N.Z. Administration Of Samoa Criticised

Press, Volume C, Issue 29510, 11 May 1961, Page 12

N.Z. Administration Of Samoa Criticised

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 10. The “incurably suburban mind” which the New Zealand administration had brought to Samoan problems was critcised by the Deputy-Secretary for External Affairs (Mr F. H. Corner) at the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration convention.

He said that perhaps unimaginativeness, rigidity of mind, and lack of foresight, was the greatest defect of the New Zealand administration. On the other side of the question he said: “In spite of an uneasy dualism, which until the 1950’5, made it diffi- ! cult for New Zealand to follow any consistent purposes, its administration has been a success. Like the British Army it has won the last battle and the rest may be forgotten.” It was handing over a prosperous and politically mature country to what would surely be a stable independence. New Zealand’s attitude had been for many years a muddled one, Mr Comer said. On the one hand there was a weak, unconsidered, but well-meaning liberalism, and on the other an equally unconsidered and equally weak desire for colonial prestige. Dualism

The two strands had been largely incompatible and had led to a dualism which could be traced throughout the New Zealand administration of Western Samoa until the drive towards self-govern-ment in the 1950‘s sharpened the humanitarianism and eliminated the urge to rule.

There had often been failure to co-ordinate in Wellington and thus bring to bear on Samoan problems the full

resources of the New Zealand Government. There had not generally been a high stan-

dard of New Zealand officials in Samoa. From this had stemmed a lack of analysis and long-term planning. The incurably suburban mind with which Samoan problems had been viewed was derived from a notable mental characteristic of many expatriate New Zealanders—the inability to admit the validity of a culture different from their own.

Trivial pointers to the state of mind were the New Zealand style gym frocks worn in Samoa's climate and the long vacation for schools arranged as in New Zealand from December to February, the Samoan rainy season. More serious had been the refusal to teach Samoan, presumably because “they know it already,” said Mr Corner.