A. —4b.

The important point to be borne in mind is that the produce and property of the family are held in common ; and no incentive exists for individual industry or effort. The family under the matai is the unit of the social and also of the political system of Samoa. No Samoan can be a chief unless he is a matai, and the matai may, and frequently does, hold a high chiefly title. The system has in the main been closely followed in the organization of the local administration adopted by New Zealand. The principle at the basis of the system is, as far as possible, to utilize in its local administration and to associate with the legislative authority affecting Native affairs the Native chiefs, rulers, and councillors. In old Samoa the following meetings were, according to Dr. Brown, a great authority on Samoa (see " Melanesians and Polynesians," 1910, page 431) part of the political system In Samoa, and I think in many other places in eastern Polynesia, the following meetings were held : First, meetings of the separate villages, at which all of the political relations of the principal or ruling town of the district were considered and dealt with by the local chief or chiefs, tulafales (orators), and heads of families ; secondly, meetings of the chiefs and representatives of the different villages at the principal town of the district with which they were immediately connected, at which all matters affecting the local interests of that portion of the district were dealt with, as well as any matters which affected the political relations of the town and its dependencies to the rest of the district with which it was connected ; thirdly, meetings at the ruling town of the district, at which chiefs, tulafales, and heads of families from all the towns which composed the large district decided upon all matters which affected the district as a whole, and especially upon any matter affecting the political relations which existed between them and other districts ; fourthly, meetings of chiefs, tulafales, and representatives from the several districts gathered together on some great emergency to discuss any matters affecting their own national interests or their relations with any foreign power. Meetings of the first and second classes have their counterpart in the Village Committees and District Councils established by New Zealand, but the necessity for meetings of the third and fourth classes arose from the circumstance that Samoa as a whole never really possessed a national or central Government. For these meetings is substituted a Fono (meeting) of Faipules for the whole of Samoa, which constitute what may be described as an Advisory Parliament. The New Zealand system commences with the Village Committee, composed of the village chiefs, tulafales (orators or councillors) and matais (heads of families). This committee, like the former Village Council, is entrusted with the control of village affairs and the peace and order of the community. It is in substance the counterpart of the Native Village Council, with such minor variations as the altered times and conditions required. These variations will be discussed later. Each village or each convenient group of villages has its pulenu'u (town ruler), who is a paid officer of the Administration, and whose duty it is to supervise the enforcement of the laws and to act as the medium (although not the sole medium) of communication with the Administration. The meeting of the second class (i.e., the old District Council) has its counterpart in the District Council established by New Zealand. All Samoa was anciently divided into political districts (some eighteen in number), and the boundaries of the respective districts were jealously preserved. Native District Councils were composed of chiefs and tulafales, who were selected by the matais of each village. The place of this Native District Council was taken by District Councils established by the Administration, and these Councils were regularized and their constitution, powers, and functions were defined by the Native Regulations (Samoa) Order, 1925. This Order in Council created convenient districts, the boundaries of which were fixed with a due regard to the boundaries of ancient districts. The constitution of these Councils is not objected to, except it is said that it is not in accordance with Samoan custom that the number of chiefs chosen by the Village Committee to sit in the Council should be limited at the discretion of the Faipule of the district. The criticism of the New Zealand system will be later dealt with. If a district should prove too large, a subdistrict is constituted. For each district and subdistrict there is a paid Government official called a Faipule. He is the chief local administrator. It is around the method of appointment of these officials that the main controversy has arisen. Tt is asserted that they have been appointed by the Administrator without in any way consulting

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