POLYNESIAN RACES

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 69, 15 December 1931, Page 10

POLYNESIAN RACES

American’s Impressions TOUR OF THE ISLANDS After spending several months at Samoa, Tahiti, Rarotonga and several others of the. South Pacific Islands, Mr. M. Greene, correspondent for the “Christian Science Monitor,” the Baltimore “Sun,” the New York "Sun,” and other leading newspapers in America, arrived on a visit to New Zealand by the Monowai yesterday. In an Interview, Mr. Greene told “The Dominion” that it would be a good thing for Tahiti if more New Zealanders went there. The island at present was being spoiled to a great extent by a great many “undesirables,” mainly from America, who had left their own country because of the bad conditions prevailing there. Speaking of Samoa, he said the Administrator, Brigadier-General Hart, was doing a great deal of valuable work; he was keeping away from the political side as much as possible, and

if he were given a free hand probably he would do a great deal toward reconciling the present difficult situation. The Cook Islands were being very capably administrated by Judge Ayson, who handled the people there very tactfully—so successfully that the Cook Islands stood as an example to the other South Pacific islands. “The Polynesians should be treated in the same way as the' Europeans,” Mr. Greene said. "They are a very simple people, not advanced a great deal, intellectually, but they have very fine characteristics. The white man had not assisted them greatly, and allowance should be made for that, but I am convinced that it is a great mistake to adopt a militaristic attitude with the Polynesians.” Some years a®o Mr. Greene did a good deal of newtoaper work in Manchuria, and, referring to the Manchurian troubles yesterday, he said that there was a good deal to be said for the Japanese attitude. There was a great deal of banditry in China, largely due to the fact that the people in the barren districts were almost on the verge of starvation, and of course the bandits were easy game for Bolsheviks and Bolshevik principles. What Japan feared was that the Nanking Government had some understanding with Russia, and it had good reason to fear that .was the position. Mr. Greene said he thought the League of Nations had been ill advised to take China’s side in the dispute, as apparently it bad done so at first; now, however, it seemed to have changed its attitude.