KING’S WRIT NOT RUNNING

Evening Star, Issue 19772, 24 January 1928, Page 9

KING’S WRIT NOT RUNNING

Serious Samoan Situation Court and Tax Officials Defied Medical Help and Sanitation Refused The Premier Justifies Deportations Mite Intrigue Causes Discontent in a statement issued by the Prime Minister, he gives the reasons underlying the Government’s approval of the deportation of Messrs Nelson, Gurr, and Smyth, and discloses the very grave situation existing in Samoa through the operations of the Mau. In the first place (he says) 1 think it is not generally recognised in New Zealand that our administration of Samoa has for many months past been very largely ineffective. In Samoa to-day the native people are seriously disunited. A large section of them is in a state of passive resistance to constituted authority. So far as they are concerned the King’s writ is not running. They are refusing to obey the orders and summonses of the court, even though serious indictable and criminal offences are involved. They are refusing to pay their taxes. They are failing to search for beetles oMo account for those collected. They are neglecting their SSon.. They are keeping their children from the Government schools, and, perhaps most serious of all, they are rejecting medical help and neglecting sanitary precautions.

SUMMARY OF SITUATION GRAVE EFFECT OH NATIVE HEALTH SOME PLACES LIKE CESS PITS. Tt is impossible to ignore the serious position that exists to-day (continues Mr Coates), and has existed lor some months past, and it is not too much to say that sufficient mischief Ims nlreadv been done to prejudice the prosperity of Samoa and the Samoans for many years to come, 'the failure of the natives to collect beetles,_ tor example, must have an exceedingly detrimental effect on the production of copra, on which the prosperity of the islands so largely depends. During the last financial year no fewer than 5.308,531 beetles, lame, and eggs were collected and destroyed, and the potential menace of this neglect to a tree that is vital even to the existence of the Samoans is a very real danger.

It does not appear to be generally appreciated also that we in New Zealand had to take authority in the Finance Act last session to advance to the Samoan Treasury a sum up to £30,000 to meet the anticipated deficit in the Samoan finances, directly due to the activities of the Mau, and the loss to Samoa will undoubtedly be considerably increased in tho future owing to the decline in both the import and export trade, which must necessarily follow the disruption of the normal life of the country. It must not he forgotten also that the amount we will be called upon to advance to meet these deficits will be in addition to the sum of £20,000 which we regularly vote to supplement the Samoan revenues.

The effect of the Mail activities upon our health administration has been most marked and most deplorable. Dr Hunt, our acting chief medical adviser, testified before the Commission as follows: —"In 1995 child welfare work was commenced. . . . The results

have been most gratifying, the infant mortality rate having been practically halved in three years. Unfortunately the present unrest has, I fear, resulted in the disbanding of many of these committees, and, if so, there will be an increase this year in infant mortality.” One of our European inspectors in Savaii testified that the native mothers subject to Man influence were not bringing their babies to the child welfare officer; that in certain villages (which he named) sanitary measures had been so neglected that the places were not better than cesspits; amt that he expected an outbreak of disease during the ensuing hot season. Dr Hunt also said that if the Medical Department does not hold the confidence of the natives, our effort in the campaign of preventive medicine against disease is to a large extent nullified.

The Citizens’ Committee, in its report on the Medical Department, which was translated into the Samoan language, told the natives: “We want a medical department that commands repeat and confidence, not one which creates more or less ridicule.'’ Although Mr A. Williams, M.L.C., who was the author of this report, when confronted under cross-examination with the tributes of impartial experts of international standing to the wonderful success of Now Zealand’s medical services in Samoa, unreservedly Withdrew his report and apologised for having made it, and, although the senior counsel for the Citizens’ Committee, in his list of formal charges specifically stated Hospital Department, no charge,” Mr Nelson, under cross-examination, persisted. He said: “I still agree with that passage, and take lull responsibility for it. I still say it is true.” With a due sense of responsibility, I say that as a direct result of Ihe Man influence, which has so largely destroyed the confidence of the natives in our health administration, many innocent lives must be lost in Samoa. THE MAU INFLUENCE DISGRUNTLED TRADERS Before proceeding to inquire into the cause and the possible remedies of the state of affairs in Samoa, we might contrast the present position with that existing before the activities ol the Man. Though in the past we have had some minor difficulties with Samoa, these have long been successfully surmounted. and in recent years it is not too much to say that the Samoans have been a united, contented, happy, healthy, and prosperous people, un-

