out initiative, e.g., he takes none but the feeblest measures to protect himself against winter cold, though he feels it intensely. At the same time, we are reminded that “in proportion to the narrow sphere of their actions, there is as great a mental difference among aboriginals as amongst whites in their wider sphere." Their memory is often extraordinarily strong, and they have a marked sense of humour and are capital mimics. Little or no reference is made to any strictly religious sense among this primitive race, though the belief in magic and in spirits is powerful. It has been stated elsewhere, indeed, that the aborigines of Australia appear to be the most a-religious people in the world." By his close and sympathetic study of Australian native customs, beliefs, social organization, etc., the author has carried out a most valuable work in a little-explored field. FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN THE NEW HEBRIDES. By EDWARD JACOMB.1 This book, to which we referred briefly in our last issue, gives a striking account of the working of the Condominium in the New Hebrides Group and of its signal failure to produce good government. Mr. Jacomb well knows what he is writing about, for he was for a time himself an official under the Condominium, and now practises as a Barrister in Vila, where his great practical services to the natives are well known and have won him no small unpopularity with the French exploiters of native labour. We hope the book will obtain a wide circulation. For some time past our Society has occupied itself with the abuses of the joint Administration, and has endeavoured to find some means of abating them. It has been in constant communication with our Government, and has kept in touch with the friends of the native in Paris. We cannot claim that any real measure of success has yet attended these efforts. Mr. Jacomb points, we believe, to the true cause of failure when he says. that the Condominium never has worked and never will work," and "the longer it goes on the worse it gets." There is little hope of improvement so long as the system is maintained, but the Governments are not prepared to put an end to the Joint Control. Those who have followed the case which the Society has put before our Government know that the working of the joint Administration is fatally hampered by its complicated machinery, the confusion of its Courts, and the language difficulty. Mr. Jacomb gives an instructive account of these and points out that matters are made worse by the uncomfortable relations which exist between the officials of the two Powers. He holds 1 G. Robertson & Co., Melbourne, etc. HCOVER WAR 140 ANTI-SLAVERY REPORTER AND ABORIGINES' FRIEND. that the real cause of the lack of harmony between them lies in "the totally divergent conceptions which they have had of the very nature of their duties." The British Residency, he says, has always pursued a policy of loyalty to the Condominium and has been careful above everything— at the risk of tolerating injustices-to avoid offending the French susceptibilities. The French Residency, on the contrary, has made it its undisguised object to push French interests. Both parties are to blame. If the French have a low theory of the treatment of native races, the British are slack, and wink at laxities on the French side; there are signs of a "dulling of the national conscience" in this matter. The two main problems of the New Hebrides are land and labour. The kidnapping and illegal recruiting of labourers lead to gross irregularities and abuses, and the treatment of the natives on many, if not most, of the French plantations is a scandal; not only are complaints disregarded, but the hapless "boys" are punished for consulting a lawyer. It does not therefore, seem exaggerated to write, as Mr. Jacomb does, that the French administration has passively, if not actively, associated itself with a system which is nothing more nor less than slavery." It will be remembered that a French Colonial Journal, La France d'Outre Mer, commenting on the conditions two years ago, reached a similar conclusion. In his concluding chapter Mr. Jacomb sums up his conclusions and says some hard things about the Entente cordiale, but for which the Condominium would not have been. The present war has changed many things, and we may believe that it has proved Mr. Jacomb's statements to be incorrect. At all events, we cannot but hope that at the close of the war, with the increased cordiality and sympathy which has arisen between the Allied nations, some way of settling the New Hebrides difficulty may present itself which has not been possible hitherto. As regards remedies for the present state of things, Mr. Jacomb rightly rejects the idea of a cession of the islands to France, and openly recommends that the islands should become British. There are obvious difficulties in the way of this course, and, failing this, we are not satisfied that although a partition between the two Powers, like every other proposed solution, would be very difficult to carry out, it is not possible to bring about an administrative partition of the islands by which some of them would be administered by the French and others by the English; the Joint Court remaining as a Court of Appeal. As a result of the Conference of British and French representatives last summer, we may feel some confidence that the anomaly of the Joint Naval Commission sitting as a Court will be brought to an end by a reconstitution of that body, but we cannot feel hopeful of radical improvement so long as the Condominium lasts. The Anti-Slavery & Aborigines Protection Society President: SIR THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON, BART., G.C.M.G. Vice-Presidents : HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. RT. REV. LORD BISHOP OF HEREFORD. RT. HON. LORD WEARDALE. RT. HON. JOSEPH A. PEASE, M.P. T. F. V. BUXTON, Esq. GEORGE CADBURY, Esq. SIR H. H. JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G. JOHN HOLT, Esq. THE DOWAGER LADY MONKSWELL. SIR JOHN MACDONELL, K.C.B. SIR ALFRED E. PEASE, BART. H. C. STEPHENS, Esq. J. ST. LOE STRACHEY, Esq. MRS. J. P. THOMASSON. H. W. W. WILBERFORCE, Esq., J.P. Chairman: HON. JOHN C. LYTTELTON, M.P. Vice-Chairman : FRANCIS WILLIAM FOX, Esq. SIR COLIN SCOTT MONCRIEFF, K.C.M.G., AND E. WRIGHT BROOKS, Esq., J.P. Committee : NOEL BUXTON, Esq., M.P. SIR W. P. BYLES, M.P. JOEL CADBURY, Esq. MRS. JOEL CADBURY. [M.P. LORD HENRY CAVENDISH-BENTINCK, REV. W. H. DRUMMOND. R. C. HAWKIN, Esq. ADMIRAL SIR GEORGE KING-HALL, K.C.B., C.V.O. REV. C. E. C. LEFROY. MRS. KING LEWIS. DONALD MACKENZIE, Esq. REV. CANON J. H. B. MASTERMAN, M.A. P. A. MOLTENO, Esq., M.P. W. CAREY MORGAN, Esq. H. W. NEVINSON, Esq. H. J. OGDEN, Esq. ALFRED W. OKE, Esq. JOHN M. ROBERTSON, Esq., M.P. A. MACCALLUM SCOTT, Esq., M.P. MRS. COBDEN UNWIN. Organising Secretaries: REV. J. H. AND MRS. HARRIS. Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. |