SAMOAN SITUATION

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 123, 22 February 1928, Page 12

SAMOAN SITUATION

' HON. 0. F. NELSON AGAIN J OFFER OF ASSISTANCE NOT RECEIVED BY PREMIER r Tile latest statement tlie Hon. O. F. Nelson has handed to the Press contains an allegation that an offer made by him to assist the Government in the present Samoan trouble was ignored. The reply of the Prime Minister (Kight Hon. J. G. Coates) is that no such communication has been received. “My purpose in coming to Wellington,” runs the statement issued by Mr. Nelson, “was to consult counsel, and through him to offer the Government my assistance in the present emergency. My counsel has made this offer, but it has been ignored by the Prime Minister, so in these circumstances I have dispatched the following radio to Mr. Baxter, counsel for the Mau, at Apia:— ‘Please inform Samoans that I entreat them to preserve the peace at all costs.* This is only following the line of policy which I have adopted right throughout, and I have reason to hope the Samoan people will continue to preserve the peace, despite intimidation and further repressive measures.” PRIME MINISTER’S REPLY When the foregoing statement was submitted to him, the Prime Minister’s comment was very brief. “It is a matter for regret,” he said, "that Mr. Nelson’s preferred good offices were not available many months ago. I have received no communication from him regarding recent events in Samoa.”LABOUR LEADER ON SITUATION ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT BY TELBGEAftr— FBESS ASSOCIATION. Auckland, February 20. “The more I study the report of the Royal Commission which visited Samoa the more I am convinced that it is a worthless exposition of the situation there,” said Mr. H. E- Holland, Leader of the Opposition, in an address in the Trades Hall. For over two hours Mr. Holland declaimed on the politics of the mandated territory, and he declared that the only course open to New Zealand was to return the mandate to the League of Nations, restore the deported Europeans and banished natives to their homes, and, above all, recall the Administrator, Sir George Richardson, at the earliest possible moment. He was listened to with close attention by a large audience of 'members of the Labour movement, and at the close of his address he was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. Mr. Holland declared that the Samoan Amendment Act had been forced through the House of Representatives last session by the Government when it had found that threats of deportation which had been made previously were unconstitutional. There was not a line in the Royal Commission’s report which would bring any man in Samoa within reach of the law. The commission had been given a copy of the evidence tendered before the Parliamentary Committee, but it had rejected the. evidence on the grounds that most of it was hearsay. On the contrary, Mr. Holland said, most of the evidence given before the committee by Mr. Nelson was direct evidence, while that given by General Richardson before the Commission was mostly hearsay. Dealing with the evidence and the Commission’s report Mr. Holland said that only excerpts were given of General Richardson’s tribute to Mr. Nelson, all of Mr. Nelson’s early tribute to the Administrator was published. As one read the report it became more clear that the only offence of the Samoans was that the'v wanted self-government. It had been said the natives were refusing to collect beetles, but the fact was that they were collecting beetles and were handing them to the Mau instead of to the Administration Officials. The report was silent on comments which were made by the Administrator on cases which were sub judice. No -reference was made in it to the actions of the Chief Justice, who had been fined for insulting two native chiefs, and no mention was made of two cases of Government officials who had committed offences against young natives. General Richardson was quoted as having told the Commission that at the time he made complaints he could not have cited a specific charge which would have justified the appearance of any man before the Courts under the immigration ordinances.

Referring to tlie latest developments and the attempt by the Administration to obtain a meeting with the committee. of the Mau, Mr. Holland said the meeting could have been held long ago if a conciliatory spirit had been shown. He said the natives were entitled ‘to a greater measure of selfgovernment than they were being given.