THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1919. THE MANDATORY SYSTEM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17548, 13 February 1919, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1919. THE MANDATORY SYSTEM.

The manner in which tho Powers that are respectively to .be entrusted with the administration of the' former German colonies and of the territories that formerly groaned under the oppressive rule of Turkey are to execute their mandates does not seem to have yet been definitely determined. Mr Hughes, Premier pf Australia, speaking with reference to the application of the mandatory system >to the colonies in the Pacific, describes the arrangemsnt as provisional and uncertain. Its possibilities include certain of a kind which, he declares, Australia will not entertain! It may safely be inferred that it is in relation to the questions of immigration and of labour conditions that Mr Hughes expresses his strong sense of apprehension concerning the principles of the mandatory system. He insists that, if the Federal Government is to accept a mandate, it is imperative that it shall ba accorded the same authority in the new territory as it exercises in Australia. 1A message which we publish this morning from the official correspondent of the New Zealand Government contains the statement that in | principle this dominion will " control Samoa as though the island were an integral part of New Zealand,." and that the administration and legislation of New Zealand will be exactly, applicable to Samoa. If this conveys an accurate representation of the case, then the fears which Mr Hughes expresses must be held to be. groundless, for it cannot be imagined that the mandate which will be delivered to Australia in respect of New Guinea will differ in any material respect from that which will be issued to New Zealand! in respect of Samoa. Were it not for the assurance, offered in the message from the official reporter of the dominion, we should regard it as unlikely that a mandatory Power would be permitted to exercise an authority of the precise kind that is claimed by Mr Hughes, since this might be supposed to \be inconsistent with the theory of the mandatory system. The mandate will actually create a state of trusteeship. The Power that is the recipient of a mandate will administer the territory in trust for the Ijeagn© of Nations, the draft constitution of which has now been issued. The administration by a mandatory Power will have to conform to the terms of the trust. 'Whether this trust will be of a nature as acceptable to the dominions as Mr Massey apparently anticipates or as unacceptable as Mr Hughes fears we are unlikely to know for certain- for a few days. It is curious, however, that Mr Hughes and Mr Massey have formed impressions relative to the probable character of the mandate that are conflicting. Between direct annexation of the colonies in the' Pacific, as would 'have been preferred by the dominions, and internationalisation on the . principle which, we axe now invited to believe, is to be applied in the case of Samoa—and, therefore, in the case of New Guinea there is no very great difference. Even if the mandatory system is not to operate quite so smoothly as Mr Massey believes it will, and quite so completely in accordance with the views that are generally held in the dominions concerning the disposal of the former German colonies, the commonsanse policy would be to make the best of it. At the very worst it frees us from the grave menace to the security of. Australia and New. Zealand that was involved in the existence of German outposts in the Pacific. And it may turn out to-be a highly satisfactory arrangement.