SAMOA.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1920, Page 5

SAMOA.

NEW ZEALAND RULE. DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT. I jiy Telegraph.—Press AssociationWellington, Last Night. In the House of Representatives this evening, the Hon. E. P. Lee (Minister of External Affairs) moved' the second reading of the Treaties of Peace Amendment Bill. Mr, Lee explained that at present New Zealand was not administering Samoa under the League of Nations, hut under the principal Allied and associated Powers, from whom the mandate had not yet heen received. In the meantime, Samoa was being administered by Grders-in-Council. If, when the mandate is issued, it is found that any of these Orders-in-Council are not in conformity with that mandate, then they, could be altered if this Bill passed, because under it, it was proposed to extend the time under which Orders-in-Council could be issued. At the present time there were many Orders-in-Council in force in Samoa, and he did not anticipate that any of these would have to be amended, but power should be given to the Government to do so if occasion and necessity should arise. Mr. W. D. Stewart (Dunedin West) raised the question of whether New Zealand was not creating for herself a position of a sovereign power by accepting the mandate over Samoa, not through Britain, but direct from the Allies. He thought that in all our foreign relations we should act not independently, but as part of the British Empire, and he thought the Premier should make a clear and explicit statement on the point. The Premier said he largely agreed with Mr. Stewart, but before he made a statement on the point he would like time to think the matter out, because no more important subject could be discussed. Ho did not consider New Zealand was a sovereign power in the ordinary sense of the term, but we were a selfgoverning nation within the British Empire. So far as £amoa was concerned the position was quite clear. The territory was surrendered, not to the League of Nations, but to the principal Allied Powers, who, in turn, transferred it to Britain, by whom it was handed to New Zealand. The Dominion delegates did not sign the Peace Treaty as a sovereign power, but as agents for the King of Great Britain, and representing their various Dominions. Mr. J. MeCombs (Lyttelton) stronglyattacked the system of indentured labor, which, he said, was being continued against the wishes of the Samoan people, the policy of the Imperial authorities, and the conscience of New Zealandors. Mr. R. McCallum (Wairau) declared the Bill was a breach of faith, breaking a promise made by Sir James Allen that indentured labor would be ended in twelve months. At one o'clock the Minister rose to reply, maintaining that no fault could be found with the labor conditions in Samoa, which were superior to those in Fiji. At 1.25 a.m. a division was ; taken, and the second reading was agreed to by 33 votes to 12.