GOODWILL MISSION TO SAMOA

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21966, 15 December 1936, Page 12

GOODWILL MISSION TO SAMOA

INTEREST SHOWN AT GENEVA • (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, November 21. New Zealand’s “goodwill mission” to Western Samoa caused considerable interest at Geneva when the Permanent Mandates Commission opened its thirtieth session on November 11. The exact trend of the discussion among members of the commission will not be published until the minutes of the meeting have been placed before the league council at its next meeting during January. In the meantime, the “Fortnightly News,” published by the league, notes that “in the case of Western Samoa, the commission was informed of the changes in policy which had followed upon the recent change of Government in the mandatory, New Zealand. It was stated that the goodwill mission which had been sent to Samoa by the Government of New Zealand in order to seek the closest co-operation of all sections of the Samoan people, had produced very satisfactory results. The accredited representative said that the policy of the mandatory power was not to make a profit out of the territory, but on the contrary to develop its resources solely in the interests of the territory itself, and to the benefit of the native population. The new policy adopted by the Government of New Zealand toward Samoa gave rise to an extended discussion between the accredited representative and the members of the Mandates Commission. New Zealand’s accredited representative on this occasion was Mr C. A. Berendsen, Permanent Head of the Prime Minister’s Department. He is now on his way to Australia aboard the Narkunda.