The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1912. THE COOK ISLANDS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 233, 1 October 1912, Page 4

The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1912. THE COOK ISLANDS.

■ . ( Mainly owing to the "wire-pulling —the pulling of the party political "leg"—quite a large amount of time was devoted last session to the administration of the Cook Islands. A travelling dentist, a discharged policeman, and a doctor who did not get the official job he was after, or did not retain the job ho had got, all jomed together, in unison with various other disgruntled Rarotongans, brown and white, in a frantic attempt to prove that Mr (or Captain, as he is now called) James Eman Smith, was quite a dreadful failure in his capacity of New Zealand's very own "Pooh Bah" in the Cook group. Some of the malcontents alleged that J. Eman Smith was a weak administrator; others denounced him as being an\ official, tyrant. One complaint was, we believe, that Re was far too "stand offish" in relation to the other Europeans—dentists, doctors, copra "mer- J chants," ■ and the local white aristocracy generally; another was that he was quite too unofficially "familiar" I and undignified. From time to tiinej these complaints were voiced in that Wellington journal which has made a specialty ,of < muck-raking, and a gentleman named Wright, who formerly represented the South Wellington or Newtown division of the Empire City in Parliament, was wont last year periodically to arise in his seat and. denounce Sir Joseph Ward and various other people as being "Tam.manyites," or "graftites," and so forth, for the simple and sole reason that the Government did not listen to 'the.'complaints'and, cast Mr or Captain J. Eman Smith into the Tasman Sea. As a matter of fact the last Parliament got quite tired of Captain Smith and the discontented doctor, and the disgruntled dentist and the scandal-mongers \who wanted "reform" . in.",Rar6tonga.'. Finally. Sir Robert Stout and Mr Waldegrave, Under-Secretary for 'Justice, wenti down to Rarotbnga and made inquiries. The result was a verdict of "not guilty" against Captain Smith. Forthwith,' last December, the Wellington organ of the" then Opposition made all sorts of nasty insinuations j against the Chief Justice and Mr Waldegrave. The latter gentleman, having retired on superannuation from the public service, Went to England, and has, by this time, if he be a wise man in his! generation, forgotten the fact that such a place as Rarotonga ever existed. But the Chief Justice' remains here, and because he was, in his old political day's, a pronounced but most honest' enemy, of the landocracy which "certain journals iii this country are liberally subsidised: to support, Sir Robert Stout's findings in,connection .with the Rare--tongan affair still continue to be '■ assailed with great, bitterness. A Parliamentary , committee set up to examine into the charges and claims of the ex-policeman has now, however, reported to the effect that the person, in question,has.no .grievance to complain of, and that, to quote the actual words of the report, "nothing has been proved detrimental to the administration or the personal character of Captain James Eman Smith, the Resident Commissioner of the Cook Islands." ■... Not, only .this, but Dr Poma.re; now, under the Massey regime,. Minister mi charge of the Cook Islands;; practically .told the House the other night that there was no .foundation..;',for all the scandalmongeriiig,:. and sensationalism in which Mr Wright' and other members of the then,". Opposition indulged last year. Surely the time has come when the Cook Islands "scandal" should be,buried. Captain Smith !is j now back in, Wellington. We never j thought he .was the most suitable man who coild have been chosen for the position he had to fill at Raro--tonga. In the Old Age Pensions Department he proved himself a skilled and most valuable officer. When, howeveiy through false economy, it was considered necessary to merge the Old Age Pensions Department with another department, Mr Smith was sent to Rarotonga. It was not his fault that he was not so successful as his predecessor. Colonel Gudgeon. But he did his best, and now that he> is baclcaerain in Wellington these pettifogging attacks upon the man may very well cease. He has been a victim of party bitterness and personal spite, and is much more deserving of public sympathy than condemnation. Government supporters ■ were in a majority oh the committee which has found a verdict of "not guilty" in the Smith case, and Mr Massey's colleague, Dr Pomare, clearly holds the opinion that the charges laid by the personal enemies of the late Administrator of the Cook Islands were unfounded. After this, the matter may well be allowed to drop. It must haveJ cost the country a good round sum to ! make all these investigations and in- i quiries, and the money could have been spent to much greater advantage on some of the neglected backblocks roads or other useful public works. It is an open question whether New Zealand gains any benefit from her possessions in, the Cook group, and if there is to be yet another inquiry, as some of Captain Smith's critics apparently desire, we might suggest that it go into that question. There is something in the atmosphere of Ra.rotonga which sterns to encourage rows between the officials and the white population, and the result so far'as New Zealand is concerned is that tho Dominion, is put to no small expense in settling'these trumpery local squabbles.