doubtedly grateful to the Administration for all the many benefits derived from schools, hospitals , dispensaries, sanitation, water supplies, roads, and other public services, and all tho privileges that are accorded by settled and orderly government. In fact, the Administration of our trusteeship oier the Samoans has evoked admiration practically throughout tho world. So far as the present Administrator is concerned, I think it might fairly be said that there never has been a more successful Governor of native peoples, and at this point I think I might also say that there can never have been a more complete vindication of an Administration than that afforded by the report of the Samoan Commission. The cause of this change in the attitude of the Samoans is not now a matter of doubt. The Commission has said that “the actual consequences of tho Man organisation were really not in dispute before us,” and it is not surprising that the Commission has declared that “ the Mau cannot exist alongside of and concurrently with, the administration of the country under the mandate. One or other must give way.” As long ago as 1892 the then ’lntish Consul at Samoa (Sir Berry CusackSmith), in an official despatch to Lord Salisbury, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, summed up the Samoan situation of that day in the following pregnant words: — "When discontented the white residents have always retaliated by stirring up intrigues, revolts, and wars amongst the natives. When contented the white residents take no interest whatever in native affairs, except commercially, and leave the white officials a free hand in dealing with native matters. Without the moral support of the white residents I believe that no Samoan Government can ever be successful.”

The leading European members of the Citizens’ Committee, when under cross-examination before the Commission, admitted the substantial accuracy of these observations, and also their applicability to Samoa to-day, just as much as in 1892. Nor could they have done otherwise in the face of past and recent events in Samoan history. SAMOAN SUSCEPTIBILITY. The two chief causes of white discontent .in Samoa since the institution of mandate administration under Now Zealand are beyond the region of doubt. European discontent with our policy of prohibiting liquor was the root cause of tho agitation and native unrest in 1918, 1921, 1922, and, to a curtain extent, of the more recent disorders; but undoubtedly the menace to the business and wealth of the traders, of whom Mr Nelson is the largest and most influential, of tho administration’s experimental native copraselling policy was largely responsible for the present movement. The fact that this white discontent, due to policies entirely in the interest and for tho benefit of the indigenous people of the mandated territory, nevertheless manifested itself in most serious native intrigues and resistance to the administration throws a significant sidelight on the peculiar psychology of the .Samoan race. It is true that their European leaders protested to the Commission that, in openly and deliberately and for the first time allying natives with their political agitation, they hayl no thought of causing dissatisfaction with or of opposing or hindering the administration, but it is equally true that they were aware of the peculiar susceptibility of tho Samoans to political intrigue of this kind, and knew of the disastrous consequences to the natives of previous similar agitations. This they admitted under cross-ex-amination. Happily, I am no longer called upon to prove the facts of this sorry business. They have been investigated by a commission of whoso integrity and impartiality there can ba no possible doubt, and to which the Samoan ‘Guardian,’ the newspaper promoted and issued in Samoa by the European leaders of the Man movement, bore testimony in a leading article on October 6, 1927, in the following words:---“The hearings are patient and, from all indications, the scope of the investigation is broad. The incredulous should now believe that all complaints or objections in the petition of the Samoans, and in the reports of the Citizens’ Committee, will receive impartial treatment, unaffected by any party or political feeling. Its membership is a full guarantee of all these. The integrity of Sir Charles Skorrett and Judge MacCormaek is above suspicion and beyond reproach. The petitioners can vest complete faith in their sincerity.”

There can be no possible doubt that the position is as I have stated it, and that the present unfortunate state of affairs is due to the activities of the Man. OUR DUTY TO GOVERN. Now, our duty in New Zealand is to govern Samoa. The peace treaty, in instituting the system of mandates, makes it quite clear that those nations undertaking a mandate accept a snared trust on behalf of the peoples who arc “not yet able, to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world.” It is our duty to govern Samoa by tile terms of the mandate issued to us, and, quite apart from this, it is our duty to govern Samoa on humanitarian grounds in the interests of the Samoan natives. LIMITLESS PATIENCE SHOWN FIRMNESS ESSENTIAL HOW During the past six months the administration and the Government of New Zealand have shown limitless patience in most difficult circumstances, and have carried toleration to such an extent that it might even be said that our administration of the country has been ineffective during that time.

