"Non-people" to be registered

be registered

Another move to give New Hebri deans civil status was announced at the 14th session of the New Hebrides Advisory Council at the Vila Cultural Centre on September 11 and 12.

In a joint speech to open the council's session, the British and French Resident Commissioners, Messrs. C. H. Allan and J. Mouradian, said that their metropolitan govern ments had agreed to set up a system for the registration of births, deaths and marriages of New Hebrideans.

This would provide the whole population (which, according to a recent census, now stands at 78,000) with their first civil records.

At the last meeting of the Advisory Council, the Resident Commissioners announced that agreement had been reached on providing a special pass port for New Hebrideans travelling abroad. Previously, the New Hebri deans had carried only identity cards.

Under the Anglo-French protocol governing life in the New Hebrides, the New Hebrideans cannot be citizens of either Britain and France; and as there is no such thing as New Hebri dean citizenship, the New Hebrideans

are virtually non-people.