Hebrides

Three-Ways Pull in New Hebrides

France, Britain and Australia

UNDER the heading of “France’s Commercial Preponderance in the New Hebrides Condominium”, the following article, by Jack Shepherd, appeared recently in “Far Eastern Survey”, a fortnightly review publish ed in New York: FIGURES just released by the Ministry for Colonies in Paris emphasise French commercial preponderance in the New Hebrides, which since 1906 have been ruled jointly by France and Britain un der a condominium.

The total value of the trade handled by French interests in the group during 1938 is said to have been a little under 34 million francs, whereas the value of the trade in English hands amounted to only a little over 5i million francs.

The most important reason for the commercial preponderance of the French

in this dependency, political control of which is shared equally by British and French, is that French planters are per mitted to import labour from Indo china while their British competitors, prevented by law from introducing Asiatic workers, are forced to rely on native la bour which is inadequate both in quality and quantity. The result of this situ ation has been that French plantations have prospered while the British stagnate for lack of an adequate labour supply.

A number of settlers of British origin have assumed French nationality and at least one important British company has formed a subsidiary organisation with French registration.

French interests in the group are well organised and are represented on a con sultative commission, which advises the French Resident Commissioner concern ing the budget. On the other hand the few remaining British planters are un organised and complain that they are ignored by the home Government.

Although relations between French and British residents are quite amicable, there are occasional British complaints of discrimination in favour of French interests by the joint administration. For instance, the recent granting to French companies of contracts for the provision of a new water supply and electric light at Vila evoked murmurs from British planters.

While French enterprise is clearly pre dominant in these islands, it is interest ing to notice that nearly 70 per cent, of the colony’s imports are supplied by Aus tralia. The most important non-French shipping company trading with the New Hebrides is also Australian, and the Aus tralian Presbyterian Mission is the larg est landowner in the group as well as the strongest missionary force. It is also claimed that the islands are of consid erable strategic importance to Australia since they lie within a thousand miles of the Queensland coast.

These are the interests which account for the suggestion by Australian repres entatives at the last Imperial Confer ence that Australia should take over Britain’s share in the control of the group. Unofficially, even complete Aus tralian control has been urged.

The present system of dual control has proved so unsatisfactory that a strong case can easily be made out for its aban donment.

In view of the overwhelming prepon derance of French economic interests in the islands and their nearness to the French colony of New Caledonia, of which geographically they are outliers, the arguments for transfer of full sov ereignty to Prance are almost incontest able.

But Australian claims to a voice in the affairs of the New Hebrides, though more vehement than the facts of the situation would seem to warrant, are likely to impede any British move to re place the present awkward compromise by a more rational arrangement.

Mr. Carl Vasey, who now is in charge of the Methodist Mission’s Ulu Planta tion in New Britain, T.N.G., will shortly proceed to Fiji to take up the position of Principal at the Mission’s Navuso Agri cultural School in Fiji.

Metuisela Fifita, a Fijian native who joined the Methodist Mission for service in Papua as a preacher in 1903 and who was for 36 years a school teacher and an evangelist, died recently on Misima Is land, Eastern Papua.