SAMOA.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19063, 27 July 1927, Page 8

SAMOA.

BILL BEFORE THE HOUSE. RIGHT OF TRIAL. LABOUR DELAYS PROGRESS. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, July 26. The Samoa Bill was before the House of Bepresentatives to-day. The Prime Minister moved that urgency be granted for the Bill on the <rround that the Government desired to pass it through all its stages at that sitting. To this the Leader of the Opposition objected, and asked why the need for such haste. He suggested it was being rushed through because the Government had discovered that all its deportations were illegal. _ On the question being put a division was called for, when urgency was granted by 48 votes to 12. The House went into Committee on the Bill. The Leader of the Opposition resumed his contention that the Government had been acting in Samoa without constitutional authority in making deportations. To cover up their tracks they were forcing terroristic legislation through Parliament. Mr Forbes (Hurunui) discussed two amendments which he said he would move later: (1) That some person appointed by the Governor-General shall act with the Administrator in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Bill; and (2) giving accused persons the right to employ counsel in their defence. Mr Lysnar (Gisborne) asked the Prime Minister to make it clear in the Bill that there would be a right of trial before deportation took place. The Bill was too loosely drafted. Many of its provisions Were a travesty of justice; Mr J. A. Lee (Auckland West) contended that there 'was no warrant for framing a Bill on the lines which put the onus of proof of innocence on the accused person. Mr H. B. Holland said ho had made the charge that the Government's action in making, deportations was illegal and unconstitutional, and t< that charge no answer had been given. The Government's silence was the explanation for rushing this Bill through. He had complained that the Chief Justice sat in the Legislative Council, took a partisan view of legislation, and then sat in Court and tried people charged under that legislation. That position was intolerable, and he would try to amend the Bill to get rid of that position. In the meantime he awaited an answer to his first question. Mr Tapley (Dunedin North) twitted the Labour JParty with denouncing capital, and yet supporting capitalists in Samoa. The exploitation of natives had been carried on in Samoa by the commercial community, and yet the Labour Party was supporting the exploiters. He had every confidence in the Administrator, and believed he would be fair to all parties in Samoa. Government's Powers. The Prime Minister said there was no doubt that the Government had power to deport natives. He could give an assurance that natives would not be deported from Samoa, but it might be necessary to banish them from one village, or from one island to another. This legislation did not validate any existing ordinance or Order-in-Council. All that it did was to bring directly before Parliament the powers for which the Government was asking, viz., power to banish and deport residents of Samoa by Order-in-Council. Mr Howard (Christchurch South) contended that Samoans were not British subjects, and we had no power under the mandate to deport them. By the mandate they were brought under the law of New Zealand, but this was not New Zealand law. Mr Sullivan' (Avon) said that throughout the whole of the debates on this Bill the Government had not produced one bit of evidence linking up the Citizens' Committee with the present disturbed state of affairs in Samoa. Under this Bill it was very possible that an innocent person might be deported, and an injustice done, because there was no provision for trial. The Prime Minister said the Bill provided for trial, and the Government was I quite agreeable that accused persons should have the Tight to call in the aid of counsel. Mr Lysnar (Gisborne) said that what was in the Bill did not amount to trial. He asked the Prime Minister to put the right of fair trial fairly and squarely in the Bill. Mr Horn (Wakatipu) suggested that perhaps it was not altogether wise to have a mili' iy Administrator in Samoa, and he asked the Government to consider whether the time had not arrived when a civil Administrator should be appointed. ' Mr J. A. Lee (Auckland East) said it was quite evident that the Government had against the Citizens' Committee no charge on which they could be legally sentenced, and so they proposed to deport them without trial. Mr Savage (Auckland West) argued that already there existed powers in the Samoa Act sufficienr to deal with every form of crime, but now they were asked to condemn the criminal before his case was investigated. Every form of the House should be exhausted before such a power was given to any man. The Fono of Paipules. Mr Veitch (Wanganui) declared that the only solution of the Samoan troubles was to revert to the hereditary principle, and appoint only high-born chiefs to important positions. The Samoans looked up to and reverenced hereditary riilers, yet many of the men appointed t& the Fono of Faipules were men of humble origin, and were not looked up to by the people. Mr E. P. Lee (Oamaru) quoted authority for the statement that the hereditary principle did not prevail in Samoa as much as was generally supposed. The Faipules in the Fono did actually represent the native opinion of Samoa. Mr Fraser (Wellington Central) s,aid there was evidence on every hand that there had been lack of tact in Samoa. He did not believe the Prime Minister would support General Richardson in threatening Mr Nelson with deportation because he came to New Zealand tO represent the stafle of his country. A LATE SITTING. [THE PEESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, July 26. In spite of the determined opposition which is being shown to the Bill by Labour members, the Government is determined to put the BUI through all IZaes at the present sitting. The genaf option sfems to be that this cannotbe, accomplished before 4 a.m.