SAMOAN DISPUTE.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17220, 1 October 1927, Page 11

SAMOAN DISPUTE.

A SUCCINCT REVIEW. AND HIS CRITICS. HIS IMPRESS ON TIIE COUNTRY. The following clear and impartial survey of the situation in Samoa from the London Times will possess interest for our readers: — Since New Zealand, which captured the territory from Germany in 1914, accepted the mandate in 1919 a very complete system of administration has taken the place of the war-time arrangements. The New Zealand Parliament votes £20,000 a year for the work in, Samoa. The great material improvements that have been brought about have elicited frequent praise from the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, and have caused Western Samoa to be spoken of as a ‘‘model mandate.”

The most striking sign of these improvements is the increase in the number of the 40,000 Samoans who now have a prospect of doubling their numbers. It is in the field of health that the most conspicuous triumphs have been achieved. Water supplies in particular have been improved, and medical campaigns yaws and inookworm have been undertaken, the success of which is shown in the condition of the. native children.

Administrator’s Efforts. Much of the credit for this work belongs to the i> esent Administrator, Major-General Sir George Richardson, who has been in office since 1523. General Richardson has had a remarkable career. Twenty-three years ago Pe was a sergeant in the Royal Artillery. He vJtis lent to New Zealand by the War Office as an instructor. When the New Zealand Expeditionary Force was formed in 1914 he rose to high command and had a distinguished war record. AIL sides of Samoan life hear marks of his activity and his unceasing determination to .institute an ever higher level of efficiency and wellbeing. One of the Administrator’s first acts was to lease the smaller and less productive of the Samoan Crown estates (ex-enemy property taken as war reparation), retaining under the control of the Government only the larger coconut plantations. He disposed of various unprofitable Government enierprises and transferred Apia’s one hotel, a Government property, to a more attractive site. These details are mentioned to give an indication of the way General Ricardson has impressed himself upon every side of Samoan life. His active administration has affected the daily lives of the Samoans and the handful" of white traders in innumerable ways, and this fact lies at- the j, oo t of much of the present unrest. It may be fairly said that' the success in matter of hygiene has not been equalled by the success in education or economic development. General Richardson has attempted to stimulate the "natives to an appreciation of /v, e white man’s idea of work, lie has round the existing Jana laws a great obstacle to this, since under native '-uston Samoans have no incentive to more than provide for their own rjrmcls. Over 9000 Matais (local chiefs) have a direct interest in ma»>

taining the old system. Tonga, where acres is reserved for each youth at a low rental for life, has been pointed out as the model for the Samoans, and a delegation has been taken there to learn the advantages of a life of steady agricultural labour over the happy-go-lucky ways of men to whom nature has been kind.

Management of Chiefs. The management of the chiefs has been one of General Richardson’s great problems. There is a Native Advisory Council, known as the Fono of Faipules, to advise the Administrator on purely native affairs, and to supervise the acts of local authorities in native villages. Under the Samoan Amendment Act, passed by Che New Zealand Legislature in 1923, “no native shall he appointed a Faipule who is not qualified in accordance with existing Samoan usage and custom to occupy the position of a Faipule.” But the Fono is a handpicked body of Faipules upon whom the Government can reiv. There has been naturally a good deal of feeling among the Samoans that the Fono is not a free body, and does not really represent them. Government in Western Samoa is by ordinance, fi’he Administrator, acting with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council, may make laws, to he known as ordinances, for the peace, order, and good government Ox the territory. This Legislative Council consists of six official and three unofficial members, who are elected by .ho local Europeans. These three Europeans formed in October last year the Citizens’ Committee by adding to themselves six Europeans and six Samoan chiefs. This new body is the focus for the organised criticism of General Richardson and the recent banishments of Samoan chiefs have been generally cn account of their connection with it. The leader of the committee, Mr Nelson, is a merchant, with intimate ties both of blood and business with the Samoans, among whom he enjoys considerable influence. The upholders of the Administrator assert that Mr Nelson and his associates are really hostile to the administration because its native policy, particularly in regard to copra, of which Mr Nelson is the largest buyer, adversely affects them. it is also alleged that much of the opposition is due to prohibition. That the natives- shall not have access to liquor is in the terms of the Mandate, but, in order to facilitate administration, the New Zealand Government has included Europeans in that prohibition. This has not been done in Fiji or in „.ie mandated territory of New Guinea, which have the identical problem of keeping drink from the ordinary natives, and it is far from popular in Samoa. But home-brewing there, as elsewhere, has become a highly developed art, and the Citizens’ Committee reply that these insinuations ar>' only intended to prejudice them in the eyes of New Zealanders. They point 10 the published impressions of recent visitors to support their claim that they arc not called on to vindicate their motives if the abuses they complain of do, in fact, exist.

Autocratic Administration. These abuses may nearly all be summarised in the charge that the administration is autocratic.. Those opposed to the administration assert that Samoa is now at the mercy of an Administrator whose cast of mind makes him unable to appreciate the resentment and unhappiness that is caused by his mechanical pursuit of efficiency, and they

declare that as things stand the Courts are no remedy against the Executive. Thus a typical Samoan complaint is that punishment without trial is now in force. It is related that on' the occasion of the visit of the Governor-Gen-eral of New Zealand to Samoa in 1920, plain sheets ol' foolscap paper were sent to every village in Western Samoa for every chief, to sign; signatures were to he attached to an address of welcome. The High Chief Moiio'o refused to sign the blank sheet, and was, without trial, banished to a distant part of the island. Taua’a, another leading chief, is alleged to have been punished in the same way for a similar refusal. Another charge is made from the most westerly point of the Samoan Islands, Hie Falcalupo Peninsula. In 1925 the old and respected Faipule of Falcalupo received a letter from the Native Office in Apia, telling him that his resignation had been accepted, lie went immediately to Apia and protested that he had not resigned, but was told that unfortunately he could not he reinstated as the Fa’amasino (native magistrate) of Falealupo had been appointed as Faipule in his stead. This caused dissatisfaction among the natives of Falcalupo, who considered that no more unpopular and improper new appointment could well have been made, and, moreover, they resented the way in which the old Faipule had been displaced, and they themselves ignored in the choice of his successor. A more general complaint is that in such intimate matters as the laying out of native villages standardised designs are enforced without regard for Samoan susceptibilities.

Banishment of High Chiefs. But the centre of the trouble continues to be Apia. The two High Chiefs, Faumuiana and Afamasaga, were ordered to leave their homes in June and to reside indefinitely upon the isolated island of Apolina. No definite charge was brought, but the Administrator told them he regretted they had allowed themselves to he made the tools of others, and that they were not to reply, fi’he ban.ishment of these two chiefs ’ed to much discussion of Samoa in New Zealand, Their real offence lay in their membership of the Citizens’ Committee. To attend meetings of this committee very large numbers of Samoans had been coming to Apia, most of them members of the Samoan League. Ths league, which isTn, open opposition to the administration, claims to represent 90 per cent, of the people of Samoa. It is the widespread character of the discontent that is its most disquieting symptom. Samoan history is rich in examples of vague unrest gradually focussing itself in some chief or body and causing violent outbreaks, so there are grounds for uneasiness. It is this uneasiness which has caused the administration to threaten Mr Nelson and the other European members of the Citizens’ Committee with deportation, as having been “greatly instrumental in causing much unrest among the _amoan people,” and lias also caused the New Zealand Government to resolve upon an inquiry to find out how best to mitigate the inflamed state of feeling that undoubtedly exists.