A.—4b.

(6) The objection made that a presentation made to Your Excellency Government House, Wellington, in December, 1925, possessed political significance. (7) Complaints relating to Orders made by the Administrator, (a) requiring a Native to leave a certain place and to reside in a defined place in Samoa ; (b) requiring a Native to return to his home ; and (c) depriving a Native of his titles. These Orders relate to two periods : (1) Orders made prior to the creation of the organization of the Mau, and destitute of political significance, and (2) orders made after the Mau organization had, rightly or wrongly, been recognized as one which should be suppressed. (8) Finally, there are the subsidiary matters, such as the suggested reform of the Legislative Council, and certain orders relating to two trading licenses and one boatman's license. It is necessary to trace the genesis and growth of the organization known as the " Mau " if we are to understand the actions of the Administrator and the complaints as to the course of action adopted by him in consequence of its activities. The narration will necessarily involve a short account of the circumstances which led to the setting-up of the present Commission. The Mau, its Genesis and Growth. We are satisfied that until the public meeting of the 15th October, 1926, there was no real dissatisfaction amongst the Samoans with the Administration. There was in point of fact no satisfactory evidence of any dissatisfaction existing prior to that meeting. Mr. Williams, a member of the Legislative Council, who was concerned in the creation of the organization, at page 71 of the Notes of Proceedings gave evidence as follows : — When would you say this unrest had commenced in Samoa ?—I should say there was a certain amount of unrest about three years ago. When in your opinion did it attain serious proportions ? —There was growing unrest after the public meeting and from then on. Do I understand that there was no serious unrest before that ? —There was dissatisfaction. But no serious unrest ?—Oh, no —not serious unrest. The evidence of all of the Native Government officials was to the effect that there was no real dissatisfaction amongst the Natives with the Administration prior to Mr. Nelson's return in September, 1926. This is the opinion of Captain Bell, the Resident Commissioner of Savai'i, whose evidence is quoted later on. Certainly no satisfactory evidence was adduced before us from which we could infer the existence of any unrest or dissatisfaction amongst the Natives before this date. Mr. Nelson returned from a lengthy visit to Sydney on the 24th September, 1926. He returned to Apia via New Zealand for the express purpose of interviewing the Prime Minister and the Minister of External Affairs on Samoan matters. Prior to leaving Apia on his visit to Sydney in February, 1926, Mr. Nelson, who was a member of the Samoan Legislative Council, had been on very friendly terms with the Administrator. Before this we can find no evidence of any disagreement on Mr. Nelson's part with the main policy or activities of the Administration, and certainly no intimation or warning was given to the Administrator that any acts or policy of the Administration were causing, or tending to cause, dissatisfaction amongst the Samoans. Mr. Nelson determined while at Sydney to go to Wellington to interview the Prime Minister because of certain communications he had received from Samoa. The reasons which he avers actuated him in making the complaints to the Prime Minister were —firstly, that he was informed that the Administrator was going on in the same way as before in respect to his Native policy ; secondly, that Mr. Westbrook wrote to him and informed him that things were very bad in Samoa, and that there were thousands of coconut-trees being cut down for one thing and another ; and, thirdly, because of a letter from an employee of his in Apia complaining of the arrest of two or three of his permanent workers employed at Apia headquarters. Disregarding for the moment the objection relating to the Administrator's Native policy, the other matters were destitute of any real significance. The state-

XX