The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1914. THE NEW HEBRIDES.

Timaru Herald, Volume C, Issue 15290, 6 March 1914, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1914. THE NEW HEBRIDES.

Both the British and French Governments have at last been forced to turn their eyes towards the New Hebrides, where shocking abuses are said to have grown up under the condominium, or system of joint rule. It is expected that a conference will be held between representatives o£ the two Powers to discuss means of improving the present administration- It will not be surprising if the two countries have to admit, after full discussion, that the condominium system is. hopelessly impracticable as a means of government; that it cannot satisfactorily be mended, and should in the inte rests of humanity be ended There are three separate Courts of Justice in fhe New Hebrides. The first, a joint court, is composed of French and British judges, while the King of Spain, as permanent arbitrator under the convention, nominates the President and Public Prosecutor, to which offices a Spaniard ani a Dutchman have been appointed. The judges and Crown Prosecutor have small knowledge :>f each other's languages or legal system, and the natives, for the most part, know no language but their own. Then there are British and French "nationals" courts, which deal with offenders of those nations, the first strictlv, and the other, it is said, as laxly as can be imagined. There is also a Joint ISTaval Commission, which only once a year, whetf British and French men-of-war are at the islands. It is said that natives often die in prison while they are waiting- for thencases to- be heard before this court. The-French courts are alleged to be exceedingly tolerant of cruelty on the -plantations, violation of the liquor laws, kidnapping of labourers, and other crimes. How the mixed Inw works between subjects of (V two nations is illustrated by the case of one Le Clerc, a French captain who enticed a number of natives on board his shit) to kidnan them, shot and apparently killed one who attempted to escape, and ordered his crew to fire a volley at the -nrotesting relatives of the kidnapped people, who had collected on the shore. Le Clerc admitted these offences, and was sentenced by a French court to a year's imprisonmentThe sentence was, however, waived under the First Offenders

Act, and Le Clerc' walked out of the ccrnrt a free man- An Eiig lisk member of his crew .named Young, who had assisted at the kidnapping but had no part in ths firing, was sentenced by a British court to six months inrorisoninent for his subordinate connection with the ciime. It is not surprising that new settlers in the islands show a marked preference for being naturalised as Frenchmen. It is hard to see how the system of joint rule can ever be made to work satisfactorily. Australia is naturally opposed to the suggestion that the whole group of islands should be handed over to France. They might be handed over to Great Britain, or placed under the administration of the Commonwealth, if compensation could be found that would be satisfactory to France. British Gambia, m West Africa, bas been mentioned as a possible equivalent, and financial compensation is not out of the question. But there are more than forty islands in the New Hebrides, and a simpler solution of the problem might be found in plnc-ing half of them under the British flag and the other half under the tricolourEither country might be expected to administer its own possessions more efficiently than the two of them can do in an unnatural union. I j