IN SAMOA.

Hokitika Guardian, 24 January 1928, Page 2

IN SAMOA.

ADMINISTRATION AND THE MAC. STATEMENT BY' PRIME MINISTER (By Telegraph—Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, .Tan. 23. The Prime Minister issued the following statement to-day (23rd. January, 1928) : “There seenvs to he some misapprehension throughout the country as to the reason underlying the Government’s action in approving of the deportation from Samoa of Messrs Nelson, Gurr and Smyth, and I feel it desirable to state plainly the considerations which have in the opinion of the Government, rendered necessary the course that lias been taken.

“In the first place. I think it is not generally recognised in New Zealand that our administration of Samoa has for many months past been very largely ineffective. In Samoa to-day the native people are seriously disunited. A large section of them are in a state of passive resistance to the constituted authority. So far as they are concerned, the King’s writ is not running. They are refusing to obey the orders and summonses of the Court, even though serious indictable and criminal offences are involved. They are refusing to pay their taxes. They are refusing to obev the orders and summonses of the Court, even though serious indictable and criminal offences are involved. They are refusing to pay their (axes. They are failing to search for beetles or to account for those collected. They arc keeping their children from the Government schools; and perhaps the most serious of all —they are rejecting medical help and neglecting sanitary precautions. SAMOAN FINANCES (SUBSIDISED BY NEW ZEALAND.

“ft is impossible to ignore the serious position that exists to-day, and has existed for some months past, and it is not too much to say that sufficient mischief lias already been done to prejudice the prosperity of Samoa and the Samoans for many years to come. The failure of the natives to collect beetles, for example, must have an exceedingly detrimental effect on the production of copra, on which the prosperity of the islands so largely depends. During the last financial year no less than 5.308,531 beetles’ larvae and eggs were collected and destroyed. and the potential menace of this neglect to a tree that is vital even to the existence of the Samoans, is a very real danger it does not irppenr to be generally appreciated also that we in New Zealand had to take authority in the Finance Act last session to advance to the Samoan finances, directIv due to the activities of the Alan, and the loss to Samoa will undouhtedIv he considerably increased in the future, owing to the decline in both the import and export trade, which must necessarily follow the disruption of the normal life of the country. It must not he forgotten also that flic amount wo will he called upon to advance to meet these deficits will be in addition to the sum ol £20,000 which we regularly vote to supplement flic Samoa revenues.

MAE ACTIVITIES AND HEALTH DF.I’A RTM F.T. “The effect of the Man activities upon our health administration has been most marked, and most deplorable. Doctor Hunt, our acting chief medical adviser, testified before the Commission as follows; ‘ln 1925 child welfare work was commenced. The results have been most gratifying, the infant mortality rale having been practically halved in three years. Unfortunately. the present unrest lias. I fear, resulted in (he disbanding of many of these committees, and if so there will he an increase Ibis year in infanl mortality.’ One of our European inspectors in Savaii testified that the native mothers, subject In -Man influence, were not bringing their babies to the child welfare officer, and also that in certain villages (which he named) sanitary measures had been so neglected that tli-o places were no hotter than cesspools, and that lie expected an outbreak of disease during the ensuing hot season. Doctor Hunt also said that if the .Medical Department does not hold the confidence of the natives, our effort in the campaign of preventive medicine against disease is to a large extent nullified. The Citizens’ Committee, in their report on the Medical Department which was translated into the Samoan language, told the natives: ‘We want a Medical Department that commands respect and confidence, not one which creates mole or less ridicule.’ Although Mr A. Williams. M.L.C.. who was the author of this report, when confronted under cross-examination by the tributes of impartial experts of international standing, to the wonderful success of New Zealand’s medical services in Samoa, in brilliantly answering the vital question as to whether the decline of native Pacific races can he chocked and their number brought hack, unreservedly withdrew hi.s report and apologised for having made it; and although t lie senior counsel for the Citizens’ Committee, in his list of formal charges, specifically stated. ‘Hospital Department has no charge,' Mr Nelson, under cross-ex-amination, persisted. He said: ‘1 still agree with that passage and take full responsibility for it. I still say it is t rile.’

“With a due sense of responsibility, 1 say that, as a direct result of the Alan intluence which has so largely destroyed the confidence of the natives in our health administration, many innocent lives must be lost in Samoa. CAUSE of disaffection.

“llefore proceeding to inquire into the cause and the possible remedies of the state of affairs in Samoa, we might contrast the present position with that existing before the activities of the Alan. Though in the past we have had some minor difficulties with Samoa these have long been .successfully surmounted, and in recent years it is not too much to say that tbe Samoans have been • a united, contented, happy, healthy and prosperous people, undoubtedly grateful to the Administration for all the many benefits from schools, hospitals, < 1 i~.j>t*iisaries, sanitation, water supplies, roads, and other public services, and all the privileges that are accorded by setthit and orderly government. In fact, the Administration of our trusteeship over tbe Samoans bad evoked admiration practically throughout tbe world. So far as the present Administration is concerned, 1 think If might fairly he said that there never has been a more successful Governor of native peoples, and at this tvoint I think I might also say that there can never have been a more complete vindication of an Administration than that offered by the report of the Samoan Commission. The cause of this change in the attitude of Samoans is not now a matter of doubt. Tile Commission lias said that. ‘The actual con:<_*q u e nc ics of the Mail organisation were really not in dispute liefore us.’ and it is not surprising that the Commission lias declared that ‘The ATau cannot exist alongside of and concurrently with the Administration of the country under the Afandnte. One or other must give way.’ As l u g ago as 1892 the then British Consul at Samoa (Sir Berry Cusack-Smith). in an official dispatch to Lord Salisbury, Secretary of State for Forleign Affairs,

