NEW ZEALAND AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS.

Free Lance, Volume XVII, Issue 916, 1 February 1918, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS.

The Neglect of the Cook Islands.

NOW that so many of out public men are frequently declaring that Samoa must not be given back to the Huns and that a Pacific Confederation under New Zealand control is talked of, we might ask the Government what it is doing, and what it has done, to live up to the responsibilities New Zealand has already assumed with regard to the Cook Islands ? If what we hear, from an authoritative and reliable source, be correct, there is grave dissatisfaction in the Cook Islands over the ineptitude and neglect displayed by the New Zealand Government in connection with its administration of Raratongan affairs. In 1915 a lengthy measure, including over seven hundred clauses, was drafted and passed—as ah urgent measure! It is difficult to believe such a thing is 'true, _ but we are assured that the measure iii 'question, which is practically the law under which the people of the Cook Islands, brown and white alike, live, the law they have to obey, has not yet been translated into the native tongue. Delay in dealing with matters referred to Wellington are also bitterly complained of. Need there be any wonder, therefore, that both, in Fiji and Samoa the idea of a Pacific "Confederation headed by New ,• Zealand, is openly scoffed at as beingi Opposed to the best interests, both native and European, Of the people of the islands in question? « 44 © # Why, we might here ask, has not Raratonga. special representation in the New Zealand House of Representatives ? The South. Island Maoris only number some 500 or 600 souls, and yet they have separate representation in the House. And yet the Cook Islands, with a population of some 10,000, are unrepresented. The fact is that the South Island Maori constituency should long ago have been merged into either'the Western or Eastern Maori constituency. Apparently, its separate entity has been preserved out of respect to the amiable Parata family. .# . * © a But the time has now arrived when this pocket borough should be extinguished and direct representation given to the Cook Islanders, who have at present no say in matters in which they are often very gravely concerned. If "New Zealand aspires to govern Samoa, it is high time that more interest were displayed by the Government in Island affairs. As it is, New Zealand's neglect of her responsibilities in the Cook Group is by no means calculated to> inspire the Samoans with any desire to see their affairs controlled from Wellington.