Natives and Whites In New Hebrides

(A Letter to the Editor)

WITH reference to your report of my speech to the Presbyterian General Assembly regarding Nationalism in the New Hebrides, It is a pity you did not verify the statements made in it before publishing them. The reporter did not

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what he wiote gives a cpmpletely unbalanced view of what I said. , , I did not, as your sub-heading alleges, accuse planters and traders of exploitation-I doubt if I even mentioned them.

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the new Native Church, and that was the kmd of spirit which has shown itself from time to time m upsurges such as the Jon rxum Movement.

I was not dogmatic about its cause or its character, but simply drew upon the various sources of information which were open to me in the New Hebrides. They were not by any means limited to missionaries—although I suspect that even missionaries, who lived on Tanna and saw the matter with their own eyes, have a more accurate knowledge of what happened than others far removed from the scene. , The report I gave was to the effect that this Movement had a number of roots, some of them probably going down below the surface of consciousness. One of those, without doubt, was the measure of exploitation experienced by the native people at the hands of the whites. I made no comment on the extent of that exploitation, and whether it is being practised at present, or belongs only to the past. Everyone knows that there has

been such. You, yourself, in your edi torial footnote, acknowledge that it has had a place—and there is no doubt that, however the matter appears to the white people, to many of the natives it has been a reality.

THAT brings me to a further inaccuracy in your report. I did not say that exploitation of the natives provoked a violent reaction. I said that all these various factors which I mentioned, of which exploitation was but one, had pro duced this result. That surely was true.

People who lived on Tanna, during the tense days of the early 40’s, and those who had administrative responsibilities for them, would say that the reaction was quite violent enough for them. It fell little short of widespread bloodshed, FROM the above it should be plain that nothing in my speech to the As sembly was directed, implicitly or ex plicitly, against the traders and planters of the Islands. If they came into the picture at all, they were only incidental to the main theme, which was something quite different.

In closing, let me say that I hope your interpretation of the traders and planters’ opinion of missions is not accurate. My observations lead me to believe that if it had not been for the breaking down of the natives’ institutions and the disturbing of his normal life,” through the influence of Christianity, the lot of the White Man in these Islands, event to-day, would be a very difficult and hazardous one.

I am, etc.,

(Rev.) J. S. Murray.

Auckland, 15/2/49.