COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY SET UP.

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

COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY SET UP.

DISCUSSION IN HOUSE. [THE PBEBB BpeeUl Strrlee.] WELLINGTON, July 26. A committee of nine members, with power to confer with any similar committee which may be appointed by the Legislative Council, was Bet up by the House of Representatives this afternoon to consider the petition which has been received from certain persons in Samoa. The personnel of the committee is: The Hon. Mr Nosworthy (Minister for External Affairs), Sir Apirana Ngata, Messrs G. W. Forbes, A. Hamilton, F. F. Hockly, H. E. Holland, E. J. Howard, E. P. Lee, and J. Linklater. The motion to set up the committee was passed without debate, but there was some discussion on an added motion that if after having received the Departmental report the committee deems any further action necessary, it shall refer the petition to the Administrator of Samoa for his report and comment, the committee to defer making its report until it has received a reply from the Administrator,

The Leader of the Opposition said everybody would agree with the setting up of the committee but he objected to the last clause, which, if he understood it aright, limited the evidence which the committee could take. In one way it limited the committee to the Departmental reports, but if there was any evidence from Samoa the committee would be compelled to send it to the Administrator, whose administration was being appealed against, and it would have to rely on his report. The committee would not be worth while setting up unless it had power to call evidence from Samoa.

The Prime Minister: This is the procedure laid down by the JOeague of Nations. It doeß not limit the committee in calling evidence. Mr Holland: I should like to be clear on that. The Government will have a majority on the committee, but if we have the Prime Minister's assurance that they will not stand in the way of bringing in any evidence which a section of the committee may desire, I shall not have any objection. Mr G. W. Forbeß (Leader of the Nationalists) said it was unusual to give instructions to a committee as to what action it should follow. The Prime Minister said it had been explained to him by the Government's legal advisers that the procedure suggested was necessary in order to comply with the terms of the mandate that petitions must be referred to the Administrator for his report. _ Mr Holland: Has the committee the right to call evidence!

The Prime Minister: Certainly. Its powers to call for papers and persons are not limited.

Mr H. L. Tapley (Dunedin North) said it seemed to him that the most cumbersome method was being suggested for dealing with the petition. The matter was of such supreme Importance to New Zealand that the House would be justified in appointing a committee, not necessarily of nine members, to go to Samoa, make a thorough investigation, and settle the difficulties on the spot. "I have it in my own mind," Mr Tapley continued, "that if the. matter had been handled tactfully it might have been settled while the Minister was in Samoa." (Hear, hear.) Mr Tapley was proceeding to argue against the setting up of the committee of nine members when he was reminded by the Speaker that the House had already eed to the appointment of the committee. Mr Potter (Eoskill): Do I understand the Prime Minister to say that even if a minority of the. committee call for persons and papers from Samoa they will be vobtained? I am sorry if that is right. The Prime Minister: They must be called for by a majority of the committee. The clause was then passed, and another was added, malting it clear that the committee had power to call for persons and papers. TROUBLE WITH LABOURERS ? [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, July 26. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr H. E. Holland) asked in the House to-day whether the Government had received any information concerning the arrest of some Samoa Island labourers—he understood they were from the Solomons—and if these men had been held without bail for refusing to work! Was it that they had asked for tho same treatment as the Chinese in connexion ■\ 'th the expiration of their period of servicef The Hon. Mr Nosworthy replied that the Government had not received any such information from the Administrator. PUNISHMENTS. QUESTIONS AND REPLIES. (PEESS ASSOCIATION TELEORAK.) WELLINGTON, July 26. In the House this afternoon Mr Lysnaf asked the Prime Minister: (1) If it is true that one of the Samoans who made representations on behalf of disaffected natives to the Hon. Mr Nosworthy has since been deported? (2) How many disaffected natives of Samoa have been deported since Clause 6 (1) of the Samoan immigration consolidation order has been amended so as to give power to the Administrator to order any person to leave Samoa without trial? (3) According to the Minister for External Affairs' statement in to-day's Press, the Administrator of Sam a has cancelled the licenses of two traders. Will the Prime Minister inform the House, (a) under what authority are these licenses cancelled? Is it by further Order-in-Council? (b) Whose trading licenses have been cancelled? To the first question the Prime Minister replied in the negative, but added that the Administrator had found it necessary, acting on the advice of an impartial committee of chiefs, to remove five of the Samoan members of the Citizens' Committee from Apia. The remaining Samoan member had been imprisoned after trial by the High Court. In reply to the second part of the question, Mr Coates said "none." Proceeding, Mr Coates said that trading licenses were cancelled under the authority of the taxation, licensing, and revenue amendment ordinance, 1924, which provided that: "Where the Administrator is satisfied that the granting to any person of any new license, or the holding by any person of any existing license, may prejudicially affect the peace, order, or good government of the territory, he may order that no such license shall be granted to that person, or that such existing license shall be cancelled." Mr Coates said that no official advice as to the cancellation of trading licenses had been received.