“A WICKED POLICY”

Evening Star, Issue 19800, 25 February 1928, Page 2

“A WICKED POLICY”

MR HOLLAND ON SAMOA ARRESTS " FMI MADNESS TO MADNESS '• iPwt United Press Association.] ' GREYMOUTH, February 24. White and Samoan police, protected by an armed force from the warships, arrested about 250 members of the illegal police force of the Man yesterday morning. Those arrested waved their big sticks in the procession, and chanted tribal songs; but otherwise there was no disturbance. —Apia message. ; Mr H. E. Holland (Leader of the Opposition), who arrived at Greymouth this evening, when shown the message, 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 th® 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 honor of New Zealand should raise & protest against the wicked policy that was being pursued, continued Mr Holland. 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 days the Administration had been seeking a conference with tho Mau. Representatives of tho natives would find it very hard to understand why the Government one day considered their organisation worthy of official recognition and 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 conference. The making of ordinary assemblages of the people, and the order forbidding tho wearing of Mau badges and clothing would only add to the seriousness of the position. It was conciliation, and not a resort 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 the cancellation of deportation and banishment orders and an immediate change in the Administration.

Referring to the remarks of the Minister of Lands at To Awamutu, Mr Holland said there was no truth in the statement that he was rying to make party capital out of the Samoan position. As Leader of the Opposition he had a duty to both the Samoans and the Europeans, and he would not hesitate to speak out whenever he found the Government taking a wrong course. Mr M'Leod knew very little about the position in Britain when he said that the party leaders there were usually united on foreign policy. The present Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons and the British Prime Minister were wholly divided on foreign policy. Anyhow, said Mr Holland, it would be interesting to know since when the Samoan question had resolved itself into one of foreign policy. If Mr M'Leod’s view was correct, then the Coates Cabinet itself was divided on foreign policy, for everyone knew that Sir Maui Pomare had made it quite clear that he disagreed with his colleagues in their attitude towards Samoa. Mr M'Leod, at Te Awamutu, strongly condemned Mr Holland’s action in seeking to gain a party advantage on the Samoan question. Throughout tha history of British politics, he said, party leaders had been united on foreign policy, keeping any question affecting the lives of those in the overseas possessions above the level of party politics. Mr Holland’s talk about Magna Charta and the rights of individuals was camouflage, declared Mr M'Leod, who instanced the Makura seamen quarrelling with a fellow wage-earner. He deplored such a travesty of British justice, and yet Mr Holland had never publicly denounced the conduct of the seamen concerned.