The Cruise of the Mokoia

Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 181, 2 June 1920, Page 3

The Cruise of the Mokoia

BY H. E. H

After luncheon at Vailima we returned by car to Mulinu'u, where it had been arranged a joint Fono, or Parliament, should be held. Mulinu'u is the native township, and is situated at the western end of Apia Bay. Its houses are nearly all of the common-sensible Samoan open type. Its historical associations are many and varied. Here for long years the " Malietoas—the principal reigning house—had their headquarters; Mulinu'u was the seat of the Kingdom. At one time it was the largest native town in the South Sea Islands; in 1899 its population was over 4000. The guns of alien enemies have thundered at its gates; their shells have carried death to its citizens and destruction to their homes —British guns, German guns, American guns.

"We swore them oaths and broke them, And blamed them for the breach, And then we burned their villages, And shot them on c". 3 beach."

British a'-tillery has roared from a concrete foundation in the heart of the town what time the majority of the Samoan people wanted the "fighting chief," Mataafa, for their king, and the British and Germans were unitedly backing Malietoa. Mataafa won; but that is too long a story for this series. Driving along the delightful beach road which runs from Mulinu'u to the whi.e township, you pass the collective tomb of a number of German marines who fell in the war,between Mataafa's valiant little army and the Germans.

THE FONO

We met in the native Parliament House, built after the Samoan fashion, with never a nail as far as I could see, and evei-y joining made by lashings of cocoanut fibre. The New Zealand members of Parliament occupied chairs, set in a semi-circle. The chiefs also sat in a semi-circle, but on the ground, cross-legged, in native fashion. Back of the chiefs were ihe taupo girls in cnarge of the kava. The kava cup is the symbol of peace and love, and the drinking of kava is an important phase of every Samoan cejemony. At one time the kava drink was made by the taupo girl chewing the kava root and extracting the ■ essence of it In that way. The Vag had been there before, and ere we reached Samoa he betrayed not a little anxiety on the score of whether the kava was still made in the olden way. He wasn't the only one whose relief was very genuine when the information was forthcoming that the taupo girl no longer chewed the kava—that the root was now pounded with a sort of stone hammer. Already we had been told that for us to refuse the kava cup would be regarded with great displeasure by the Samoans.

DRINKING THE KAVA

The taupo girls strained the pounded kava root through, a fibre netting occasionally dipping their bare arms to the elbow in the kava bowl. The liquid was served out in a cup made by cutting a cocoanut shell in halves. The cup-bearer was a comely young chieftan who dipped the cup in the kava bowl, filled it, and bore it to chief and guest in turn at the command of the particular Samoan whose office was the equivalent of a director of ceremonies. When a chief was to be served,, his name was called out. When It was the turn of. a parliamentarian, the order was given: "Faipuli, New Zealand!" with a most peculiar intonation of the last syllable. For one brief hour of crowded life we werp all Faipulis (chiefs). The cup-bear-er presented the drink to the guest with a profound bow and a sweep of the arm that was superlatively graceful.

AMI-NEW ZEALAND

After the kava cup had gone the rounds, ihe speech-making commenced. The orator chosen for the occasion proceeded categorically to set Loth the matters they wished to bring before the Parliamentary Party. The first (and most significant) of their requests was to tne effect that, if within a given time the Government of Samoa by New Zealand failed to give satisfaction to the people, Samoa should pass under the control of the Colonial Office and be ruled from England. This demand in itself conveyed the idea that there is in Samoa a decidedly anti-New Zealand sentiment, and other incidents showed that this sentiment is almost universal in the case of the whites as well as among the natives. It is safe to say that the people of Samoa in the mass are not in favour of New Zealand administrating their affairs. The whites told us in plain-ly-printed language that from the beginning they had never been in favour of Samoa being placed under the control of New Zealand. And long before we left New Zealand we had the information that after the iniluenza epidemic—in connection with which our Administration was worse than criminal, and which resulted in the loss of about eight thousand Samoan lives (nearly one fourth of the whole native population)—so strong wan the natives' antipathy to this country that they went so rar as to i::.' 'Jen to be placed under an Amer- . \.!i Administration.

I'ZUXCES OF SAMOA

The two High Chiefs of Samoa are both of royal descent; if the kingship still existed Malietoa would wear the crown. With this fact in mind the chiefs presented their demand, namely, that the High Chiefs should rank in future as Princes of Samoa, and each receive an allowance of £500 per annum. (By the way, the Prince of Wales gets £50,000—a hundred times as much per year as the Samoans ask for their princes.), They wanted unrestricted power to hold public meetings; they demanded that all proclamations before being made should be determined by the of Samoa and the Administration; that iwo Samoans be appointed to attend the New Zealand Parliament; that Samoan boys be sent to New Zealand to be trained occupationally; that hospitals, college, and school houses be erected, and Samoan young people be trained in New Zealand as teachers; and that the revenues of Samoa be controlled by their own Faipulis.

EQUAL PAT FOR EQUAL WORK

Then they demanded that the salaries of Samoans in Government employ be equal to the salaries of the whites in similar employ; that the salaries of the Native Councillors be increased to £10 per month, and that native Government officials be entitled to pensions after; ten years/ service; that importation of intoxlettinj h«^torbjMj^^ha^A

ULAND, MJP.

