The Waikato Times. With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1921. SAMOA

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14716, 4 August 1921, Page 4

The Waikato Times. With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1921. SAMOA

The Hon. Mr Lee, the Minister of External Affairs, has made a statement in respect of the mandate exercised by New Zealand over Samoa. There have been attacks of late upon our administration, and it must be admitted that the Minister's statement is not particularly reassuring. The first matter re refers to is the charge that the public service is ridiculously over-staffed, and he says that actual facts do not sustain the charge. It would have been belter to have dealt a little more fully with this matter, for if there <■■ anything in it the charge will be repeat; 1 and will be taken up by those who have nothing more than the Minister's bald statement to contralict it. According to the report the ciyil administration has been in force for rather more I ban twelve months, having' started on May J, .1920, but in spite of this the Minister says that as much has not been achieved as was hoped in the establishment of essential services such as medicine, education, wafer and sanitation, lighting, cold storage, etc., but that the failure has been due to the want of men. plant and materials, and that when these became available the price of copra and of cocoa suddenly dropped. The most important point in the report is that it lias been decided that the Government shall keep the German planters' estates in their own hands. The trading stations and business premises of the Oermans will be sold. The Minister is convinced that these Samoan estates will prove to be a great asset to New Zealand when prices are stabilised and labour difficulties overcome. The profits from the estates are to assist in carrying out the provision of education, medicine, and public works. The labour employed on these estates is to be indentured Chinese labour under Government control.

We cannot protend to speak with any very intimate knowledge about the conditions of cultivation or farming in the Islands. We have always understood, however, that, it resembled farming elsewhere as being eminently a matter for individual enterprise. Nature in some respects is particularly kindly, and compensates by subjecting the cultivator to unusual risks. What grounds,

therefore, are there 'for thinking that a large amount of money is to he made by the cultivation of the German estates. The Minister says there is a valuable asset, and it is therefore reasonable to expect considerable returns, more particularly as something really substantial is necessary to justify the odious system of indentured Chinese labour. We should not, however, expect to be told that the Samoan estates are equal In value to the same area of Waikato dairy lands, and what would the Government make out of dairy farms? We are not unduly pessimistic in saying that the Minister, or whoever succeeds him, will be disappointed at the result of Government farming, even with cheap Chinese labour. Such labour wants supervision, which costs money, and it is never really satisfactory. Cheap labour never is, but that, is a truth which it seems very hard to learn.

The amount of profit to be made from the German estates is, however, a secondary matter. The question is what policy do the Government propose t* pursue in Samoa. The Minister does not state, but presumably he is ■wording with some end in view. Are the Islands to be preserved for the natives, or do we wish to establish white settlers there? When the war began the Islands were in possession of the Germans, and were a possible source of danger. We took possession of them, but it is scarcely conceivable that we should have no views about their future other than raising the largest possible crops of copra and cocoa. If, however, there is any intention to preserve the Islands for the natives, a huge Government farm worked with indentured Chinese will not help. There will inevitably be intercourse between Chinese and natives, and a race of half-castes will appear who will constitute a problem for some future Minister for External Affairs. The natives already work threequarters of the cultivatable area, and would doubtless work the rest if their numbers increased. They are supposed to be a somewhat easy-going and indolent race, tout they produce what satisfies their own requirements, and if it is desired that they should do more, the only method is to indoctrinate them with fresh wants, though such a course might be a species of refined cruelty. They are in any case likely to protest very vigorously against the employment of Chinese, and we must count upon having to justify that course to the League of Nations and before the bar of public opinion. If the planting of white settlers be contemplated the course which the Minister proposes will be a hindrance and not a help. The Government officials who will manage the State farm will not be settlers. Their interest in the place will be limited to the day's work and the month's pay. The trading stations are to be sold, but they will do less business than before, for Government requirements will all be indented. There were several German colonies before the war where the Government officials, outnumbered the settlers. German colonisation was a feeble affair for that very reason, but as they desired nothing but the produce to be obtained from the colony they were presumably satisfied. We, however, should have some better aim. There seems to be no reason why white men should not settle in the Islands, and the Government farm would provide for a certain number. If they succeeded they would arrange for education and public works, and the natives could do the same. Their demands are probably more moderate than ours, though if they learn the lesson of importunity they may cause a Minister trouble. In any case the profits from a Government farm arc unlikely to provide any high standard of life. We trust that when the House meets there will be some questions asked respecting the retention of the German estates, which seems to be very ill-advised. How is it that Ministers are so ready to drop the proper business of governing ana so ready to take up economic pursuits which are not their business at all?