Even to-day we are advised that the Mau has actually set up a police force of its own, equipped with uniforms supplied by Mr Nelson’s firm, and that members of this “force” in uniform actually accompanied Mr Nelson on board the Tofua prior to his departure from Samoa.

With a full recognition of the dangerous situation that was developing the administration and the Government held their hand, and at the request of tho Administrator the fullest inquiry was instituted into the Samoan position. Now that this inquiry has been concluded and tho administration vindicated in every essential particular, we have determined that tho time has arrived when authority must ho enforced. It is our duty to govern Samoa, and from this point onward we intend to govern Samoa. Tho question that then arose for decision was as to the method to be adopted to reintroduce a settled condition of law and order in tho islands.

We had ample power if we chose to enforce the law in the same manner as the law would be enforced in New Zealand. The objections to this course were, of course, many and obvious. It would have involved inflicting grave hardship on many natives who have been, in our opinion, merely the dupes of others more directly responsible, it might even have led to bloodshed and the loss of innocent lives. Fortunately we had another alternative —to remove what was, in our opinion, the source and origin of the trouble, in the con-, fidence that, left to themselves, the Samoans would gradually of their own accord realise the position and cooperate with the administration as in the past.

The necessary steps under the Samoan Amendment Act, 1927, having been made by tho Administrator, the Government of New Zealand approved of his recommendation that the best means of remedying the troubles or Samoa would be to remove the three persons whose deportation has already been announced. It cannot he made too clear 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 iacilitnts the good government of tho territory. There is nothing unprecedented nr unconstitutional in this course, and 1 have been greatly surprised at the uniformed criticism that has been directed against the Samoa Amendment Act, whch authorised the course that has been adopted. Neither the Act, nor the form of procedure under it, infringes in any degree tho lundanicntal principles of British administration. This power of deportation by the executive, as distinct from punishment by tho judiciary, is possessed, and has been exercised by the P.acific administrations around us. It is a power vested by the Government of the United States in tho discretion of the Governor of American Samoa—our adjoining territory. It is a power granted by the British Government to all their Governors controlling native races, including tho Governor of Fiji, and exorcised by them whenever the necessity arises. It has been legally decided in a British court that such a power is contemplated even by Magna Gharta, that it is equally competent for a Parliament to say that man may bo punished for his acts or prevented from repeating them, and that judicial procedure would bo the proper method in the first case and executive action (even possibly on considerations not susceptible of definite pvoot) in the second case. THE THREE COURSES OPEN. To sum llie matter up, we had three possible courses of action—first, to allow the administration of Samoa to remain ineffective, which was of course unthinkable; secondly, to inflict grave hardship on large numbers of probably innocent natives by the application of force (this we discarded); or, thirdly, by removing those who were, in our opinion, primarily responsible in order to prevent any extension of the mischief, and so enable tho administration to put in hand those conciliatory methods which we believe will ultimately prove successful. The third course was the course we adopted, and we already have good reason to believe that the object we all desire will ho achieved peacefully and gradually in this way. In the circumstances I have found it hard to understand the solicitude that has been shown for Mr Nelson and his European-colleagues by the leader of the Labor Party and by a section of our own Press and public. Do the health, welfare, and prosperity ol the Samoan people, their lives even, count for nothing with these critics? Are 'they prepared to sacrifice nil these in their devotion to what they conceive to be abstract principles of justice, which are entirely inapplicable to the circumstances of this case? These critics have ignored tho weight of opinion of the most highly qualified colonial statesmen in the world, whose experience and judgment teach that it is impossible to deal promptly and effectively, in a purely native territory,

