SAMOAN TROUBLE

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 126, 25 February 1928, Page 9

SAMOAN TROUBLE

*■ MAU POLICE ARRESTED LITTLE DISTURBANCE (Special to P.A. by Radio.) Apia, February 24. White and Samoan police, protected by an armed force from the warships Dunedin and Diomede, arrested about 250 members of the illegal police force of the Mau this morning. Those arrested waved their big sticks in procession and chanted tribal songs, but otherwise there was no disturbance. MR. HOLLAND’S TACTICS MINISTER’S SHARP CONDEMNATION Sharp criticism of the attempt of the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. H. E. Holland) to make political capital out of the Samoan situation was delivered bv the Minister of Lands (Hon. A. D. McLeod) in his public address at Te Awamutu. “Judging from the Press reports,” said the Minister, “Mr. Holland is apparently devoting most of his time to a criticism of the Samoan situation. While I have no intention of using so serious and difficult matter for party purposes, I have no hesitation in saying that Mr. Holland is doing so. When a party leader challenges the integrity of men holding one of the highest positions'in the Dominion by imputing that the Government was able to influence their findings he cannot leave it at that, for if the imputations are founded on truth then neither of the Judges who formed the Commission is fitted in any way for the onerous and high positions held. Throughout the history of British politics party leaders have united on foreign police, keeping a question perhaps affecting the lives of those in overseas possessions above the level of party politics. “There is one thing which I believe Mr. Holland knows from A to Z, and that is the difficulties of those who work for a wage. I do not agree with his ideas as to how their position can be bettered permanently, but important as the subject may be, I do not intend to deal with it to-night. I do intend, however, to say that with all his camouflaged talk about Magna Charta and the rights of individuals, particularly where Samoa is concerned, he is apparently afraid, for political reasons, no doubt, to be consistent in the matter. A recent Wellington incident will be recalled by all of vou. A seaman of the Makura quarrelled with a fellow wage-earner, and with the co-operation of his mates refused to take the ship to sea unless the man was dismissed. That matte: being disposed of, the men then refused to go to sea if the man referred to was taken on board as a passenger. While all sane thinking people deplore such a travesty on British justice, Mr. Holland has never publicly denounced the conduct of the men.” MR. HOLLAND’S COMMENTS STRESSES NECESSITY FOR CONCILIATION By Telegraph.—Press Association. Greymouth, February 24. Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the Opposition, who arrived at Grevmouth this evening, when shown the Press message intimating that 250 Samoans had been arrested by the police and an armed force from the warships, said it seemed to him that those in control were moving from madness to madness, and there was justification for the widespread suspicion that an attempt was being made to goad the Samoans into acts of desperation. Every element in the Dominion that had any concern for the well-being of the people of Western Samoa and the honour of New Zealand should raise a protest against the wicked policy that was being pursued. The action of the Government in declaring the Mau an illegal organisation would prove to be exceedingly ill-advised in view of the fact that within the past few-davs the Administration had been seeking a conference with the Mau representatives. Natives would find it very hard to understand why the Government one day considered their organisation worthy of official recognition and the next day proclaimed it seditious and unlawful, and dragged its representatives off to prison. The new ordinance was undoubtedly a retaliatory measure because the Samoans had not come into the conference. The making of ordinary assemblages of the people illegal and the order forbidding the wearing of Mau badges and clothing would only add to the seriousness of the position. It was conciliation and not a tesort to brute force that was wanted in Samoa if normal conditions were to be restored, and it was quite clear that this could not be achieved without cancellation of the deportation and banishment orders and an immediate change in the Administration. Referring to the remarks of the Minister of Lands at Te Awamutu, Mr. Holland said that there was no truth in the statement that he was trvitlg to make partv capital out of |l>e Samoan nosition. As Lender of the he hnd a dutv to both the Samoans mid Europeans, and lie would not hesitate to speak out whenever he found the Government taking a wrong course. , Mr. 'McLeod, he said. knew very tittle about the nosition in Britain when he said that the partv leaders (here were usually united on foreign pohev.. rne nresent Leader of the Omxisition m the House of Commons, and tli» Prime Emister, were whollv divided on foreign nolicv. Anvbow. said Mr. Holland, it would be interesting to know since when the Samoan nnestion had resolve'’ itself into one of foreign policy If Mr. McLeod’s view was correct, the” the Contes Cabinet itself was divided on foreign nolicv. for. ns even-one knew. Sir Maui Pomare had mndn it emitclear flint he disagreed with his colleagues in their attitude towards Samoa.