1925

THE CONDOMINIUM IN THE NEW HEBRIDES

THE British Empire is a strange constitutional medley. It comprises autonomous dominions, colonies with various forms of government, dependencies, protectorates, spheres of influence, territories held under mandate from the League of Nations, and, in the New Hebrides, a Condominium shared with France. This Condominium was established as a friendly compromise between British and French claims, but so far from achieving its purpose it has been a perpetual source of dissatisfaction. The New Hebrides are a chain of islands in Melanesia lying north of the 20th parallel S. and distant some five or six days' journey from Sydney. The total area of the group is about 5500 square miles. Although accurate figures are impossible to obtain, the native population is estimated at from 40,000 to 50,000. The majority of these are quite 'civilised, but some of the inland tribes are in a wilder state, and in 1916 a punitive expedition had to be sent into the interior of one of the islands. Of the Europeans 300 are British and 1200 French subjects. The soil is remarkably fertile. Copra, cotton, coffee, and maize are the chief products, while stock raising is carried on successfully. Australian and French companies maintain regular steamship services to the group.

The history of the New Hebrides has a bearing on the present problem, because it allows neither country to advance an incontestible title to the group. They were discovered in 1606 by de Quiros, who supposed Espiritu Santo, the largest island, to be a portion of the great southern continent of popular legend. Bougainville visited them in 1768, and six years later Cook explored and charted their waters. Then for a time little is heard of them, although occasionally navigators put in there. In the earlier part of last century the group passed through an experience which, unfortunately, has been that of most of the islands in the Pacific. It became the haunt of whalers, deserters, labour recruiters, beachcombers, broken men, adventurers of every description, who wrote a bloodstained chapter in the annals of the South Seas. In the 'thirties British missionaries came to the New Hebrides and steadily extended their influence. In 1841 the group was included in the Commission issued to the Governor

of New Zealand, but, although it was now nominally part of a British Colony, no further action was taken. In the 'seventies, when French claims began to be seriously advanced, French interests were still scanty, whereas a number of British missionaries and traders were established there. But in 1882 the organisation which later became the Société Française des Nouvelles Hébrides was founded to promote settlement, and before long the French population exceeded the British.

Hitherto an occasional warship had been the intermittent instrument of justice, but as the community increased in size the need of some regular authority to enforce the law became apparent. This led to the creation in 1887 of a Mixed Naval Commission composed of British and French officers, whose duties were to maintain order and protect the persons and property of the subjects of the two nations in the islands. It had, however, no civil jurisdiction. Finally, after various expedients had been tried and found wanting, the improved relations of Britain and France during the early years of the nineteenth century paved the way for the Condominium, which came into operation in 1907. This was a practical expression of the Entente Cordiale, and deserved a greater measure of success than has actually befallen it. Australia was not represented at the preliminary conference, nor was she fully consulted in the negotiations-an omission which called forth an emphatic protest from the late Alfred Deakin, the then Prime Minister.

The principle of dual control was explicitly asserted by the Convention which was signed in London in 1906. Article I. runs :

The group of the New Hebrides . . . shall form a region of joint influence in which the subjects and citizens of the two Signatory Powers shall enjoy equal rights of residence, personal protection and trade, each of the two Powers retaining jurisdiction over its subjects or citizens and neither exercising a separate control over the group.

The Convention also provided for the establishment of a Joint Court, an international tribunal consisting of a British judge, a French judge, and a president who must be neither a British nor a French subject, and who is appointed by the King of Spain. It has jurisdiction, inter alia, in all cases relating to land, offences by natives against non-natives, civil disputes between natives and non-natives, and offences against the Convention. National courts hear cases in which British or French subjects respectively are exclusively concerned.

History supplies abundant evidence that divided control is seldom or never satisfactory. From its nature it tends to produce friction and inefficiency in government. If Britain and France had forgotten their own experience in Egypt, there was a more recent object-lesson no further away than Samoa, where a some

what similar arrangement had been tried and discarded. Of course in the New Hebrides the conditions were radically different, and the omens seemed more propitious for a repetition of the experiment. The Entente was a comparatively new thing. In the first flush of this happy development of a mutual understanding and friendship British and French did not perhaps sufficiently realise that goodwill has its limitations. The hope was cherished that the general atmosphere of cordiality would be conducive to the most harmonious co-operation in the New Hebrides. That hope was been but imperfectly fulfilled. The Condominium represented an honest endeavour to settle conflicting interests by mutual concessions and by conciliation. However, excellent intentions and a genuine desire to work the system have not been enough to cure its inherent defects. By common consent the Condominium has proved a failure. It has hampered the progress of the islands; it has been responsible for a great deal of unnecessary irritation. No doubt there have been faults on both sides. But the root of the failure is to be found in the system itself, which, with its elaborate and cumbersome machinery and its duplication of institutions, pleases no one. On many points the Europeans in the group do not see eye to eye. On one there is almost complete unanimity: the Condominium, they insist, should be abolished forthwith.

