SAMOAN DOINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17997, 16 April 1930, Page 7

SAMOAN DOINGS.

(To the Editor.) o ir i would like to commend your leader of the 14th under the above heading. It is a fine thing for a paper to take up such a definite stand on the side.of justice, and more especially s when that stand is made on the side of a people who lack the opportunity of securing justice for themselves. Nothing suits the advanemeent of an honest and worthy cause so well as good plain speaking, and your leader in squarely facing the actualities of the situation was, I think, most commendably to To reflect on the case of the Maori and the Pakeha as compared with the New Zealander and the Samoan gives one a sense of balance with regard to the real issue and provides solid food for thought. One cannot help hut feel that the average New Zealander of today is quite as friendly toward a coloured race as were the early settlers — yet why the oontrast? Why the sore absence of mutual understanding in the problem of Samoa? Surely the answer must be that we as a people have not fully awakened conscientiously to f our responsibility in securing the friendship between the Samoans and ourselves. One real statesman at the helm could restore a satisfactory measure of contentment, avert the present crisis, and save our national honour. This is no mere assertion, as was borne out in the early days of our New Zealand history when James Edward Fitzgerald, a wonderfully far-seeing man, delivered in the House of Parliament a magnificent oration which so moved his audience to see clearly what the then (then existing) attitude toward the native race must surely lead to, that from that day onward the security and friendship of our neighbours was assured. Soon afterwards a party of Maori chiefs and celebrities was ushered with great triumph and celebration into London's Royal society. Think of the splendid racial feeling that event must have brought about! We have so long been on friendly terms with •our Maori neighbours that we seem to have almost forgotten upon what fundamental principles this alliance Is founded. In India the position is rather different. In the history of British rule these fundamental principles have never been effectively recognised by the ruling class. Hence the independence campaign. Now, granting (as in the case of Gandhi's defiance) that it is better policy to ignore the threats o fthe Mau —what follows? Unless our actions prove that we are at rockbottom, relying on the reasoning loyalty of the people for whom our administration should exist (so long as it needs must exist) to their best advantage, our position is still quite unstable. To ignore Gandhi in India is all right only because the Indian people have once again summoned up faith in the good faith of its present more enlightened government, and, in the same way, if Samoa must be held by the sword the sooner we begin in earnest to decimate the Mau the better our chance of keeping our erring children of Samoa under proper parental control. But there is the alternative of justice and freedom. —I am, elU ’ R. E. HANSEN. April 14.