THE CASE OF SAMOA

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 27, 31 January 1919, Page 7

THE CASE OF SAMOA

PRESENTED BY MR.

MASSEY

DANGERS THAT MUST NOT

RECUR

PAST FAILURE OF JOINT CONTROL.

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.—COPYRIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN-NKW ZEALAKD CABI,S ISSOCIATIOK.) LONDON, 29th January. The mail subject for consideration before the Council of the Great Powers meantime is the disposal of the German colonies and the claims of the respective British Dominions. The principal issue turns upon the system of future control, especially whether the control should bo internationalised under the League of Nations, with one nation actiag as a mandatory. There has been keen dissatisfaction over the fact that only one delegate from each Dominion is allowed to present its case. This is, generally surprising, since the Ministerial delegates in most cases were jointly concerned in the enterprise of capturing the German colonies. It is understood that the delegates have submitted a strong case.

Mr. Massey presented the ce*e for New Zealand in respect to Samoay »nd emphasised the virility and enterprise of New Zealand, which was destined, he believed, to be as useful to humanity in the Southern as the United Kingdom has been to humanity in the Northern Hemisphere. He recounted Samoa* unhappy history since the 'seventies, and the unsatisfactory results of the Triple Protectorate. Germany had been allowed to establish great trading station^ all over the Pacific, as well as energetic financial and commercial companies, a strong naval squadron, and a powerful wireless station. This was the position facing New Zealand when the war broke out. He contrasted the treatment of Uie Samoans with the treatment of the New Zealand Natives, who had been treated equally with other citizens. The Maoris were merging into the European popnlatiori. New Zealand, immediately on the declaration of war, responded to the request to send a military expedition to Samoa, whose harbours were offering shelter to raiders on New Zealand commerce. Samoa, in fact, was the headquarters of the German fleet in the Pacific. Two. thousand New Zealanders within ten days of the outbreak of war accepted the great i risk, and with tha aid of the Australian Dreadnought and a French cruiser secured the surrender of German Samoa, and had since successfully maintained the occupation acceptably to the native population of 35,000. The Prime Minister also' explained the menace to New Zealand from the German squadron in the Pacific, and cited tne Battle of Coronel, in which the British cruisers were outranged. It was only the presence of the Australia that prevented a German bombardment of New -wil.ind coastal towns and extensive destruction to New Zealand shipping, especially ships conveying foodstuffs to Britain. Neverthelees the Germans got raiders into the Pacific, which snnk ships and laid many mines. New Zealand was .endeavouring, , not unsuccessfully,, to build up a British nation in the Pacific, and did not. want to be again confronted with a menace similar to that of the past. -Joint control always and everywhere had been an ignominious failure. What a native 'relied on, required, and wanted wae opportunity to develop in the security of a generous, practical contrbl, such as that which had inspired the spontaneous loyalty and Substantial sacrifices of the Maoris and South Sea Islanders, who had fought equally nobly with "the Allies' armie6, and acquitted themselves like men. New Zealand'a administration of Samoa had not been a war experiment, but simply an extension of a settled and successful policy as regards the treatment of the native race. Mr. Massey strongly urged, for thb sake of all the peoples in the South Pacific^ that Samoa should remain under British control.