summed up tlio Samoan situation of that day in the following pregnant words: ‘When'discontented, the wTiite residents have always retaliated by stirring tip intrigues, revolts and wars amongst the natives. When contented, the white residents take no interest whatever in native affairs except commercially, and would leave the white officials a free hand in dealing with native matters. Without the moral support of the white residents. I believe that no Samoan Government can ever he successful.’ PROHIBITING LIQUOR.

“The leading European members of the Citizen’s Committee, when under cross-examination before the Commission. admitted the substantial accuracy of these observations, and also their applicability to Samoa to-day, just as much as in Nor could they have done otherwise in the fact of past and reient events in Samoan history. The two chief causes of white discontent in Samoa since the institution of the Mandate Administration under New Zealand are beyond the region of doubt. European discontent with our policy of prohibiting liquor was the root cause of the agitation and native unrest in 1920. 1921, 1922. and to a certain extent. of the more recent disorders, but undoubtedly the menace to the business and wealth of the trailers, of whom Mr Nelson is the largest and most influential, of the Administration’s experimental native copra selling policy, was largely responsible lor the presentmovement. The lact that this white discontent, due to policies entirely in the interest and for the benefit ol the indigenous people ol the mandated territory, nevertheless manifested itself in the most serious native intrigues and resistance to me Administration, throws a significant sidelight on the peculiar psychology ol the Samoan race. It is true that their European leaders protested to the Commissioner that in openly and deliberately anil tor the first time allying natives with their political agitation, they had no thought of causing dissatisfaction with or of opposing or hindering the Administration, hut it is equally true that they wore aware of the peculiar susceptibility of the Samoans to political intrigue of this kind, and knew of the disastrous consequences to the natives of previous similar agitations, litis they admitted under cross-examination, and happily [ am no longer called upon to prove the facts of this sorry business. They have been investigated liy a Commission, of whose integrity and impartiality there can be no possible doubt, and to which the Samoan “Guardian,” the newspaper promoted and issued in Samoa by the European leaders of the Man movement, bore testimony in a leading article on the Hill October, 1927, in the following words: ‘The bearings are patient, and from all indications the scope of the investigation is bread. The incredulous should now believe that all complaints or objections in the petition of the Samoans and in the reports ol the Citizens’ Committee will receive impartial treatment, unaffected by any party or political lecling. Its membership is a full guarantee of all these. The integrity of Sir Charles Skorrett and Judge MacCormiek is above suspicion and beyond reproach. The petitioners can rest complete laitli in their sincerity.’ There can be no possible doubt that the position is as I have stated it. and that the present unfortunate state ol allairs is due to the activities of the Mail. Now. our duty in New Zealand is to govern Samoa. The Peace Treaty, in instituting the system of Mandates, makes it quite dear that those nations undertaking a Mandate, accept a sacred trust on behalf of peoples who are not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world. It is*our duty to govern Samoa by the terms of the Mandate issued to us. and quite apart from this, it is out duly to govern Samoa on humanitarian grounds in the interests of the Samoan natives. THE MAU’S POLICE FORCE.

•• During the past six months the Administration and the Government ol Now Zealand have shown limitless patience in most difficult circumstances, and have carried toleration to such an extent that it might even be said that our administration of the country has been ineffective during that time. Even to-day. we are advised that the Alan lots actually set up a police force of its own, equipped with uniforms supplied by Mr Nelson's firm, and that members of this ' force,’ in uniform, actually accompanied Mr Nelson on board the T’ofua. prior to bis departure Irom Samoa. With a full recognition of the dangerous situation that was developing. the Administration and the Government held their band and at the request of the Administrator, the fullest inquiry was instituted into the Samoan position. Now that this inquiry Jms been concluded and the Administration vindicated in every essential particular, we have determined that the time lias arrived when authority must be enforced. It is our duty to govern Samoa, and from this point onwards we intend to govern Samoa.

