''' raKH f ' ' ? '*? f "*-J?tt' ??**?' 1 ~~ _., ? ? '^j The Alamance gleaner 1 VOL. LIII. ' New Hebrides _ A Patriarch at NaW Habridaa. irrvparen uv m? nmonai u?uii? biiuiij Society. Washington. D. C.? FRANCE and Great Britain have ? strange portnersb'p In tbe admin 1st ration of tbe New Hebrides Islands, which lie In tbe Pacific ocean about a thousand miles east of Australia. For a long time the Islands were not formally under the control of eny European country. But both British and French commercial actlvl ties were growing, especially the lat ter, owing to the proximity of France's territory. New Caledonia. Neither power could obtain tbe agreement of the other to the annex ation of tbe New Hebrides, so tbe problem was solved at least tempo rarily In 1878 by the Joint declaration if France and Great Britain that the territory should be neutral. This agreement did not work very well, and In 1006 a protocol was entered Into stating that' the Islands should he come "a region of Joint Influence'' by Great Britain and France, with sepa rate administrations for the natlonsls of each, and a Joint administration toward the natives. People of all oth er nationalities must choose or "opt" whether they are to he under British or French Jurisdiction. So today the Islands have a queer "scrambled" government not very sat isfactory to either the French or Brit Ish trading companies, tbe plantation owners, the missionaries, or the ns tlves. There Is a British high com missioner and a French high commis sioner In the Islands; separate British and French police forces; and a Joint court presided over by a Briton, a Frenchman, and i third Judge select ed iiy the king of Spain. Both languages are ottlclal. but neither Is very useful In dealing with the natives. For the New Hebrides natives are still savages. What tha Natiss Ara Llka. For years the notlyes of the Islands were the prey of tltfc e-Blackhlrdcrs." or labor pirates, because they are gen erally considered more Industrious and sturdier of build than the average Kanaka. They are reputed to have cannlballatlc tendencies, to he trench erous and of uncertain temper, facts probably due In some measure to the treatment to which they were sub Jected by these traders. They are MclnnesCan stock, below the medium In stature, and accentuate the ugll- I ness In their broad, black faces and receding foreheads by sticking coco nut fiber In their hair acd adorning their ears and flat noses with rings. They pride themselves upon their weapons?spenrs, clubs hows, and poisoned arrows?some of which are beautiful In design and elaborate pat tern. The women In general hold a de graded position. The wives of the more Important men Increase the number of the skirts which they wear at one time as an Indication of their rank. The "pooh-bah's" wife wears as many as SO. The "better halP of a man Is sometimes hurled alive with her husband upon his death. Qnlros. the Portuguese navigator In 1(106. was the flrst white man to see the rugged outline of the coast of the Islands, which rise abruptly out of the deep sea In the hurricane tone of the tropics. Believing he had dla covered tha great southern continent which was at that time tbe dream of navigators, Qalros may be compared to Columbus, who thought he hod found a route to Ind'a when be sight ed the palm-fringed shores of tbe West Indies. He called his discovery Australia del Esplrttu Santo, which has been shortened by trader* to Santo and Is applied to the largeat Wand of the group. Some of the other large luouiimins ano pa my vmcnnic manna are A mhrym. Annatam. Aurora. Apt. Pentecost. Rromanga. MalllcoHo a ad Tanua. the borne of the -great light house of the, southern Isles." Tanaa toIcsdo. Which bums forth brilliantly every three or Mar annates. Santo a Fertile Island. Countless atresias cut Santo, which la 64 miles long a ad1 82 miles wide, luto broad, fertile valleys. Fross Its shores,-and those of the neighboring trlands toils of copra are sent to Syd ney. Australia. and to New Caledonia and shipped frqtn there is seep makers the world over. Coffee, cocoa ana vanilla, as well as tropical fruits, grow In abundance. Oranges are anfd to grow ?n large that both a man's bands can scarcely span one of them, and the pineapples of the Islands sometimes weigh 20 pounds. So rtefe Is the soli and luxuriant the resets tlon that In msny places 6JM0 sheep can be kept on 2j000 acres of land. Vila harbor or VUa. which Is set between mountain peaks and gemamd with Islands. It the most Important N commercially among the many CHts modious and strategic harbors which the Islands afford. The scattered lit tle village which doses under the shelter of Its palm trees has bollt no pier to encourage Its shipping. The cargoes must he loaded by the na tives In small boats. Though the prog ress of conquering nations baa left Its mnrk In Ibe Catholic and Presbyterian churches, the large wireless station and certain administrative bindings, the town Is essentially native In char acter with Its thatch-roofed houses set amid the colorful hibiscus blos soms. and sometimes fortified with stone nolle. What the furore of the Islands la to be Is a problem. British resilient a la the South seas. Including the Australi ans and New Zealmndern. are anxious to have Frence'e governmental Inter" est taken over by Great Britain or hy one of the southern dominions art log for her. Most of the British nation als In the Islands are Australians or New Zealandere. The British plant ers are not permitted to bring In coojle labor from India or elsewhere; but there Is no such restriction on the French, who have Introduced sev eral thousand Tonkluese rootle*. im Japan*** Crowding In. Then there Is the problem of Japa nese immigration. They have nuue In large numbers, and the British sen growing up a parallel situation in that In New Caledonia where there are more thnn 6.000 Japanese, and where they have a strong bold on the busi ness activities of the islands, InrlmV Ing the famous nickel mine* there. v The Australians fear thai It the New Hebrides should pass entirety under French control, they might later fall *j Into Japanese hands. The French themselves greatly out number the British, and there are per haps ten French trading ships busy la the Islahda 'to ooe British. In Vila, the capital, the French population ' outnumbers the British eight to one. There have been a number of con ferences between France and Great ,1 Britain at which an effort has been - made to place the New Hebrides un der a tingle Jurisdiction. Repi iieenis-. T lives of Australia and New Zealand ?jj proposed either that Great Britain '*'<1 take a mandate over the Islands, that rl> the French debt to Britain be *cW|fl celled In exchange for France's Ijj)* ests. or tluit British African terrttjSpl he traded to France for the New rides. Bnt France not wnaffta3Br!iS proposed thai the British Inwffg ttKSj nag and leora the French la |g*5?g$ g|OB. ?