"BIG BROTHERS."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 173, 23 July 1936, Page 10

"BIG BROTHERS."

SAMOAN SITUATION. QUESTION IN PARLIAMENT. GOVERNMENT'S POLICY. (By Telegraph.— Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Attention was directed in the House of Representatives to-day by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Forbes, to the alleged statement of the high chief Tamasese that the Samoans desired to manage their own affairs. Mr. Forbes, addressing the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, asked if the statement made by the leader of the goodwill mission, the Hon. P. Langstone, as reported in the cable message to the newspapers: "That we don t want Samoa, we don't want your bananas, and we don't want the Maui Pomare"— had the sanction of Cabinet.

The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Semple: We want the bananas all right. The Prime Minister: My reply to the right lion, member is that the Government's policy m regard to Samoa is correctly expressed by the Hon. Mr. Langstone, when he stated, as reported in the same Press message from which the statement mentioned in Mr. Forbes' question is quoted that: "Our sole desire is to act as big brothers and to do everything possible in your (Samoan) interests." The Rt. Hon. ,T. G. Coates (National, Kaipara): Is that an answer? The Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Parry: It all depends who receives it.