The causes of its unpopularity are many and varied. It seems rather ludicrous that such a small community should possess two legal systems with all the appurtenances thereof, two currencies, and two sets of postage stamps. This, however, though inconvenient and wasteful, is not a matter of great consequence. More serious are the difficulties which arise from the presence of a mixed population. Here in the New Hebrides are members of races which differ widely in traditions and outlook, in their methods of colonisation, and of dealing with the natives. The question of relative superiority or inferiority is one on which it is unnecessary to enter, but the fact of difference must be recognised. French ways are not British ways. The views, for instance, of some French planters and traders on the traffic in liquor and firearms or the recruitment and treatment of native labour are not those held by the British in general. It is said that the regulations in regard to these are frequently evaded by the French community, and that the breaches are to some extent condoned by the French authorities. Missionary societies have made categorical charges to this effect: almost every synod or conference reports fresh instances of laxity. They assert, moreover, that the French court does not inflict adequate punishment upon French subjects who are found guilty of offences against the Convention. Sentences are imposed, but only a small proportion of them are actually

carried out, whereas British delinquents receive no such consideration from the British court. We need not suppose that the British planter is more scrupulous than the French, but he is aware that if he breaks the law he will pay the penalty. His virtue may be a virtue enforced, but he is none the less prejudiced thereby. The Frenchman, with his recruiting methods that savour of the pressgang and 'plantation wives' as an attraction, has an advantage in the labour market while the Englishman goes begging. This, at any rate, is an allegation which is frequently heard from quite responsible quarters. Possibly the abuses are exaggerated, but there seems to be little doubt that they exist, and the belief that the French may do with virtual impunity what is denied to the British does not make for concord.

The labour supply, indeed, already constitutes a serious problem. The native population is steadily disappearing. According to one estimate it has decreased by about a third in the last decade. The phenomenon, of course, is by no means confined to the New Hebrides. It is to be observed in most islands in the Pacific, and is attributable to a variety of causes. The vices and the diseases introduced by the white man have taken their toll, and many complaints, such as measles or influenza, which the European does not consider to be particularly serious, have a very high death-rate among the unsalted' natives. The depredations of the blackbirders,' as the recruiters were called, have long since been suppressed, but they have left their mark. It is said, too, that the indenture system has contributed to the decline by removing able-bodied young men from their villages at a time when they should be establishing homes of their own and beginning to rear families. This, however, has been denied by competent authorities, who point out that' boys' under indenture have rarely reached the age ordained by custom for marriage. But not the smallest factor in the disappearance of the native has been psychological. A theory which has obtained general recognition among scientists is that he is going under for want of a definite interest in life. He was never of an industrious habit, but before the advent of the white man his days were fully occupied. He had his tribal fighting and his head hunting. He built his canoes, a lengthy business which was interspersed with festivals and celebrations. He cultivated his garden with primitive implements. The white man has forbidden some of these pursuits; others have been revolutionised by the introduction of the tools of civilisation. With these the native can in a few hours perform tasks for which once as many days were needed. Even if he is not a rentier living on the proceeds of the sale of land, he can satisfy his simple requirements with a minimum of toil. In consequence, time hangs heavily on his hands. He loses zest in existence and 'the will

to live.' He succumbs readily to disease and literally pines away. Recent investigation among the causes of the depopulation of the Pacific Islands shows that this picture is not overdrawn. So what with the native's inherent disinclination for work on the one hand, and, on the other, the continual shrinkage of the source of supply, indigenous labour is becoming ever more difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities. Already in many of the islands recruits are brought from far afield. Indian and Tamil coolies have been introduced into Fiji, Chinese into Nauru and Samoa, Chinese and Japanese into Hawaii. In the New Hebrides the missions believe that the decline in population can be arrested by the creation of new interests which will replace the old, and of new wants which, if they do not engender a taste for work, will at least furnish an inducement to work. The only solution the French can propound is the importation of coolies from Indo-China. It is very doubtful whether their presence in the group would be in the interests of the native.

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A grievance common to both British and French in the New Hebrides arises from what the Report of the Inter-State Commission on British and Australian Trade in the South Pacific (1918) described as 'the uncertainty of the law, the inertness of the administration and the tardy dispensation of justice, more especially in the determination of disputed titles.' Hamlet would have spoken even more feelingly of the law's delay' had he dwelt in the New Hebrides. Much of the land held by Europeans in the group was acquired from the natives on the basis of maps which were subsequently found to be inaccurate. Areas were included in the transfer which their original owners declare never to have been alienated at all. It was essential that these rival claims should be settled as soon as possible, for planters who are liable to be dispossessed will not put money into the development of their estates. Yet the sessions of the Joint Court have been most irregular. In 1920, 1921, and 1922 it did not meet at all, while in 1923 it only sat for a few months. In 1916 the hearing of land cases was suspended on account of the absence of claimants and witnesses on active service. It has not, at the time of writing, been resumed. The president of the court, a Spanish lawyer, has been on leave and has not visited the group for several years. An enthusiastic member of the court, on his arrival in the islands, asked a colleague what business there was to be done. The answer was, 'Oh, I expect you will do the same as I do-sit on your westerly verandah in the morning and your easterly verandah in the afternoon!'

The dissatisfaction, however, is by no means of recent growth. Before the war it had become so acute that in 1914 conversations were held between the British and French Governments with a