SAMOAN EVENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 65, 18 March 1930, Page 8

SAMOAN EVENTS.

PROSPECT OF PEACE. MORE CONFIDENCE FELT. RESULT OF CONFERENCE. FUTURE STATUS OF MAU. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SUVA, March 3. Mau lavalavas have once again appeared in the streets of Apia, after an absence, of nearly seven weeks. To-day they are present in great numbers, and the Mau have been parading the streets since dawn. At present there is a truce between the Malo and Mau factions. The Administrator, Colonel S. S. Allen, after a great deal of effort and the use of much diplomacy, has arranged, with the assistance of the missionaries, to meet the Mau to-day. The Mau are safeguarded by a proclamation issued last Wednesday, and signed by the Administrator, Colonel Allen, and the Minister of Defence, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, who is at present visiting Apia. The proclamation declares that neither the Mau, nor the police, or naval forces at present operating in this territory shall make any hostile move while negotiations are in progress. The first, of the Mau to appear bore considerable traces of the time they I had spent in the bush. With long hair and unkempt beards, and dirty and torn lavalavas, they were objects of much interest and some amusement.However, the later arrivals are just the antithesis of their predecessors, and are now parading the streets looking exceedingly trim, with close cropped hair and clean and carefully ironed blue lavalavas. These lavalavas are the only visible sign that they belong to an organisation which was declared seditious only seven weeks ago. Purple turbans are not being worn any longer. To-day the Mau are taking a great delight in marching up and down through the streets in small parties, and in visiting the stores, which they have been unable to do since the arrival of the naval forces. Mau Prepared to Go Back. It is well known liere that the Mau consider they have achieved a great victory in the Government seeking to open negotiations with them. Undoubtedly the advances, leading to the declaration of the present truce, were made by the Administration, and the Mau are openly boasting of this. Many of them have said also that should their demands or the terms of their surrender not be to their liking thev will at once return to the bush. Many traders and planters in the districts which have been declared to be "disturbed areas," say that the Mau are preparing for a further stay in the bush, and are transporting quantities of food and clothing to their temporary homes in the hills. They are taking every advantage of the protection afforded them by the proclamation of last Wednesday. It would thus seem that the previous efforts of the Administration to starve the Mau out of the bush have been in vain, and that if negotiations fail and they return to the bush they will be in a considerably stronger position than before. A meeting of the Mau was held at Malua on Saturday to discuss the forthcoming meeting with the Administrator. Various reports of the decisions arrived at have been reaching Apia throughout the week-end. It is well known, however, that the Mau are highly suspicious of the Government's action in calling the chiefs together at I Vaimoso. Child-like, they fear some | trick. Rumours are also ( current that they had refused to meet the Administrator but wished to see Mr. Cobbe alone. This shows their lack of faith in any of the officials of the Samoan Administration. How a Grievance Arose. Your correspondent, when speaking to High Chief Tamasese a few weeks before the fatal clash on December 28, when he was killed, was given an insight into the reasons why the Mau and the present Administrator have never met to discuss the situation. Tamasese said that when Colonel Allen first arrived they fully expected him to make immediate arrangements for a fono. Some months elapsed, and during all this time, the Administrator heard only one side of the story. The chiefs theu thought that he would be biased in the view he would take of the situation. When finally some agreement was reached and a meeting arranged, a most regrettable accident occurred, when the military police attempted to arrest several chiefs who were on their way to see the Administrator. Explanations were of no avail, and from then on the Samoans have steadily lost confidence in the Government. Police and Marines Active. The activites of the police and naval forces were continued throughout the last month up to the time of the present truce in much the same way as before. Frequent raiding parties of both police, and marines and seamen still harried the Mau, but with very little result, except to keep them on the move. Usually the police arrived a little too late to effect any arrests. Many more newly completed fales and other temporary shelters have been destroyed. These raiding parties suffer considerable inconvenience in their excursions into the bush. Many of the excursions are at night and lights, of course, cannot be used, as they would give warning of their approach. Even the largest camps of marines and seamen at Leauvaa and Mulifanua are far from comfortable, and the men quartered there are having a pretty arduous time. Many of them have had to receive medical attention for minor injuries and complaints peculiar to the tropics. The news that 300 men have been recruitcd in New Zealand to further augment the present forces, has created considerable interest. At first it seemed that even the moral effect of this knowledge would assist the Adminisi tration. Shortly after it became known, a party of 25 Mau gave themselves up : to the police. Tliey appeared thoroughly ■ disgusted with and tired of their [ sojourn in the bush. As none of them , I were "wanted" men, tliey were dis- , i charged and allowed to return to their j own homes. It was then thought that the Mau were realising the futility of holding out any longer. Subsequent events are proving that the main body of the Mau are becoming much more amenable to reason. This is certainly a bright spot in what has up till; now appeared to be a deadlock.