SITUATION IN SAMOA

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 19 March 1928, Page 5

SITUATION IN SAMOA

LIVES NOT IN JEOPARDV PEACE BEING MAINTAINED. PRIME MINISTER’S ASSURANCES. [by telegraph— press association.l WELLINGTON, March 17. “While the Government is not yet able to make a full statement as to the position of affairs in Samoa and as to its immediate intentions,” states the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates), “I wish the public of New Zealand to understand that the alarmist reports that have been, recently circulated from unofficial sources in Samoa are greatly exaggerated. “My information is that, notwithstanding the activities of the Man, there does not appear to be any present danger of a breach of the peace in Samoa. Provocative and ill-informed comments on the position are not, of course, helpful in maintaining the peace, but lives and 1 property in Samoa are to-day not in jeopardy. ‘ ‘ The large numbers of Mau adherents who had 1 gathered in Apia have now dispersed to their homes and, while I do not wish to he understood as implying that the position in Samoa is yet satisfactory, or that the law ‘is being complied with, I can see no reason .why, in the absence of mischievous interference, any breach of the peace should occur. “As soon as the Government is in a position to do so it will make a detailed announcement of any action it may decide to take.”