The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1927. THE SAMOANS AND LABOUR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 30 December 1927, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1927. THE SAMOANS AND LABOUR.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa. Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga. Alton. Hurley ville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakaraara, Ohangat. Meremere. Fraser Road and Ararata

Since the administration of Samoa has -become the subject of certain charges against the Government —charges which have been proved to -be -without foundation—the Labour Party in New Zealand has shown a marked solicitude for the people, of the islands, particularly the comparatively small group of persons who have done their utmost to make .the Samoans believe that they are an ill-treated race. It was only to be expected that once the Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party had returned to his own electorate that he would have something ,to say about the latest development in the Samoan situation -and, according to a Press Association message published to-day, Air Holland has not disappointed his- supporters. Even the extremist Labour sympathisers in Westland, where Labour sympathies run high, must feel that they indeed got their money's worth from their leader. For the duration of a long session, Air Holland has been restricted to a great extent by Parliamentary proeedure from indulging in those verbal fireworks so dear to the heart- of Labour politician and Labour elector, but now that he is back in his own stronghold lie has been able to employ the language which, outside the House, passes ns eloquence. We are told that he characterised the deportation orders- ns a ‘‘shocking administrative outrage’ ’ which would ‘ ‘ make- New Zealand’s name a by-word throughout the civilised world.” He claimed that the men who were being tl-oportod were guilty of nothing more than constitutional opposition to the policy of the New Zealand Administration of Samoa and that the Government would not dare to employ the same methods against the Maoris or apply to Europeans hero the rule which it had applied to Europeans in Samoa. If Air Holland had been less anxious- to earn good opinions for the Labour - Party among the electors in New Zealand and

more concerned with, the welfare of the simple people of the Pacific Islands, he would not have so confused the point at issue as he has done 'by comparing the Samoans with the Maoris, nor have spoken so glibly about the treatment of Europeans there and of Europeans here. He knows as w r ell as anyone that there is no analogy between the position of the natives of New Zealand, living side •by side with the Europeans who have made their country more English than England, and that off the natives of Samoa. There are differences in temperament between the two peoples and immense differences between the environments of each, which place them outside the bounds of fair comparison. It is true that if a situation had occurred in this Dominion which made the removal of certain persons desirable for the good government of the country, we would prefer to see them arraigned before a court of justice, rather than deported by order of an individual, but the trouble which' has arisen in Samoa is not the result of constitutional opposition to the government of the day, as Mr Holland has contended. Mr Nelson is a duly elected member of the Legislative Council and some of the others involved in the deportation orders are men of influence in Samoa, but they have not taken a constitutional moans of opposing the Administration’s methods. They have made their influence felt outside the Council by means of meetings and propaganda which no government seeking to do its best for a native race which lives in the traditions of the past and is suspicious of, and indifferent to, the methods of modern civilisation, would tolerate. If Mr Holland and his party had thrown their energy and ability into considering the welfare of the native Samoans, rather than that of the representatives of certain interests which now find themselves out of favour with the Government, lie would have impressed us more with the sincerity of hi® party’s claim that it is out to assist the under dog. It is quite easy to imagine the hue and cry which would have been raised by Labour in New Zealand if the Government had been suspected of assisting “vested interests’’ to the detriment of the interests of the natives. The Labour Party would then have been in more familiar waters, but in the present instance it has only succeeded in making most people believe that is has got badly out of its depth.