GOVERNMENT OF SAMOA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20651, 25 August 1930, Page 12

GOVERNMENT OF SAMOA.

PETITION FOR INQUIRY.

REASONS NOT EXPLAINED. ATTITUDE OF PROFESSORS. Mr. A. St. Glair Brown writes:—l should like to congratulate Archdeacon Mac Murray on giving publicity to his refusal to sign a petition for an investigation into Samoan affairs. The petition does not appear to have been published, but Professor Grossmann's lettor in Saturday's llehai.d epitomises it. Why should Samoan affairs bo investigated? There can be only two reasons:— (1) Bccauso the petitioners consider Samoa is not, administered to the best advantage, or, (2) because the petitioners consider our reputation suffers abroad on account of tho disorders that have occurred in Samoa.

Tho presenco of tho names of seven learned professors on a petition in its early stages must inevitably involve tho reputation of the institution to which their activities are devoted and Professor Grossmann's disclaimer on that point is somewhat ingenuous.

Clear Definition Needed. It is only obvious diplomacy and caution on tho petitioners' part to adopt tho altitude that no invidious reflections and so forth are intended. But if No. 1 reason is entirely absent from their minds, why not state directly that No. 2 is llio sole reason and object of the inquiry? As to No. 1. Do our seven professors believe that happier choice of administrators could have been mado than, firstly, of that able soldier, diplomat, administrator, speaker and gentleman, Georgo Richardson, and, secondly, Mr. S. S. Allen, of whoso character, courage and capacity no man, who knows him, entertains tho slightest doubt? tho judgment of Sir Charles Skerrett, C..T., and Judge G. E. MacCormick not convincing enough? Tho petitioners must have read or learned of the long, patient and self-sac-rificing work of the administrators and their staffs in Samoa, and the extraordinary difficulties, internal and external, that have been encountered. As neither of the administrators would have tolerated cither undue interference or inadequate backing from Wellington, it, is hard to seo wherein the petitioners can feel tho administration has been wrbng. Dominion's Responsibility. As to No. 2, which is the only reason that can stand serious inquiry, I venture to suggest, that the proper course for this Dominion to pursue is to discharge her mandate with a high sense of duty, remembering that she is responsible to her peers and her peers alone, the League of Nations, whence comes her authority and to whom alone she will render account.

.1 am amazed that seven responsible professors of learning can bo found to suggest that wo ask some outsiders to kindly come and investigate how we are behaving ourselves in Samoa. Do our seven professors want committees of outsiders investigating the. influence they are having on tho plastic minds of their students, or are they answerable to no man or body of men, but tho council whose confidence they enjoy? Such illtimed petitions arc calculated only to do harm. Tho Sainoans must clearly leant tho wa\s of order and discipline, be the governing hand never so tolerant and kind. The implications that inevitably arise from the mere presentation of petitions for inquiry must render more difficult the very heavy and responsible task that is cast upon our officials in Samoa. Is it altogether inappropriate to suggest that a committee of seven of tho petitioners should spend the long vacation in Samoa in intimate association with the natives, thus obtaining first-hand information of his ways' and tho problems and methods of the Administrator? That, followed by a confidential report to tho Government, might be a constructive contribution to the lifting of the burdens of Empire.