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A.—4

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Hon. Mr. Cobbe: Am Ito understand that the leaders of the Mau do not know what the Mau means, and do not know what the objects of the Mau are ? Have Ito take that message back to New Zealand, that the leaders of the Mau do not know what it is ? Faumuina: If I were allowed by the Mau to speak out I would do so, but lam not allowed yet by the Samoans to speak in that way. Hon. Mr. Cobbe : I take it the Mau is an organization. Is the Mau prepared to obey the law ? Faumuina : His Excellency the Governor did not put that matter before us for discussion, and we have not discussed that matter yet. Hon. Mr. Cobbe : But las a Minister of the Crown and a member of the Government of New Zealand am asking you as the spokesman of the Mau, are you prepared to obey the law or not ? That is a simple question and could be easily answered. Faumuina: Ido not know the opinion of the Mau. They did not tell me, they did not ask me with regard to that matter. They have not discussed that matter yet. Hon. Mr. Cobbe : Surely, if Faumuina is spokesman of the Mau and their representative, he knows whether the Mau will obey the law or not. I should not like to go back to New Zealand and say the Mau is an organization which will not obey the law. The consequences are very, very serious, and I think that I ought to have a straight answer. Faumuina: Will you please let us have a discussion as to what answer we shall give to the question ? Hon. Mr. Cobbe: There is one other matter I should like to discuss also, and that is : Is it the intention of the members of the Mau to return to their villages and cease to molest or interfere with those who do not quite agree with them ? Faumuina: The answer to that question can be only after discussion and a meeting of the Samoans, so that they may decide whether they will disperse or not. His Excellency the Administrator: When speaking to you yesterday I fixed a time-limit for ten this morning for getting an answer to these questions. The time-limit, 1 think, should have been ample, because this meeting was called for Saturday—at your wish it was postponed to Monday and as you were not ready to answer my questions it was postponed again to Tuesday, and again to this morning. We cannot keep on postponing dealing with this important matter from day to day. Now, I have given you certain fresh points for consideration. I have discussed aspects of the question which perhaps you have not thought of before. The Minister also has asked you for an answer to certain questions—questions which, 1 think, perhaps, you might have been ready to answer this morning, because they were matters which were very simple and very clear, and very important. I should have thought that the Mau itself would know what it was working for. However, these new matters have been introduced and I will not finally close this meeting. I am prepared to come back here again this afternoon at half past two, and at that time I must expect an answer, especially to the questions which have been put to you by the Minister. If there are any 'difficulties or any other points that you wish to discuss I am quite ready to remain on now to discuss them. Faumuina: There is no other matter besides those matters you have put before the Samoans. His Excellency the Administrator. —In that case I will detain you no longer now. Good-bye for the present. I shall visit you again this afternoon at 2.30. Meeting resumed at 2.30 p.m., and greetings exchanged. Tuimalealiifano : Thanks to God that we can meet again this afternoon, the time appointed for our business, but before we go on I wish to tell you the sad news that the son of Faumuina passed away at 11 o'clock this morning—the son of Faumuina and Faamu, a boy of twenty years of age. I only mention that because it is very sad to Faumuina ; he has acted as a leader or representative of the Mau, and he is very much affected with that sad happening. We now leave it to you as to what you think of it—if you wish to go on we shall do so. His Excellency the Administrator : lam very deeply grieved, and so I feel sure are all those who accompany me here, to learn of the very sad loss which Faumuina has sustained. On behalf of myself and of all those who are present with me I desire to offer him my very sincere sympathy. I feel for him very deeply ; I know what it is like to lose one of my family, and I have the deepest sympathy with Faumuina in the very sad loss which he has just sustained. I feel sure that all those who are with me in my party to-day join with me in offering to him our sincerest sympathy. Hon. Mr. Cobbe: I also desire to add my sympathy to that expressed by His Excellency. Like him I know what it is to have lost. I have lost two boys —one in infancy, and the other a boy of twenty years who went to the war and was shot there by the Germans —and I sympathize with my friend. But I know that most Samoans profess to be believers in Christianity, and those who believe that know that those we have lost here have simply gone before and that by and by we hope to meet them. Commodore Blake : On behalf of myself and the officers and men of His Majesty's Ship " Dunedin " I should like to join with His Excellency in deeply sympathizing in the great loss which Faumuina has sustained. We all know what it means to have lost, and we feel with him very deeply and give him our greatest sympathy. His Excellency the Administrator: While we sincerely mourn the loss which Faumuina and his wife have sustained, I feel that the matters upon which we are engaged are of too great importance for us to put them aside, even on this occasion, and I feel that we must continue the business of our meeting together. Faumuina: With regard to the points which Your Excellency put before us, we have answered the first point vou put before us : "to end the Mau." We answer it that we shall not end the Mau. The second point was that the wanted men should be given up for trial. AVe have a decision on that