THE COOK ISLANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 251, 22 October 1919, Page 6

THE COOK ISLANDS.

' The indications are that the Govern- • ' ment has slight intention of investigating ; the charges made by Cook Island residents against the administration, or of doinT anything to liberalise a constitution in which the Commissioner, provided he can rely on the backing of the New Zealand Government for the time being, has the most autocratic powers. We have had placed at our disposal a large amount of documentary evidence that at least affords a sufficient basis for impartial inquiry. That the white residents • should be represented on a Council which ' should also include elected native members seems to us so obvious as to require no argument. The knowledge acquired by the white planter and trader who has spent a life-time in the islands should not be lost in the interests of the community as a whole. Such a waste is ridiculous. Our system since the Dominion took over the destinies of this group has been to appoint a New Zealander of legal training as Commissioner. The claim ! that a man with the extended powers that this official has should have a know* ledge of the tropics and their problems • of production and labour cannot be gainsaid. This demand of the Progressive Association for a Commissioner who has a record of experience in tropical lands . is one of the soundest put forward by . those who claim that under the present . official the islands are suffering economi- . cally and from the development of a fcel--5 ing of disunion between sections of the > population. Given the right man, and a , Council which would have some real say f in the conduct of affairs, and we think , that the dissatisfaction and bitterness , now rampant would rapidly disappear. , Nothing can be done this session, but t tlie Government should make an imparI tial inquiry, and Parliament should bo , in a position when next it meets to fully I dißcuss the control of these islands. A , disposition to 'burke an investigation ( augurs badly for our handling of the . still more difficult problem of the estab- . lishment of civil administration that will . be equitable to all interests in Samoa.