GOVERNMENT OF SAMOA

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 194, 17 August 1932, Page 6

GOVERNMENT OF SAMOA

While I was in Fiji recently I had numerous opportunities to discuss with prominent persons the subject of our administration of Samoa. The view that the islands should be handed over to the Colonial Office was almost universal. While people were not ready to discuss our Samoan troubles, the immistakeable impression I gained was that New Zealand had failed and was continuing- to fail because we could not supply trained administrators, nor could we supply civil servants trained to handle a native race. The natural corollary to this was that the Mandated Territory of Samoa should be handed to the Colonial Office in. Downing Street to govern. The Colonial Office lias trained officiate to call upon, and moreover I believe the Samoans themselves would prefer to be governed direct from Downing Street and not by New Zealand, which admittedly has been looked upon by the natives with such disfavour. The impressions I gained in Fiji and from people recently returned from Samoa are that this disfavour continues and I think New Zealand would be well advised to ask the Colonial Office to take over the administration of the Western Samoan Territory. ERNEST DAVIS.