THE FUTURE OF SAMOA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 186, 26 April 1918, Page 7

THE FUTURE OF SAMOA

A CHALLENGE TO MR. FIELD. Sir,—Mi-. T. A. .11. Field challenged me on Maruh 27 to show authority for my statement that "our statesmen reiterated with our approval that we were, not out. for coiuxuesl of territory." 1 answered him in your issue of March 30, quoting Asquith, Churchill, Lloyd George. I • thought Mr. Field accepted my answer as a good one, Iwcaupc no oommpiit apnea r«l from liim till April 18, anil ihon you head his letter, in large typo, "Mr. Mathesou's. Evasion." I think it is fair to ask whether thai heading menus thai; you think Mr. field is right. Ho says in h.s InH. "Mr. Mathf-.-on makes no altempt In show that any .-null

promise was ever made. . . . Jin makes no attempt to defend , his assertion." I give Mr, i'ield credit for ability to understand plain English when he reads it in print; and if that is so, his last letter (which contains statements probably untrue) seems a find attempt to cloud the issue. I do not nsk you lo occupy space with a reprint from mine dated March 30, but I make Mr. Field this challenge: , I will moot him on any public platform in Wellington that 'lie likes, and uphold my letters. If I fail there to satisfy, a three-fifths majority that lie has published statements probably untrue, I will pay in JilO to the Salvation Army Fund. This seems to bo the simplest way to clear tho ground nf personal charges, which nre hampering tho discussion of .'i grav'o question. For wo aro responsible units of the Empire, and the Empire's answer to it is a weighty factor in determining the dalo of victory and Ibe future pence of the world. Will Mr. Field try and earn JCIO for tho Fund?— I am, etc., WILL B. MATJIESON. I would liavo written this sooner but liavo been absent from home till to-night.-W.B.M. April 20. flu our opinion, since Mr. Matheson asks for it,,ho did not, in his letter of March 80, justify his original statement to which Mr. Field took exception, viz.: Germany's return to tin! Pacific would be an ugly fact for us to face, but not eo ugly ats for the nations of tho world to justly feel that the , British Empire liittl gono buck on its word." It is true, as Mr. Matheson states, that in' his let-i tor ho did seek to justify his assertion that our statesmen had committed the Empire to a pledge that "we were not out for conquest of territory," and no doubt it is true that we did not enter the war with any idea of securing additional territory. But that fact does not prove tho correctness of his , assertion that if Samoa is not handed back to Germany "the nations of tho world would justly feel tihat tho British Empire had gone back on its word." So far as wo aro aware, no pledge was ever given by British statesmen that Germany, in spite of her fearful crimes against humanity, would be safeguarded against nny loss of territory. The delay which occurred in tho publication of' Mr. Field's last letter was due to pressure on our space. It was in typo some days before H appeared in our columns.] :