"The question that then arose for deeisoin was as to the method to he adopted to re-introduce a settled condition of law and order in the Islands. AVe had ample power, if we chose, to enforce the law in the same manner as the law would be enforced in New Zealand—by force. Tbe objections to this course were, of course, many and obvious. It would have involved inflicting grave hardship on many natives who have been, in our opinion, merely tbe dupes of others more directly responsible. It might even have led to bloodshed and the loss of innocent fives. Fortunately, wo bad another alternative—to remove what was, in our opinion, the source and origin ol tbe trouble. In the confidence that, left to themselves, the Samoans would gradually. of their own accord, realise the position and co-operate with the Administration as in the past, the necessary steps under the Samoa Amendment Act.. 1927, having been taken l>v the Administrator, the Government ol Now Zealand approved of his recommendation that the best- means of remedying the trouble of Samoa would he to remove the three persons whose deportation has already been announced. ■ AN EXECUTIVE ACT.” "It cannot be made too clear that this step is not in any way a punishment tor a crime or an offence. It is not in the strict sense of the term a judicial act. It is an Executive act, taken not as a penalty but as a preventive measure to facilitate the good government of the territory. There is nothing unprecedented or unconstitutional in this course, and I have been greatly surprised at the uninformed criticism that has been directed against the Samoa Amendment Act, which authorised the course that has been adopted. Neither the Aet nor the form of procedure under it infringes in any degree the fundamental principles of British administration. This power of deportation by tbe Executive, as distinct from punishment bv tbe judiciary, is possessed and has been exercised by the Pacific Administrations around us. It is a power vested by the Government of the United States in the discretion of the Governor of American Samoa, our adjoining territory. It is a power granted by the British Government to all their Governors controlling native races, including the Governor of Fiji, ami exercised by them whenever the necessity arises. It has been legally decided in a British Court that such a power is contemplated even by Magna Cliarta, and that it is equally competent for a Parliament to say that a

man may be punished for bis acts, or prevented from repeating them, and that judicial procedure would be the proper method in the first case and Executive action (even possibly on considerations not susceptible of definite proof) in the second case. “To sum the matter up, we had three possible courses of action. Firstly, to allow the Administration of Samoa to remain ineffective, which was, of course, unthinkable; secondly, to inflict grave hardship on large numbers of probably innocent natives by the application of force—this wo discarded; or, thirdly, by removing those who

were, in our opinion, primarily responsible, to prevent any extension of tlie mischief, and so enable the Administration to put in hand those conciliatory methods which we believe will ultimately prove successful. This was the course we adopted, and we already have good reason to believe that the object we all desire will be acliie\ed peacefully and gradually in this way. OPPONENTS’ “ABSTRACT PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE.”

“ In the'circumstances, 1 have found it hard to understand the solicitude that lias been shown for Air Nelson and bis European colleagues by the Leader of the Labour Party, and by a section of our own Press and public. Do the health, welfare and prosperity of the Samoan people, and their lives even, count for- nothing with these Clitics:-' Are they prepared to sacrifice all these in their devotion to what they eonceievo to be abstract principles of justice, which are entirely inapplicable to the circumstances ot this case? These critics have ignored the weight of opinion of the most highly qualified Colonial statesmen in the world, whose experience and judgment teach that it is impossible to deal promptly and effectively in a purely native territory with a trouble which may involve life and death issues, according to the standards and principles which are laid down for the government of democratic and educated communities. I say. without hesitation, that if we are forced to apply exactly the same methods and government to a territory inhabited. in the words of the treaty, by a people ‘ not yet able to stand by themselves,’ as we apply, to our own educated democracy, New Zealand will either have to abandon the Mandate or resign herself to face the constant danger "of disorder and disruption in Samoa.

AMERICAN “OBJECT LESSON.” “ Owing to the very serious situation which has been created, and to the general lack of knowledge of the great dangers involved, 1 feel justified in shortly referring to an object lesson from Eastern Samoa, which has been constantly in our thoughts. Our lailinmenta ry party visited Ameiicau Samoa in 1920. Within a few months of their departure, certain European interests poisoned the minds of the Samoans against their Administration. It can be said for them that they were not very familiar with Samoan character or psychology. The unrest spread, and eventually reached the stage of revolution. What was the aftermath? A battleship was despatched to the territory, and the European civilian concerned was summarily deported. A high naval officer who joined with him was court martialled and dismissed from the service. A large number of leading chiefs were imprisoned, with hard labour, for varying terms (a general amnesty was granted a couple of years ago), and the Governor, undei the strain of events, ended his life. A Naval Court of Inquiry subsequently found that the Governor’s administration financially and constitutionally had been good, but that he had shown weakness in not dealing with the trouble with firmness when it arose. “ M’e have decided, alter the most careful consideration and the most lengthy inquiry, to take a strong course. We have lelt it advisable to prefer the interests of the large number of natives to the interests of a handful of Europeans, and we are satisfied that the course we have adopted was correct, and that it will lie justified bv events.”

DEPORTEES ARRIVE. AUCKLAND. Jan. 23. The Hon. O. F. Nelson and Air A. CL Smyth, who recently left Samoa under orders of deportation, arrived at Auckland from Suva, to-day. Air Nelson said lie bad nothing to say at present, as lie was going to Wellington to confer with legal advisers. “We have been peacemakers all along,” said AIY Nelson. “ Now it is for General Richardson to keep order if be can.” Air Nelson indicated that lie was going to Europe. Air Smyth will take up a business appointment at Suva. Mr Smyth said that the Samoan natives bad declared a boycott, not only of N.Z. goods, but of all imported goods, except soap, sugar, kerosene and matches, which were regarded as necessaries. The natives, he said, had not paid last year’s taxes, and were refusing to pay tines.