THE NEW HEBRIDES

Otago Witness, Issue 3662, 20 May 1924, Page 18

THE NEW HEBRIDES

CONDOMINIUM SCANDALS. MELBOURNE, May 16. In tl.e Federal House of Representatives Mr Maxwell presented a petition bearing 40,000 signatures requesting the House to consider at an early date the intolerable state of affairs in the New Hebrides under the Anglo-French condominium. The text of the petition states that dual control Las broken down lamentably, resulting in inadequate protection of the natives, many of whom are held in a condition of practical slavery. It adds that women are being degraded and outraged, aud used as decoys to- secure labour for the plantations. The petition concludes: “ The only solution is single control by the British, and the petitioners request that the House bring the matter before the Imperial Government, with a view to bringing about an amicable and honourable arrangement with France by which the New Hebrides will pass under solo British control.’’ SYDNEY, May 16. The Presbyterian General Assembly adopted a deliverance—“ That the Assembly learns with regret of the prevalence of abuses prejudicial to the natives under joint control in the New Hebrides, and instructs the Foreign Mission Committee to continue its efforts to secure that, by some amicable arrangement with France, the islands may pass under sole British control.”