Echoes From Samoa

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 93, 11 July 1927, Page 8

Echoes From Samoa

Minister and Welfare League

“'T'HE New Zealand Government must, pursuant to the mandate for Western Samoa, exercise its power to deport any or all of you from the territory, unless you and your associates abstain from your present course of action.” The foregoing threat, quoted from a letter sent by the Minister of External Affairs, the Hon. W. Nosworthy, to the Citizens’ Committee of Samoa, is evidence of the wide powers with which the administration in Samoa is vested. Among those to whom the Minister’s remarks apply, is the Hon. O. F. Nelson, member of the Samoan Legislative

Council who will arrive in Auckland by the Tofua to-day. When Mr. Nelson, and his associates on the Citizen’s Committee, asked the Minister if they could send a deputation to New Zealand to interview the Government regarding Samoan affairs, they were informed that the Minister would “consider no further matter from the committee until he knew* what action Mr. Nelson and the European members of the committee intended to take, pursuant to his final warning, to cease their present agitation, and to undo the trouble they had already caused.” DIRECT REFERENCE A further letter sent by the Minister made direct reference to some of those whom he considered were malcontents responsible for disaffection in Samoa..

The Minister wrote: “I am to warn Mr. Nelson. Mr. Williams. Mr. W estbrook, Mr. Smyth. Mr.,Gurr. and Mr. Meredith that the Government must exercise its power to deport any or all of you unless you abstain from your present course.” The Minister added that the men referred to must also satisfy the Administrator that they were doing their utmost to undo the trouble they had created. In reply the European members of the Citizens’ Committee said they were entirely at a loss to understand the reasons for, or the necessity of, such a law as that which had been brought into force on the recommendation of the Minister. They said they knew of no state of affairs which justified provision for the deportation of permanent residents without any form of trial. Further, they emphatically repudiated the implied charge of disloyalty to the throne. RIVAL PARTIES Of the men exposed to possible deportation under the terms of recent enactments, one, Mr. Gurr. is publisher of the “Samoa Guardian,” and others are prominent business men, who have resided in the group for years. One charge made against them was that, by organising entertainments in opposition to the official entertainments staged on the King’s Birthday, they showed a spirit of disloyalty. Dealing with this charge, the “Samoa Guardian” says there was no suggestion of disloyalty. An official ball was held at Government House, Apia, on the night of the King’s Birthday, but no members of the Citizens’ Committee were invited. so they promptly arranged a party of their own at the spacious home of Mr. Nelson. To Mr. Nosworthy’s charge that this was evidence of their disloyal spirit, they replied by asking why they were not invited to Government House. The Minister’s answer was to the effect that they had omitted to make a formal call on the administrator, and were therefore not entitled to invitations. The bickering over invitations to a ball seems to suggest that anything can be dragged in as substance for argument in the bitterly-waged controversy. MINISTER ATTACKED The “Samoa Guardian” attacks the Minister in direct terms, stating that he supported the Administrator with a haughty despotism, and suggesting that his judgment had been warped. It also asserts that, while he charged the Citizens’ Committee with disloyalty to the Throne, Mr. Nosworthy himself omitted to observe the usual respectful formalities when leaving the Administration Offices, while “God Save the King” was being played. Interjections attributed to Mr. Nosworthy during the address made to him by a deputation from the Citizens’ Committee are quoted. T am not a fool . . . New Zealand did not send a fool to Samoa . . . J am not a puppet ... I am not going to be hoodwinked,” ' are samples.