BANISHED FROM SAMOA

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 236, 24 December 1927, Page 1

BANISHED FROM SAMOA

CLIMAX TO PROLONGED UNREST DEPUTATION’S APPEAL TO ADMINISTRATOR THE banishment from Samoa of Messrs. O. F. Nelson, A. G. Smyth and E. V/. Gurr, announced in a late edition of THE SUN yesterday, may not end the measures taken by the Administrator. Mi. Nelson and Mr. Gurr are to go for five years, and Mr. Smyth for two. Meanwhile, according to private advices, three others of the Citizens Committee have been ordered to appear before the Administrator, who has ignored a deputation plea for conciliation.

1 FURTHER news of the sensational developments in Samoa is disclosed in a radio message received from Apia to-day by the Auckland office of O. F. Nelson, Ltd. The substance of the message is:

On December 15 the three members of the Citizens’ Committee, Messrs. Nelson, Smyth and Gurr, were ordered to appear before the Administrator, on the following day, to show cause why they should not be deported under the terms of recent enactments. They appeared with counsel, but no specific charges were preferred against them. On December 19 they were informed by the Administrator that information concerning their cases had been forwarded to the Governor-General, for consideration as to further action. On December 21 a deputation of missionaries and citizens met the Administrator, suggesting conciliation, and ways of seeking an avenue for the preservation of peace in Samoa. The next development, however, was the order of deportation. In addition, states the Samoa message, Messrs. G. "Westbrook, A. Williams and S H. Meredith have been ordered to appear before the Administrator on December 30. In the meantime they are taking the advice of Sir John Findlay.