THROUGH THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

PROBLEM

wireless station be set up at Savaii, and a railway system provided for Upolu; that roads and bridges, wharves, breakwater, and a town clock be provided; that _the__ilstives be permitted the use of sporting arms and ammunition; that a Government Printing Office be installed; that v Native Assessor be appointed for Judges' Session; that a steamer be set apart to ply between the Samoan Islands; that the Government undertake the care of the graves of Samoans who died as a result of the influenza epidemic; that proper precautions be taken to safeguard the people against future epidemics; that native policemen Wear the same uniform as white policemen—as in tue past; that the Judge of Native Affairs be "replaced by some one acquainted with Native Affairs"; that the Government regulate prices between the traders and the people, that a weatherboard Parliament House be constructed; and oiat tha Samoan Constabulary be sent back to New Zealand, whence they came.

RIGHTEOUS DEMANDS

There were . twenty-seven or twenty-eight demands in all, and many of them the Labor members had no difliculiy in placing as righteous demands. But neither the Labor members nor any other section had any opportunity to tell the islanders where they stood with >espect to the grievances placed before them. Sir James Allea faaw cj U>ar. lie made the Fono quite a one ma: a F fair from the. New Zealand title, and the Samoans ware permitted to hear no viewpoint expresed concerninsg their requests except that of the Massey Government. I cannot at this " stage deal with Sir James Allen's replies! but I can't help making reference to the deep concernwith which he seemed to view the request that the High Chiefs should rank as Princes of Samoa; he appeared to regard this as one of the most, serious of the demands, and was at great pains to explain to the; chiefs that "we only knew one prince —the Prince of Wales!" Really Sir James's ilurry about this' unimportant demand appealed to mc as bordering on the ludicrous. Principalities, like all other monarchical institutions, are in the melting-pot today, and why should we worry if for a brief year or so some healthy scion of a primitive race should chose to name himself chief, lord, prince, or king. His right to the title is probably better founded than are the claims of many of his fellow princes. " Possibly he would lend graater dignity to the title than most other princes do. Far more important were the claims put forward for right of assembly, freedom of speech, education, equal pay for equal work, pensions, public utilities, hospi.als, protection against epidemics, protection against profiteering, and repatriation of the Constabulary. I have no doubt whatever that the Samoans I will receive the united support of the Labor movement in connection with each of these latter demands.

THE INDENTURED LABOR

The four Labor members noted that in their demands the chiefs made no mention whatever of the indentured labor problem. Messrs. Howard and McCombs were the first to discover that this question had been discussed in the native villages prior 'to our coming,' and that the common people fully understood that the chiefs would make a strong protest to the Parliamentary Party against a of the system. Every further inctui«si4a ( acle verified this information. We to discover the influence which had operaied to prevent this being done. On the evening of the day on which the Fono was held, in company with Mr. McCombs, I approached Sir James Allen as he left the dinner table, and asked when he proposed to give us an opportunity to question the chiefs about the continuance of the indentured labor system. Sir James seemed surprised that we should wish' to do this. He pointed out that it would have been against the rules of etiquette to question the chiefs at the Fono, and said he'did not know whether another meeting could be arranged; he would, however, see about it. But no meeting was arranged, and the Parliamentary Party had therefore no collective opportunity of ascertaining through the chiefs what the views of the Samoans were on this the main question to inquire into which we had come to Samoa. The Labor members were thus compelled to make Individual investigations—as all along they had declared they would do, and to which method Sir James Allen and his supporters had always raised the strongest objections. It will be .remembered that Sir James insisted, that all inciuiries must be made with all the Party present. But he wasn't having any inquiry, collective or otherwist, into the matter of the Samoan's viewpoint concerning ■coolie labor for the Samoan Islands. It was quite clear to mc that the advocates of indentured' labor realised that the Samoans were wholly against the system, and therefore were not prepared to risk a statement from the Samoan side going into the official report.

WHAT THE LABOR MEMBERS FOUND

Our individual inquiries in every case resulted in bearing out that the Samoans are unitedly opposed, to the continuance of the system. So far as my personal inquiries went, in no case did I find a native who favoured the principle. In the report submitted to the National Executive of the Labor Party I have summarised the Samoan's objections. They are based on economic, moral, and racial grounds. The bitterness on the part of the natives is' extreme, and I have no doubt whatever that if the. system is continued it will result in violent outbreaks on the part of the Samoans against tho Chinese. I. submit that New Zealand cannot afford to be a party to holding, the Samoans down by force of arms in order that a horde ,of Chinese or other slaves may be maintained in the country. Only in this ' way did the Germans > find it possible to curb the Sampan resentment against the system and its consequences. To-day the Samoan will be more likely to fix a larger measure of blame for the system on the shoulders where the responsibility belongs. In fiie past they seem to have wholly blamed the Chinese and not the white conquerors. One stalwart Samoan told mc personally that "the Chinkies were extremely cheeky while the Germans had control."' "You see," he said, "the Germans used to, fine us heavily whenever we leathered China>i men. ,, t And then, he^mt^nJXo^tgl^

a number of them (the Samoane) "went out and leathered h—l out of the Chinkies." I could not ascertain whether this had happened in only one centre or' in a number of places. This native I interviewed ashore on the evening of the day the Foqo was held/ I walked the full length of the long Beach road that runs from Mulinu'u to Matautu, conversing with every native who could talk' English, and occasionally discussing the problem with the whites I met. I found the natives far more i capable of intelligent discussion than.

0, pins and needles! On! needles and pins! When a man marries his worry begins— Nurses and babies and plasters and pills, ' Doctors' prescriptions and dressmakers' bills, Mumps and measles and quinsey and croup, And all the ills that make one ■ ■ .r-f^'f - ' 4droop— i' jjjjifltnid such worries corners isolace