THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 1914. NEW HEBRIDES CONFERENCE.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13494, 13 June 1914, Page 4

THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 1914. NEW HEBRIDES CONFERENCE.

The conference of officials of the British and French Foreign land Colonial Offices, which has commenced sitting in London to consider the vexed question of the control of the New Hebrides group, has to deal with a task presenting many and great difficulties. The conference is the result of a long sustained agitation carried on almost exclusively by the British interests in the group, and especially by the Presbyterian missionaries. The controversy has centred upon the methods of the French Administration, which it is contended has been so lax as to permit serious'i abuses to become established with prejudicial results to the development of the islands and the welfare of the natives generally. The Joint High Commission for the Government of the New Hebrides was constituted in 1888, and under the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, and the Convention of 1906, the subjects of the two Powers enjoy equal rights of residence, personal protection, and trade, each Power retaining jurisdiction over its subjects, and neither exercising a separate control over the group. A Joint Court is established, and regulations made as to land suits, land grants and sales, recruitment of native labour, and other matters, while the sale of arms, ammunition, and intoxicating liquors to natives is forbidden. Dissatisfaction with the Condominium became evident very shortly after the system was inaugurated, charges of a .serious nature being brought against the French officials in regard to recruiting and permitting the sale of liquor, and the administration of justice. On the part of the French officials and residents it has been denied that abuses exist to anything like the extent alleged, but one fact has been made plain by the controversy, and that is that apart from possible misunderstanding and exaggeration, the Condominium has not worked satisfactorily, and is' unlikely to prove successful in the future. This is to some extent admitted by both Governments in agreeing'upon the present conference to devise different methods of administration. To effect thiSj various suggestions have been made,, but 'all.appear to present serious difficulties. One proposal is that the group should be handed over to the Commonwealth, in the same way that Papua became an Australian dependency. This would involve heavy compensation and the ee&sion of territory to France elsewhere by way of exchange, and the Commonwealth is as little prepared to purchase the French interests as the Imperial Government is to effect an exchange. When a question was asked on the siibject in the House of Commons in March, Mr. F. D.Acland, Under-Secre-tary of State for Foreign Affairs, replied :—"I am not aware that the^Commonwealth of Australia is prepared to entertain a suggestion for the acquisi- I tion of French rights in the New Hebrides by purchase or exchange of territory, and his Majesty,'s Government'has no present intention ojr asking Parliament to vote money f>br the purchase of French rights in the New Hebrides or to agree to the surrender \ of British territory elsewhere in ex-

change." The proposed partition of the group between Great Britain and France seems to be the only practical solution of the problem, but the existence of separate administrative systems so close together would probably not tend to promote harmony and efficient control, in addition to which geographical considerations would not render a satisfactory partition a simple matter. Even with these disadvantages, however, the division of the islands between the two Governments is the most feasible suggestion yet offered^ and the eventual solution of the difficulty will probably take that shape. .