SAMOA TO-DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23500, 14 May 1938, Page 23

SAMOA TO-DAY

THE PROBLEM OF SELFGOVERNMENT PROMISES BUT LITTLE PROGRESS 111 The New Zealand Government has told the Samoans that its desire is to advance them as rapidly as possible to the goal of self-govern-ment, There is no point in discussing the wisdom of this promise. It has been made; it cannot be retracted; and it has become the central fact in the political situation in Western Samoa. If the New Zealand Government and the Administration fail to convince the Samoans that the goal is being brought progressively nearer, there will inevitably be a recrudescence of serious trouble with the Man. It is therefore disturbing to find that neither in Wellington nor in Apia has any adequate consideration been given to the problem of the means by which the Samoans are to be fitted to rule themselves. The present policy is one of expediency, of making concessions whenever there is a threat of trouble. The Administration is not leading the Samoans towards self-government because it has nc clear conception of the intermediate stages; instead, it. is being prodded forward like a reluctant and slightly bewildered mule. For this state of affairs the blame rests with the New Zealand Government, which does not allow the Administration to have a policy and has no policy itself except a vague and uninformed benevolence. When he was in Samoa as head of the Goodwill Mission, Mr F. Langstone was - asked by representatives of the Samoans to indicate by what steps they might attain full responsible government. His answer was that Samoans should fit themselves to hold positions in the public service of Western Samoa, so that ultimately Samoans would fill the official positions on the Legislative Council. These Samoan official representatives would, with the elected Samoan representatives, command a majority on the council. The reply was ingenious but not realistic.

Samoans generally are not interested in the Legislative Council, which has been in existence for less than 15 years, conducts its proceedings in English, is over-weighted with official members, and has no organic connection with the native, political structure of Samoa. The Fono of Faipules, on the other hand, dates from the beginnings of German rule and, although not strictly speaking a Samoan institution, is a skilful grafting on to the traditional socia-political structure of Samoan life. If European rule were to terminate in Samoa to-morrow, the Samoans would use the Fono of Faipule as their principal instrument of Government. The Fono, as the natural focus of Samoan aspirations to self-govern-ment, has become the centre of the Samoan political scene. In theory the Fono is merely an advisory council of 39 chiefs empowered to discuss matters which may be referred to it by the Administrator. But the Government and the Administration, desiring peace in their time, have preferred lately not to stress the legal limitations on the’ powers of the Fono, which has in consequence established the right to negotiate direct with the Government of New Zealand, to discuss whatever it likes, and generally to comport itself as though it were a legislative assembly. It would be difficult, probably impossible, to retract these concessions. The Fono is now demanding that laws passed by the Legislative Council shall be submitted to it for approval before they become effective. There would be no harm in these developments if .the Government and the Administration intended the Fono of Faipule to become the parliament of Samoa or if the Fono was a suitable body to exercise powers of government. But just as the Legislative Council is weakened by. lack of any organic connection with the Samoan social system, so the Fono is weakened by lack of any organic connection with the machinery of government. It has no official membership to bring the touch of administrative reality into its discussions, no responsibilities to give balance to its judgments. At criticism and obstruction its members are becoming marvellously adroit, but that is poor preparation for political responsibility. Mr Langstone’s advice to the Samoans to regard the official seats on the Legislative Council as the key to self-government is ..nsatisfactory for the further reason that the prospect of Samoans being appointed to really responsible positions in the public service seems infinitely remote. Most of what has been said in official reports about the increases in the last few years in the number of official positions held by Samoans is liable to islead anyone unfamiliar with the nature of these positions. For instance, the number of Pulenu’u (village representatives of the Administration) has lately been increased from 127 to 156. In importance and usefulness, this might be compared to an increase in the number of justices of the peace in New Zealand. The number of permanent full-time Samoan public servants has also been increased; but the increase is confined to the lower grades. Apart from the native medical practitioners the two highest Samoan officials are an interpreter in the Native Affairs Office and the Supervisor of Native Police. Neither of them is paid as much as £2OO a year, and the Supervisor of Native Police has less power and responsibility than any of the European police constables. Officials say patiently: “ It will be a slow business; you can’t make responsible public servants overnight, particulalry with such material as the Samoans. But there is progress.” But they don’t really believe what they say They know well enough that, because the peak of the Samoan education system is a bad Standard VI, Samoans in the public service cannot rise above the level of the lowest e’’ade clerks in the New Zealand service. Until there is an education system capable of training administrators, progress towards self-government must remain illusory. In dealing with the Samoans it is a sound rule not to make promises which cannot be carried out within reasonable time To promise them self-government without any clear idea of the road to self-government and without any likelihood of immediate progress towards self-gov-ernment is to invite trouble.