The text of the New Hebrides Convention has been issued
as a Parliamentary Paper, and was published in the news- papers on Thursday. The Agreement, which confirms the provisional protocol signed last February, is a development of the Anglo-French Agreement of 1887, which provided for the protection of life and property by a Joint Naval Commission. Under the present Convention an Anglo-French condominium is established, the islands being administered jointly by two High Commissioners appointed by the two Powers, and a joint Court is to be established consisting of three Judges, of whom one is to be British, one French, while the third, as well as the Public Prosecutor, must be subjects of some other Power, and are to be appointed by the King of Spain. The Convention further provides for the creation of munici- palities on the application of not less than thirty non-native adults residing in the same district. The good points of the Convention are sufficiently obvious. The New Hebrides cease to be a sort of No-man's-land ; the interference of a third Power is excluded ; while the establishment of a penal settle- ment or the erection of fortifications .by the French is pre- vented. On the other hand, the working out in practice of the new arrangement may possibly profit the French more than the British ; while the fact that the Federal Government of Australia was not consulted until after the Conference had been held has created a feeling of strong resentment in Australia. As it is well put by the Times in a temperate leading article, "Australians regard the New Hebrides, and for the matter of that New Caledonia, as outliers of Australia which ought to be British if Australians had in the past been able to influence Imperial policy."
