THE SQUADRON AND SAMOA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18709, 15 May 1924, Page 6

THE SQUADRON AND SAMOA.

The afterthought of including Samoa in the cruise of the Special Service Squadron is to be commended. The deviation in route is slight. A call at Apia, without landing, but sufficiently long to allow a number of Europeans and natives to go out to the ships, will add but a few hours to the voyage from Fiji to Hawaii; and the compensating gains are considerable. On their part, the ships' officers and men will be • interested to see the scene of the Calliope's great exploit in the hurricane of 1889 that took ruthless toll of American and German ships, and to look across to Vaea's summit, where rest the remains of Robert Louis' Stevenson, " the sailor home from sea." To the native Samoans the visit will mean much. There was a day when they cherished the hope of British rule. Through New Zealand there went from a number of their leading chiefs a petition to England praying for British sovereignty. Compliance with that petition was then deemed inexpedient, and eventually the group was divided between the United States and Germany. An abrupt turn in international affairs came with the war, and the islands of Western Samoa, hitherto German, came . under mandate into the care of New Zealand. So, for a considerable part of the group, British rule became at length an accomplished fact; and recently there has been clear expression of the natives' appreciation of the way in which that rule is being exercised under the mandate. Their delight at the opportunity of seeing this squadron, so representative of Britain's sea-power, can well be imagined. A touch of realism will be given to their confidence in th<Mr protectors, and' an impression be created that will endure and extend among them. No spot in all the cruise will afford a better opportunity for the achievement of the squadron's especial task.