THE TROUBLE IN SAMOA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20637, 8 August 1930, Page 16

THE TROUBLE IN SAMOA.

REVIEW. DECLINING POWER OF MAU. GENERAL OUTLOOK IMPROVED. / STILL NEED FOR WATCHFULNESS. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON, Thursday. A review of events in Western Samoa np to the end of March last is contained in the annual report of the Administrator of the territory, Mr. S. S. Allen. The report was tabled in the / House of Representatives to-day. "Until November, 1929, it seemed as jf tho Man wero slowly dying out," says Mr. Allen. "On tho Administrator's malaga round the islands in June and July, good meetings wero held in every district and some were particularly well attended. Several chiefs of some importance left the Mau and announced their support.

"In August, two Mau chiefs, Tui Maleaand Faumuina, went to New Zealand for tho purpose of giving evidence in an action for libel which Mr. Nelson was bringing against a newspaper there, in which action great interest was being taken in Samoa. The case was adjourned and finally discontinued. The two chiofs returned in November and ( they brought back with them such glowing accounts of the support they had receivod in Now Zealand and of all Mr. Nelson was doing there, and they promised a 'victory' to the Mau with no much confidence that the Man was r&auscitated and renewed its activities in their worst form. Campaign ol Violence. "Traffic on the road through Vaimoso and Lepea was impeded, passing cars were stoned, loyal natives were intimidated, fines were inflicted on natives who supplied copra to stores other than those owned by Messrs. Nelson and Company, native policemen were assaulted, malicious damage was done to telephone lines and other Government property, fines /were imposed on those who took cases before the Land and Titles Commission, and petty tyranny resorted to in every possible way in those villages in which ilie Mau predominated. "On December 28, the Mau arranged a welcome for Mr. Smyth, one of the three men deported in 1027 whose period of banishment had expired and who was /paying a visit to Samoa accompanied by Mr. Skelton, a solicitor, employed in New .Zealand by Mr. Nelson. This took the / form of a procession along the beach road, in which a number of men for whom warrants <of arrest had been issued /for some time past were prominent. Such open defiance could not be tolerated and an attempt was made to effect the arrest of one of these criminals. Arrest Resisted.

"The attempted arrest was violently '/resisted. Police reinforcements were called out and a riot ensued which resulted in tho deaths of one white policeman and of 11 Samoans, including those who died later from wounds. Among the latter was Tamasese, one of the prominent leaders of the Mau. "It was at once clear that firm measures must be taken to suppress dis- . order and the Administrator issued three I" notices to the Mau, one calling for the surrender of 20 among those who wore wanted on criminal charges, a second calling on 58 principal chiefs of the Mau to meet the Administrator on a given day, and a third calling on the Mau to / disperse and proceed to their own villages within a week's time. The three notices were disegarded, but tho Mau left tho villages of Vaimoso and Lepea a day or later and proceeded to other villages farther from Apia. "On January 12, H.M.S. Dunedin arrived to assist the Administrator to restore order, to effect the arrest of the criminals and disperse tho Mau to their villages, and the Mau abandoned the coast and fled into the bush." // The Administrator then refers in somo detail to the efforts made by 150 Royal marines and seamen and by the police /to secure a number of the Mau, and he goes on to refer to the subsequent meeting with the Mau leaders at which Mr. Cobbe was present. The Mau leaders .refused to agree that the Mau should end, ■ but it was intimated the Mau would disperse and that the wanted men would be given up. Surrender of Wanted Men. / Continuing, Mr. Allen says the men required to answer criminal charges were surrendered to the police as agreed and before March 8, a large number of the Mau, including almost all from the / eastern end of Upolu dispersed to their / homes. Nearly 6CO still remained at Vaimoso, of whom some were arrested and finally, after a number more had / left, the last were removed by boats to j their own districts on March 11. Since then spasmodic efforts had been made mainly by people fi'orn the Aana district of Upolu and .southern districts of Savaii to assemble again, but arrests of chiefs taking part in this movement jl had been promptly made and had pre- ' vented such a gathering so far. The situation still called for much watchfulness, although tho power of the Mau was broken and it is expected a strong police force would lie necessary for some time to prevent it from coming to a head Ij again.

Tile Samoa Seditious Organisations Regulations, 1930, brought into forco by Order-in-Couticil 011 January 11, 1930, had made it much easier to deal with this phase of the situation. The general outlook had greatly improved; many indi vidua 1 Mau chiefs of importance wore in touch with the Administration and the present indications were that a steady drift away from the Mau has set in. Propaganda in New Zealand. A campaign of false propaganda in New Zealand followed the events of December 28. • continues the report. It was founded on inaccurate statements published in the press by two persons who were not witnesses of the occurrence. The object of this press campaign was apparently twofold; First, to mislead public opinion in New Zealand, and second to provide material for subsequent communication to the Man with a view to their encouragement and support. The propaganda was entirely unsuccessful as regards the first object, but met with more success in the second. A peculiar development of the dispersal of the Mau had been the commencement of a "women's Man" which, during March, had !>onn holding meetings at Vaimoso and had paraded through Apia in imitation of tho former action of the men.