Maurice Myles Witts was born in Bombala, NSW in 1877 and died in Moss Vale, NSW in 1966. During 1899-1900 he worked for the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. in Fiji. In 1900 he enlisted in the Mounted Rifles and fought in the Boer War, after which he was discharged as a Sergeant in 1902. In 1904 he moved to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides where he established a coconut plantation at Hog Harbour. In 1904 he married Mabel Herring (born Sydney, 1877) on Santo. The Witts returned to Australia about 1913. See PMB 1 and PMB 8 for diaries of Maurice Witts, 1905 and 1911.

1. Diary of Mabel Witts, 7 February to 4 November 1909. Describes daily life at Hog Harbour, including the birth of daughter Helen in October 1909.<BR>2. Family correspondence, business and other documents, 1900-17, 1931, 1941, 1968. Includes personal and official letters, printed material and other papers documenting inter alia: Maurice Witts' work in Fiji, 1900; Boer War service, 1902; planting activities on Santo, 1905; membership of the Legion of Frontiersmen, 1906-7; marriage in 1907; appointment as a police constable, 1911; and purchase of property at Wyong, NSW, 1911. Also includes letters from Witts to daughter Betty, 1931 and wife Mabel, 1941 and a letter from a firm of Port Vila Solicitors to Mrs Betty Tyler of Moss Vale re the ownership of Lathu Island off Hogg Harbour, 1968.<BR>3. Four family photographs: Mabel, c.1883 and c.1904; Maurice, 1956; and a group portrait of Maurice and two others, c.1905.<BR>4. Printed map of Espiritu Santo with pencil annotations, n.d.

The governments of the United Kingdom and France signed a protocol respecting the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in 1914 and ratified it on 18 March 1922. The copy here is the ratified version. The protocol superseded the Anglo-French Convention of 1906 which had established the Condominium of the New Hebrides in that year. The protocol strengthened the provisions of the 1906 condominium. It allowed France and the UK to govern jointly in the New Hebrides and establish exclusive sovereignty over their own citizens, subjects and optants (people of another nationality who had to choose between the jurisdiction of France or the UK). Indigenous ni-Vanuatu were placed under the jurisdiction of the condominium. The protocol declared the archipelago a region of joint influence. It confirmed and enhanced the presence of joint services in the territory, including a postal system, courts, finance department and land registry. Other administrative functions such as education, the police and health were the responsibility of the two governments. In some cases there were triplications with the condominium. For example the protocol provided for a joint health service, but there were separate British and French hospitals, clinics and physicians. The distinction between French and British services and growing duplications with some condominium functions became more noticeable as the two governments increased their spending levels in the territory in the 1960s and 1970s. For all practical purposes the Protocol was a kind of constitution for the New Hebrides. It provided the French and British Resident Commissioners with a para-constitutional framework upon which to enact new laws by joint regulation. The protocol remained in place, despite modifications, until Vanuatu achieved independence on 30 July 1980.

The Protocol consists of 83 pages and 68 articles, complete with French and English translations.