BLOODSHED IN SAMOA

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 81, 30 December 1929, Page 9

BLOODSHED IN SAMOA

CONSTABLE AND TWO MAU MEMBERS KILLED OTHER CASUALTIES EXCEED THIRTY SERIOUS RIOTING IN STREETS; POLICE STATION ATTACKED A constable and two members of the Mau were killed and two constables and thirty members of the Mau were injured in Apia on Saturday morning in the most serious disturbance that has taken place in Western Samoa since New Zealand assumed the mandate of the territory. The rioting resulted from a parade of the Mau in honour of the return of Mr. A. G. Smyth, whose deportation order (made in 1927) expired on December 22 last, and the visit of his counsel, Mr. Hall Skelton, of Auckland. Associated with the Mau procession were several men wanted on warrant by the police, and in an attempt to arrest some of these men a desperate encounter was started. Using revolvers police reinforcements rescued all except Constable William Abraham, who was beaten to death. The disturbance was finally quelled, and no developments are expected by the Administration. What action the New Zealand Government will take over the situation will be decided at a meeting of Cabinet this morning.

Details of the disturbance are contained in the following statement issued last night by the Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs (Rt Hon. Sir Joseph Ward) : — “Advice has been received from the Administrator of Western Samoa (Colonel Allen) that a riot occurred in Apia on Saturday morning iu which Constable William Abraham and two Mau men were killed. Two police and about thirty of the Mau were injured, but the exact number of casualties is not yet definitely known. 200 Mau Engaged. “A large number of the Mau came into town to welcome Messrs. Smyth and Hall Skelton and paraded with men ‘wanted’ by the police, who tried to arrest some of the men ‘wanted. The arresting party was armed with batons only, and was attacked immediately by some 200 Mau with sticks and stones. Beaten to Death. } “A supporting party of police armed with revolvers moved up to rescue, and got all the police clear except Constable Abraham, who was struck with an axe and beaten to death. “The supporting party of police used revolvers and withdrew to the police station, which the Mau then attacked, but were driven off by a Lewis gun being fired over their heads into the sea. Telephone Lines Wrecked. “The Mau party then left the town, followed by an armed patrol to the end of the Beach Road, since when they have wrecked the telephone lines east of Apia.” “The Administrator advises that no special development is expected; also that the Mau were previously warned not to parade any wanted men through the town.” The Prime Minister said that the next-of-kin of the deceased constable were in Belfast, Ireland, and he had informed them by cablegram. NEW ZEALAND’S ACTION. “I have called Cabinet together in order to give the matter immediate attention,” added Sir Joseph Ward, “and I have also asked the Administrator to keep me informed of any

changes and also whether he required any assistance.” EXILE ENDED TWO YEARS’ BANISHMENT MR. A. G. SMYTHE’S RETURN The Mr. A. G. Smyth referred to in the Prime Minister’s statement was the subject of one of the three deportation orders made in 1927 banishing from Western Samoa those who, it was held, were largely responsible for discontent amongst the natives in the mandated territory. The three deportees were Messrs. O. F. Nelson and E. W. Gurr, who were ordered to leave Western Samoa for five years, and Mr. A. G. Smyth, whose term of period of absence expired on December 22. He spent the greater part of his exile in Suva, and returned to Apia from Pago Pago on Saturday. The other deportees are both in New Zealand. The deportation orders were the culminating point of protracted' inquiry and discussion as to the causes of native disaffection with the Dominion’s administration in the mandated territory. A long statement in justification of the deportation orders wwas issued by the late Prime Minister (the Right Hon. J. G. Coates) a month after the orders were made. Declaring that the Government had determined to take a stronger course in governing Western Samoa, he referred to the deplorable effect of the Mau activities on the natives, particularly in the matter of public health, and indicted Messrs. Nelson, Gurr, and Smyth as the source of origin of the trouble, expressing confidence that, left to themselves, the Samoans would gradually of their own accord realise the position and co-operate with the Administration as in the past. “It cannot be made too clear,” Mr. Coates had said, “that this step is not in any way a punishment for a crime or an offence. It is not in the strict sense of the term a judicial act —it is an executive act, taken not as a penalty but as a preventive measure to facilitate the good Government of the territory.”