From Calaboose To Radio Station

New Hebrides Case with Peculiar Features

A SECTION of the British residents in Condominium of the New Hebrides appear to be dissatisfied with the charac ter of their Government. We have re ceived in recent months a dozen letters from different people in which the writers state their opinions, with various degrees of emphasis, that the British Administra tion is dominated by French influence; that it is “tired and lackadaisical”; that it is indifferent to the needs of the Bri tish planters; and that “there is far too much petticoat government.”

Every Pacific Islands Administration has its critics. Every Pacific Islands planter has his grievances. Anyone who knows anything about the conditions of life in the Pacific Islands does not regard attacks on Pacific Islands Administrators very seriously. But there are so many complaints from the New Hebrides about affairs at Vila that it probably will be necessary to deal with this subject at length in an early issue.

Meanwhile, pending further inquiries, we should like to refer to the case of Mr. Harvey.

Harvey has been a resident of the New Hebrides for some years. He is a quali fied surveyor and a radio operator. He has been a planter and trader. He has made money, and spent it freely. He has always paid his debts, and he has helped many lame dogs over sundry difficult stiles, Harvey occasionally drinks more than he should. That in itself is not a crime.

But when alcohol is in Harvey, an ag gressive temper comes out; and he then is a difficult person to cross.

Harvey on more than one occasion has been in conflict with French officialdom.

The French do not like Harvey. Harvey emphatically does not love the French.

For some time recently, owing to the depression driving him from his usual occupation, Harvey has occupied a posi tion as radio operator at the Vila wire less station. The writer met him in Vila in September, and found him to be an alert and intelligent type of Britisher.

His manner was that of a quiet and sober citizen.

One day, at the end of October, Harvey drank to the point when good judgment and good manners left him. He was on his way to a dinner at the Hotel Reid, and, on his way, he passed the house of a Frenchman with whom he had had some difference. As he passed he made an offensive remark, in a loud voice, about the Frenchman.

The Frenchman rang up the French Commandant of Constabulary and made a complaint.

The French Commandant rang up the British Police Commandant. The Bri tisher was at the Club.

The French Commandant, accom panied by the complainant, went to the Club and asked that the British Police Officer go to the hotel and arrest Harvey, who was in a drunken condition.

The British Commandant went to the hotel and approached Harvey, who was dining. Harvey assaulted the policeman.

It was not a very serious assault; but assistance was called, and Harvey—quite

properly—was marched off to the cala boose, and locked up. He had “asked for it.”

Harvey was brought before the Court next morning. It was expected that it would be regarded as a “drunk and dis orderly” case—which it undoubtedly was —and that a fine would meet the situa tion. Harvey had neither time nor oppor tunity to gather his wits and secure an advocate. A charge was made of drunk and disorderly, and assaulting the police.

When the case was heard a rather ex traordinary procedure was permitted.

The French Commandant of Constabulary was allowed to appear before the Court and make a long speech about Harvey’s residence in the Group, his clash with French officialdom, and particularly in regard to some offence for which Harvey had previously paid the penalty of a fine.

Judge de Jersey Carey (British), hav ing heard the statement of the French official, sentenced Harvey to one month’s imprisonment for being drunk and dis orderly, and three months’ for the assault on the British Police Commandant.

This sentence had much greater sig nificance there than in Australia, for in stance. Harvey, an educated white man of good status, was to undergo three months’ hard labour in a native gaol, in charge of native warders, under the gloating eye of French officialdom. It is several years since a white man has been placed in a gaol in the New Hebrides in such circumstances.

Furthermore, the circumstances of the trial appear to have been unusual. Har vey had no advocate. The British Police Commandant simply laid the charge and submitted formal evidence. The case against Harvey is said to have been pressed by French officials, who have been at loggerheads with Harvey for a long time and who have made no secret of their wish to see him leave the Con dominium. Harvey, an aggressive person, has never concealed his dislike of French men. Much evidence was heard by the Judge. A good deal was made of the fact that when Harvey was arrested a knuckle-duster was found in his pocket.

He had made no attempt to use the knuckle-duster.

Harvey, then, was sent to the cala boose, under native warders, to do three months’ hard labour. For three nights he was tortured by mosquitoes. He was not allowed even a mosquito net. He had delivered to him, there, a, letter from the British Resident Commissioner, dis charging him from his post as radio operator in the Condominium service.

The letter was dated a day previous to his arrest.

A couple of days later Harvey was taken out of the calaboose and ordered to go back to his work at the wireless station. This course is stated to have been taken at the instigation of the French Resident Commissioner, as the French radio operator (there is one of each nationality at the station) could not carry on alone.

Harvey appealed against his sentence and was formally liberated from gaol on sureties of himself in £50, and of

another person in £20. The appeal must be dealt with by the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific at Suva. One of the conditions of Harvey’s release from gaol is that he reports to police head quarters at Vila once a week. Mean while, he is solving the British Resident Commissioner’s difficulty concerning the wireless station by continuing to act as radio operator there. If it were not for the obligation to report once a week to the police in Vila, Harvey could return to his plantation in Epi, and there await the outcome of his appeal.

If this were merely a case of a man having been punished for being drunk and disorderly, it would not be worth the attention of this journal. But the case has some unusual features which, considered in conjunction with the cir cumstances surrounding the operation of the “Pandemonium Government,” appear to call for the serious consideration of those whose minds are not influenced by the very peculiar conditions of life in the New Hebrides.