SAMOA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18352, 16 September 1921, Page 6

SAMOA

A DISGRUNTLED COMMUNITY. AUSTRALIAN JOURNALISTS IMPRESSIONS. (Fkom Oub Special Coebespondent.) SYDNEY, September 8. An investigation niio conditions in Samoa lias been made uy the special commissioner ol tlie ayiiney Morning Herald (Air Percy S. Alien;, wlio lias just returned Irom the islands, and is contributing a senes ol articles to that journal. Arr Allen is, on tne vvlioic, nut uniavourably impressed wit.li iNew Zealands' admiiiistrauon. Ho writes ; "For beauty and romance Samoa stands alone among the isles oi tne South Seas. It nas been wed termed the ‘pearl ot tne Pacinc.’ Rut the pearl has lost us lustre somewhat smco those idyllic days when i nrst knew the piuee. rue peerless scenio enurms still remain, of course, but otherwise the old order ol tilings has completely changed. Samoa in the days 1 speak ot was a vale of Eden where the people, white and brown, lived an Arcadian life. Harmony prevailed and happiness and contentment reigned. io-aay what clues one find '! A Sahara, in place of the Eden ! The people no longer a happy family; none of the joviality of old; tne community along the beach antagonistic to the officials; discontent among the natives; industries languishing, and trade stagnant. “And yet 1 am not disposed to agree with the 'old hands’ in Apia themselves that all the blame lor the. parlous condition one finds now is to be' laid at New Zealand’s door. The shortcomings of the administration, were certainly painted' in very lurid colours by the Olympians of the beach, to borrow Professor Macmillan Brown’s phrase, but while it is plain that the administration has made and is making blunders it is not to be held entirely responsible for all the present ills. Samoa, in common with other countries, is suffering from trade depression, and there are other economic factors, and other factors also, that are operating in all the islands, especially in the mandated territories, and that would be just as much in evidence no matter what kind of an administration Samoa had. There is too great a disposition to contrast conditions with the happier one in pre-war days, and to forget that nowhere are things the same to-day as they were then. It is not alone the defects in government that account for Samoa’s troubles. Diminished prosperity, due to the collapse of markets for tropical products, is at the bottom of them, and that is a cause far •beyond local control. The administration has made, many mistakes, but it has really not done so badly when all the difficulties are taken into consideration; and it promises to do a great deal better in 'the future. The people of Samoa want to be governed either b'y Fiji or by the Colonial Office direct. Some would prefer American rule even. They may easily go farther and fare worse. New Zealand would no doubt be glad enough to be rid of the responsibility of the oversight of this disgruntled community, if a satisfactory way out could be found, for there can be no really national desire to continue the control of Samoa against the wishes of its people. If there is, it must be based on vanity rather than reason. New Zealand has had nothing bat trouble with Samoa ever since she accepted the mandate. There are many elements there, different from those in any other group in the Pacific, that make its government very difficult. Indeed, there is no form of administration that would in these days satisfy Samoa for long. They are a peculiar people, as New Zealand must realise by now.” PROHIBITION. Mr Allen goes on to enumerate the white residents’ grievances, and commenting upon their letter to Mr Lee, says: “No mention, it may be noted with surprise, is made of prohibition, which is really the sorest point of all. It nas been said, however, that the main idea behind the suggestion that the British Government should replace Now Zealand is that, if this should come to pass, there would he a Jiettex chance of getting prohibition cancelled. If it is a fact that, this is the real move, it is a rather shrewd one. One cannot, though, help feeling sympathy for those who have been denied their ‘nip.’ The beach community are not topers, but many had long been accustomed to their whisky and soda, and why, they ask with apparent reasonableness, should New Zealand,* which has not subjected its own citizens to prohibition, have the power to impose such*an infliction upon them? Prohibition, as far as the whites are concerned, is not in accordance with the terms of the mandate which provides only that ‘intoxicants shall not be supplied to natives, and this was really an unnecessary provision since they ho.vo never been addicted to any other drink than their own kava. Naturally those who had been accustomed to liquor feel the deprivation very much, more, perhaps, than would those who dwell in temperate climes, for in a tropical country stimulants are, perhaps, more necessary. EXTRAVAGANT AND UNFAIR.

