NEW ZEALAND IN SAMOA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 121, 24 May 1935, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND IN SAMOA.

All well-wishers of the Samoans and those who are interested in the promotion of New Zealand prestige in Samoa must agree with your editorial statement that "the forthcom ; ing retirement of Mr. Hart, the Administrator of Western Samoa, gives the Government another opportunity to reconsider its policy and the recruitment of the Civil Service in the mandated territory." But the most urgent essential now is a complete change of policy, which includes some significant amendments in the Samoa Act, 1921, and the removal of the so-called emergency laws, as an earnest towards the establishment of confidence between the Mandatory Government and the Samoan people. No one will deny the necessity of sending an experienced man to Samoa as Administrator, and that the Government "should give him a free hand." But has not every man who was sent to Samoa as Administrator of the territory been considered here at the time as a very suitable man, who was to have a free hand? Was any one of them ever given a free hand since General Richardson? What success can be expected of a new manager in any kind of concern who is expected to repudiate all the debts owing by his predecessors, and to enforce payment of all accounts owing to them? In a nutshell, this is just what has been attempted in Samoa till now, and, under these conditions, the best man which the British Colonial Office can supply will do no better than those hitherto sent to Samoa by New Zealand. How can sweet words and a kindly disposition heal old sores when new ones are inflicted on every conceivable occasion? Because these one-sided attempts at conciliation have failed, the Government in Wellington has tried to account for the failure by the wrongful claim that the Samoans have always been susceptible to political intrigue and will never cease being so. Is this fair on the Samoans or on those in New Zealand and Samoa who earnestly wish to see a lasting settlement brought about? Is it fair to those men who have conscientiously followed in Samoa tho policy laid down for them by the Government in Wellington? Will it produce the much-desired settlement long overdue? No! That lies with the authorities in Wellirgton, where the policies are decided. 0. P. NELSON.