The Dominion MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1928. AN IMPROPER SUGGESTION

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 127, 27 February 1928, Page 8

The Dominion MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1928. AN IMPROPER SUGGESTION

8 The attitude of the Leader of the Opposition in regard to matters in Samoa goes from bad to worse. He has throughout taken the view that the Administrator at Samoa and the Government in New Zealand must be wrong in their policy and administration in Samoa and that the malcontents and agitators must be right. To him. apparently, the upholding.of law and order in Samoa is nothing more than an attack on the well-being of the people of Samoa, and an illegal organisation known as the Mau more worthy of his approval than the Government authorised under the mandate of the League of Nations. It is a small thing to Mr. Holland that the Royal Commission a Commission the personnel of which should inspire univeisal confidence—appointed to inquire into the charges made against the Administration in Samoa, found that the attacks on the Administration were unwarranted. The Leader of the Labour-Socialist group in New Zealand, in spite of the weight of evidence against him, has persisted in representing the position in Samoa as one of maladministration, and his latest outbreak, on what he describes as the “wicked policy” pursued, is fully in keeping with his ill-considered and mischievous utterances on previous occasions. To those who know the peculiar mentality of a particular type of Labour-Socialist, the antagonism to constituted authority displayed by Mr. Holland will occasion little surprise. But Mr. Holland as Leader of the Opposition and as such owes a responsibility not only to his own party but to the whole country. It is a serious enough matter when, on ex-part c evidence, he sets his judgment of the facts against the findings of a Royal Commission which investigated the position on the spot and heard the evidence of nearly 200 witnesses. It is bad enough, too, when wittingly or not he assists to encourage the agitators and law-breakers in Samoa by espousing their cause in the face of the findings of the Commission. But what is to be said of his latest declaration that “there was justification for the widespread suspicion that an attempt was being made to goad the Samoans into acts of desperation”? This is a gravely improper assertion, and one which calls for the strongest censure. Where does this “widespread suspicion ’ exist except in the minds of Mr. Holland and his associates? And what ground is there for such a suspicion? There is no excuse for the Leader of the Opposition that he is unfamiliar with the facts. The Royal Commission, in its report, pointed out that the Administrator and his officials at Samoa had endeavoured by pacific and conciliatory measures to induce the malcontent section of the natives to obey the laws and ordinances; but without result. The malcontent organisation known as the Mau had overridden constituted authority; and the Commission’s findings clearly set out that either the Mau or the Administration created under the mandate of the League of Nations had to go. One or the other had to give way. Since that report was presented a few weeks ago the position in Samoa has been aggravated by the actions of the Mau. The people have been intimidated by the police appointed by this illegal body, and the Administrator has not been able to enforce the law. It was an intolerable position—the law flouted by a strong body of native Samoans, prompted by a small group of whites and halfcastes —New Zealand’s administration under flit mandate being brought into ridicule and contempt. Moreover, the material interests of the natives as a whole were being seriously jeopardised. The action of the Government of New Zealand in sending two warships to lend support to the Administration was the only alternative to a betrayal of our responsibilities under the mandate. The extent to which the Mau had usurped the powers of the Administration had already threatened grave possibilities. With practically no force to support him, the Administrator could not enforce the law against the large body of so-called native police, illegally appointed by the Mau. With the men of the warships at his disposal as a police force, the Administrator is in a position to see that law and order are upheld. To suggest at this stage, as has been done bv the Leader of the Opposition, that there is justification for a widespread suspicion that the action taken is an attempt to goad the Samoans into acts of desperation is a travesty of the facts and an affront to the intelligence of the public. It is, moreover, a mischievous and maybe dangerous suggestion to spread abroad. There is good reason to believe that Mr. • Holland’s utterances here on Samoan affairs have been freely used by the malcontents in Samoa to stimulate the activities of those who have been seeking to weaken and destroy the authority of the Administration.