with a trouble which may involve life and death issues, according to the standards and principles which are laid down for the government of democratic and educated communities. .1 say without. hesitation that if we are to be forced to apply exactly the same methods and government to a territory inhabited, in the words of the treaty, by a people, “ not yet able to stand by themselves,” as we apply to our own educated democracy, New Zealand will either have to abandon the mandate or resign herself to face the constant danger of disorder, and disruption in Samoa. OBJECT LESSON IN EASTERN SAMOA. Owing to the very serious situation which has been created, and to the genera! lack of knowledge of the great dangers involved, I feel justified in shortly referring to an object lesson from Eastern Samoa which has been constantly in our thoughts. Our parliamentary party visited American Samoa in 1920. Within a few months of their departure certain European interests poisoned the minds ,of the Samoans against their administration. It can be said for them that they were not very familiar with Samoan character or psychology. The unrest spread, and eventually reached the stage of revolution. What was the aftermath? A battleship was despatched to the territory. The European civilian concerned was summarily deported. A high naval officer who joined with him was courtmartialled and dismissed from the service. A large-number of leading chiefs were imprisoned, with hard labor, for varying terms (a general amnestry was granted a couple of years ago), and the Governor, under the strain ol events, ended his life. A naval court of inquiry subsequently found that the Governor's administration, financially and constitutionally, had been good, but that he had shown weakness in not dealing with the trouble with firmness when it arose. Wo have decided, after the most careful consideration and the most lengthy inquiry, to lake the stronger course. AVo have felt it advisable to prefer the nterests ot the large number of natives to the interests of a handful of Europeans, and we are satisfied that the course we have adopted is correct, and that it wll be justified by the event. DEPORTATION COMPLICATION MR GURR REFUSED LANDING IN AMERICAN SAMOA [Special to the ‘Star.’] AUCKLAND, January 23. A further complication in regard to the deportations from _ Samoa was revealed this afternoon, following the arrival from Samoa by the Tofua of the Hon. 0. F. Nelson and Air A. G. Smyth, of the firm of 0. E. Nelson and Co., Ltd. Before the Tofua berthed, Mr Nelson was handed a copy of a telegram from the head office of his company at Apia,_ stating _ that. the third citizen who received notice of deportation, Air E. AAL Gurr, had proceeded to Tutuila, in American Samoa, hut had been refused permission to land. Mr Gurr is the editor of the ‘Samoan Guardian.’ The telegram from Apia reached the Auckland office of the firm this morning. Its text is as follows: — Referring to your telegram of 31st, G. E. L. AVestbrook, A. AVilliams, S. IT. Meredith status qno. E. AA r . Gurr refused landing at Tutuila, and goes to-day to Malololelei, _as required by the Administrator, until the Tofua returns. The . conditions upon which E. AV. Gurr goes to Malololelei .are that he abstains from political communications, and Samoa’s Administrator desires suppress Samoan section of ‘Samoan Guardian,’ and may refuse transfer of the license to Tarr. The reference in the early part of the telegram to Messrs AA'estbrook, Williams and Meredith indicates that, while there has been some speculation as to whether they might bo asked to leave Samoa, no action has been token jn regard to them. Malololelei is a.. Government sanatorium or rest house for sick .people. It is about seven miles from Apia, and some three miles from A'alima, the former home of Robert Louis Stevenson, and now the residence of the Administrator, Sir George Richardson. Refore Messrs Nelson and Smyth left Apia, on the Rith they were, farowelled by a number of their Fellow-merchants at the office of Messrs Morris and Hedsirom. Ltd., and on the day before the departure of the Tofua, 300 natives rowed over from Savaii, and demonstrated along the seashore. “WE mi BEEN PEACEMAKERS” STATEMENT BY DEPORTEES [Per United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, January 23, The Hon. (). F. Nelson and Mr A. G. Smyth, who recently loft Samoa under order of deportation, arrived at Auckland from Suva to-day, Mr Nelson said ho had nothing to say at present, as he was going to Wellington to confer with his legal adviser. “ AVe have been peacemaker all along,” said Mr Nelson. “ Now it is for General Richardson to keep order —if ho can.” Air Nelson indicated that ho was going to Europe. Mr Smyth will take up a business appointment at Suva. Ho said that the Samoa, natives had declared a boycott not only of Now Zealand goods, hut of imported goods except soap, sugar, kerosene, and matches, -which were regarded ns necessaries. The natives, ho said, had not paid last year’s taxes, and were refusing to pay fines.