THE NEW HEBRIDES

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1927, Page 7

THE NEW HEBRIDES

FRENCH DOMINATION} THE LABOUR QUESTION. Sydney, Dec. 24. The suggestion that, to become a great nation, Australia must possess the New Hebrides, was made in an address at Hobart by the Rev. F. Paton, who has been a missionary in the group for 33 years, and-is-visiting the Commonwealth for the first time, “It is absolutely necessary that islands close round us should be under our flag,” he said. Unsatisfactory conditions prevailed on the islands under Condominium or joint British and French rule. The French, who dominate greatly in numbers, were doing all they could to get the islands settled under their flag. In co-operation with Italy and other countries, they were seeking to get their own way, and British interest would have to be protected. The French, he said, were obtaining an advantage by the importation of cheap labour. They were bringing over Tonkinese from Indo-Chifia, who were indentured for five years, at the end of which time they could settle as French subjects. Thousands had already arrived. ‘ They were being paid only ±l2 per year in wages, and thus the French were getting the better of labour competition. British settlers were employing the natives, and the supply was insufficient. The French had offered to give the British as much labour as they wished on condition that the plantations on which they were employed Were brought under the French flag. One at least had already gone over lo the French. The others, though hard pushed, were holding out well. The Rev. Paton said that in New Guinea the. British were conserving the native races. In the New Hebrides, with epidemics brought in from New Caledonia, and with the present system of recruitments and gin-selling by the French, the natives were dying out. The Australian policy, he added, was to discourage anything native, but they forgot that the New IJebrides were there from time immemorbtl, and it wasiNo the advantage of Australia to have local races in the New Hebrides, and not importations of Asiatics.

The Rev. Paton’s utterances have caused considerable controversy, and his future statements are being awaited with interest.