SAMOAN DEPORTATIONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 30 December 1927, Page 5

SAMOAN DEPORTATIONS.

DENOUNCED BY MR. H. E. HOLLAND. til V TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION ) GREYMOUTH, Dec. 29. Air. H. E. Holland, Leader oi the Opposition, wlio officially opened tne iiunanga Domain yesterday, »poke last night at a banquet in liunanga in relerence to the Samoan deportations. These he characterised as a shocking administrative outrage that would make the name of New Zealand a byword throughout the civilised world. The men who were being deported were guilty of nothing more than constitutional opposition to the policy of the New Zealand Administration in Samoa, and the Government could have no more justification for their deportation than it would have if it sought to deport members of the official opposition here.

Air. Nelson was one of the properly elected parliamentai-y representatives of European pepple in Samoa, said Air. Holland, and his deportation would stand for an intimation to both Euiopeans and Samoans that they must not expect to gain redress of their legitimate grievances through constitutional channels. Air. Nelson was a native-born Samoan, and the two other elected representatives who also were threatened with deportation had been long years in Samoa. Mr. Westbrook had been there for more than fi ty years. The New Zealand Government had taken the worst of German ordinances and had added to them in such a way as to clothe the Administration with far greater tyrannical power than was ever possessed by the Imperial German Governor of Samoa, continued Air. Holland. Now the predominant idea was to be militaristically ruled, and both whites and Samoans were to he bludgeoned into compliance with the will of the dictatorship. The New Zealand Government would not dare to impose the same rule on the Alaoris of the Dominion; nor would it dare to apply to the Europeans here the methods that it was applying to Europeans who were its political opponents in Samoa. .

Finally the speaker condemned what he described as the manner in which information relating to the deportations had been withheld from the public. No Press messages had gone out, and it was only that day that he luic. learned that on December 24 a ‘Wellington. paper had mentioned the Government’s decision. The report oi the recent Royal Commission was sti.l withheld from members of Parliament.

COMMISSION’S REPORT.

NO CHANGE IN NATIVES’

ATTITUDE.

The “Auckland Herald’s” Apia correspondent. writing on December 15. says: News of the report of the. Royal Commission appointed to enquire into tlie Samoan unrest was received very quietly, as far as .could be judged. The •Citizens’ Committee naturally was yery disappointed. Although it was generally agreed that the case against the Government was very weak, it was not realised, of course, how woefully weak the case was until evidence was taken on oath. The, natives do not .seem to have changed much in their attitude, and reports indicate that they intend to carry on just the same. There is no giving in at the moment. Recently two "arrests by the police were resisted bv Man natives, who made a - demonstration outside the police .station, threw stones and behaved like hooligans. Later the same, night a very cowardly assault was made on a native policeman as he was on bis way to duty at the Customs. Five or six natives attacked him with sticks, one using a knife. The man was badly knocked about, but his injuries are not of -a .serious character. News of these incidents soon went round, and numbers of natives started to move .into Apia. Matters have quietened again, although <aonie ugly rumours are boating. Now some excitement seems to have been raised by a report being circulated that Mr Nelson was to be deported bv the Tcfua, and- Mr Nelson himaalf had to allay the fears of a bunch of natives who came in, presumably to resist the deportation. Apia is always full of rumours, .and pne cannot roly on everything that is heard, but there r . 6 no doubt of the fact that the natives are not reconciled by the decision of the Royal Commission. Some natives have actually gone eve; to the, Mau since the report of the Commission was published. The curious part of the whole affair is that these natives all know that what- thev are doing is wrong. Loyal native? find It difficult to stand out. especially in a village which has nearly all Mau‘ natives in it. They are just ted up, and want to bo with their own people again. They cannot stand sitting on 'tiie other .side of the fence, and"' so thev pul' in with the crowd so that thev can enter into the village 1 ?e. and so be with the others. The strain has been too much. It is a wonder they have stuck it so long-

People at Apia were in many instances surprised, that only «• decision came from the Commission. Many exI'ected that there would be some recommendation of some kind, and are now wondering what i 6 going to happen next.