs? There seem to be several courses open. One would be to divide the islands between the British and the French. In agreeing to this we should be abandoning the natives in the islands taken over by the French, for if it be the fact that they are treated as we have shown, when contrary to the supposed law, what would be the freitment when all outside influences were removed? We, therefore, must look for some other solution. It might be possible to give France compensation in some other direction, or, possibly, buy out their rights for cash, and have all the islands brought under the British flag. This is a consummation devoutly to oe wished. The only other course open ap pears to be to insist that the present convention and its intentions are strictly carried out by both nations. Pressure should be brought to bear on France lo appoint the best and most suitable men to all important positions which have to be filled by her. If none but men of humanity, experience of native life, of learning and judicial capacity were appointed to sit in the courts the state of the islanders would be vastly improved. And if only men of administrative ability, of sympathy with the natives, and of a broad humanitarian outlook were eligible to be appointed French Resident, one of the greatest of the present obstacles to good government in the group would lie removed.