In a second article defending the Administration Mr Allen makes this observation: “All readers must b© familiar with the charges that have, with such persistence, been made against Now Zealand’s administration of Samoa. There are in Apia, it may be explained, several very active newspaper correspondents, who are always inveighing against the Administrator personally and against the Administration generally ; but an impartial observer cannot come to any other conclusion than that the diatribes emanating from these sources, and that have been so widely published to the injury of New Zealand’s reputation, have been' both extravagant arid unfair. The Administration is not really so bad as has been painted, though it is not by any means perfect. NATIVES AND OFFICIALS. In the third article of the series, published to-day, Mr Allen makes reference to native discontent, and indulges in some criticism of the type of officials New Zealand has sent to Samoa. He says ; “There is disaffection among the Samoans, and there is no doubt that the attituoe of certain of the whites and half-castes has strongly influenced them. The Samoans are splendid types of manhood, physically and mentally; very different from the natives of the islands that Australia controls. Trying as Australia’s task will be to run 'successfully her mandated territories, she is, unlike New Zealand—and this must ever be remembered when comparisons are made,—free from the very groat difficulties involved in satisfactorily handling a highspirited people, proud, dignified, and sensitive, as the Samoans are. “New Zealand has perhaps not been particular enough in the selection of her officials for Samoa. Many of them are exshop assistants, and one, for example, an ex-barman Their main qualification is that, they are ex-soldiers; and while applicants for the service should always receive preference on those grounds, ether things being equal, the aim of the Administration ought ever to bo to get the proper type of official, with the requisite experience if possible. The average New Zealand official in ~ Samoa dees not command the respect of the natives. He lacks prestige, has little education, and is without that traditional upbringing and savoir vivro that, for example, usually distinguishes the British colonial official. And there is no place in the Pacific whore all these things count for more among the native inhabitants than they do in Samoa. For the natives there have strict ideas of etiquette, their ceremonies being full of polite expression and punctilious observances, and those who do not pay duo regard are considered to lack breeding, and consequently lose respect. Indeed, it is principally in the native interests that the writer considers the conversion of Samoa into a Crown colony might give better results than at preserit. For under a Crown colony, even of the most severe type, the natives, ns wt>il ns the white residents, are better off, as a continuous policy is possible —carried out by men whose business it is to administer, and who. having no fear of losing their positions by party influence, look forward to a career, and who possess, above all, a comprehension of the traditions and obligation ,of the Empire in dealing with subject races. Whatever were his other faults, the average Gorman official knew bettor than the avci-age New Zealander how to comport himself at native gatherings. Ho was —and I sneaky from a personal acquaintance—always spick and span in appearance, with a due sense of the dignity of his position, which the average New Zealand official does not possess. In hr Self and Dr Schultz the Germans had two singularly good officials, who over endeavoured to uphold the prestige and dignity of the chiefs, properly taking the view that it was much easier to rule a people like the Samoans through their chiefs than to ignore their chiefs and rule without them. The first New Zealand Administrator (Colonel Logan) and the second (Colonel Tate), who is still in office, have not—if the stories I have hcard.be true, and perhaps they are not—paid sufficient regard to the susceptibilities of the chiefs, and so have given some of them umbrage. Several complained to me of the overbearing conduct of the Administrator and other officials towards them, and a lack of the respect that they considered should bo shown. But in probing for other causes, I fancy

that the chief soreness, and a very natural orib, ig the memory of the influenza epidemic. '1 his they rightly or wrongly attribute to the carelessness of the Administration, and it will be many years before this tragic chapter in their history is forgiven or forgotten. On ton of this there are economic factors, the native mind finding it hard to understand the why and the wherefore of the prices of - imported commodities increasing while the prices of their copra and other produce should at the same time drop. For these things they blame the Government, though the Government is in no way, of course, responsible. But it is hard to make them realise this. And there are some people in Apia who do not desire them to be enlightened.