NEW ZEALAND FLEET.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 12 May 1928, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND FLEET.

' LICKED” AT SAMOA. THE FIRST CHALLENGE. According to a sailor on one of the Jfew Zealand warships, •hitumon mads were at the root- of the Samoan trouble. This will be newis to .the New Zealand public, ho doubt, ‘ he' said to a reporter, but nevertheliass it is'a'face." “There are,” said the sailor, “soma 37 miles of bitumen loadis laid down'in Samoa,. When it was proposed to staiifc on these the Samoans, iib is alleged, were given to understand that the terms would be much /the kiune' as airy other ’ocal body would adopt in constructing roads, and that'they wotU'd carry a sinking fund and the debt would be wiped- out at the end of ai period Of yaars.' However, m Samoa,, too much was asked in one lump from the people and! they resented it, and one argumeiit led to another until the recent complications ensued. “When we arrived at Samoa," continued t)io sailorman, “we went, ashore well supplied with guns and-ammuni-tion, etc.-, audi proceeded to settle down for the uiglit under some palms. It was not long before we were approached by some leading Samoans, who chai.;enged ivs to a gamp of football, bqt they were told to oo about their business, as we had more important work :o clo, than elm sing a hall about, and ve did not steam all the way from Neiv Zealand and make all the preparation's for a scran for fun.

“The Samoans only laughed at us. We were assured that there would he no tfoiib'e and there would be plenty of opportunt-iets, for a game if we thought we 'had a- team we. would like to tryout. '

‘‘Well, eventually the boys m blue took tbs field against their dusky brethren, the teaan being represe.nta.titr,3 J the Dunedin and Diomede; and what do you think?” said the tsailor, “we got what is commonly Known as ‘-donkey licked.’ We did that lot hard, but decided to try once more, and as the banker Nucula had arrived with supplies, we picked a rep. team from the three vessels and had another shot At the Samoans and got walloped again. That’s how we won the war in Samoa,” concluded the sailorman.

The sailorman was asked what he thought of-things generally over there, and lie yep’ied i ' ‘‘Us ' (Shops don’t mix much in politics. We enjoyed the holiday immensely, but it- wasi a fares all tbo same to send the ships out there.”