Evening Post. MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1927. A BROAD HINT

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 142, 20 June 1927, Page 8

Evening Post. MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1927. A BROAD HINT

The early days of our administration of Western Samoa were distinguished by a good deal of discontent which for the most part simmered audibly but gently, and might perhaps have been less gentle and more enduring if it had been less free to make itself audible. As it was, this simmering discontent threatened occasionally to boil over and make serious trouble. There was really no cause for surprise or alarm in a process that was virtually inevitable. The change of rulers, the epidemic of unrest which in the wake of the War spread to all parts of the earthi with the pervasiveness of influenza, the genius of the Samoan people for grievance and intrigue, and the interest of. agitators, both white and coloured, to aggravate the difficulties of the new experiment to the utmost possible extent, provided a combination which no skill in administration could have surmounted with complete success. It is hardly necessary to add that the prentice hands to which the experiment was entrusted could not at first bring to the task all the skill that experience was afterwards able to suggest. But on the whole New Zealand has very good ground for satisfaction and even for pride in .the success with which her representatives in Samoa have enabled her, to discharge her obligations under the Mandate during the most difficult period. It is a matter for sptcial satisfaction that this success appears-to have reached its climax under the present Administration, and that the principle of securing the co-operation of die natives and impressing them with a sense of y comradeship and responsibility is being applied by Sir George Richardson with steadily improving results. • But even now the millennium has not been established in Western Samoa. The hiss of the serpent is still occasionally heard in that Pacific Eden, though less loudly and less frequently,than before. It was vaguely known that there had recently been a recurrence of the old malady, but in the absence of particulars an exact diagnosis was impossible. Even after die cabled report of the statement made in Suva by the Hon. Mr. Nosworthy on his way from Samoa there is still plenty of room for surmise a.s to die nature and extent of the trouble. But it is at least clear that the trouble has been considered serious enough to justify preparations for drastic action, and diat diis action will be taken unless diere is a speedy change for the better. There is certainly a refreshing ring of vigour about the Minister's statement, and as he must be presumed to be speaking with the full concurrence of the Administrator of Western Samoa die public will assume diat die vigour is timely and salutary. As in previous cases, die trouble seems to be die joint product of malcontents of both races, but die whites are regarded as die ringleaders, and it is against diem that die special procedure in view is designed. It appears, indeed, that the tactics which Mr. Nosworthy and the Administrator are determined to discourage have a much more venerable antiquity than the beginning of New Zealand's responsibility for the government of the Islands. The attack which has been made against the. Administration has a precedent which ante-dates our Mandate by at least ten years. In 1910 a petition was presented to the President of the German Reichstag from Western Samoa, and this document "covered almost identical language ; and die same grounds as die present attack on die Administration." The meeting to which Mr. Nosworthy made diis statement comprised six European delegates from the Citizens' Committee, six native chiefs, and about 1000 natives, and it is highly significant that he was able to add diat die signatories to the petition "included two of the present delegation." The statement must have made a deep impression on the meeting, and will certainly produce that effect, elsewhere. It seemed to be a perfectly inference that the grievance or alleged grievance is not the product of New Zealand's Administration, and for New Zealand diat is die matter of most conrafn. It seems also to be at least highly probable diat die signatories who in 1927 are reviving the grievawe of 1910 are not of British extraction, .and probable, though perhaps in a lower degree, that their colour is not brown but white. The last of these inferences is strengthened by the context of Mr. Nosworthy's statement, in which he has apparently reproduced the substance of his speech. After referring to a petition in which the Faipules had eulogised the present Administration and asked that "certain Europeans endeavouring to foment dissatisfaction be made to cease," die Minister condemned the action of agitators who had interfered with die King's Birthday celebrations. Ho_ t was prepared, he said, to take drastic steps to stop the agitation. He was satisfied the present Administra-

tion was in tho best interests of all. 1 ho agitation was not prompted by any regard for tho real interests of the natives, and any success it had achieved had been due to misrepresentation. Efforts to disunite and upset a' fine race like the Samoans was criminal, and deserved to be treated as a crime.

He added that "if there were further agitation the Citizens' Committee would be held responsible," and that he was "giving the Committee a first and last reasonable chance to undo the intrigue," failing which further action would be taken. That is the kind of talk calculated to impress both races in Samoa, and, if the facts are ns we have assumed, to impress them favourably. The nature of the action which is contemplated if Mr. Nosworthy's broad hint is not taken was revealed after he had left Apia. A wireless message had informed him of the amending of the Immigration Order so as to empower the Administrator to deport from Samoa any person considered to be "disaffected or disloyal, or likely to be a source of danger to the peace, order, and good government of the territory." General Richardson, who has ruled over Western Samoa with a paternal gentleness and benevolence, will now be able to play the Roman father, to those who persistently endeavour to Wreck his good work. But the mere existence of the power Is likely to obviate the need for its application.