MR HOLLAND AND SAMOA

Hokitika Guardian, 17 October 1928, Page 8

MR HOLLAND AND SAMOA

The Leader of (lie Opposition has committed himself to so many rash statements concerning the administration of Western Samoa under the mandate that a few more may perhaps be forgiven him. It might, however, have been expected that he would unreservedly accept the pronouncement of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, and not persist in maintaining that the Samoans were' the victims off; a cruel and ruthless Administration under Sir George Richardson. The Mandates Commission, ni its report, strongly condemned the action of Mr Nelson and those associated with him upon whom Mr Holland seems to have,relied for his .information. “By unworthy means,” it said, “they have worked upon the minds of an impressionable people who, prior to their propaganda, showed no disquieting signs of discontent. The Commission is satisfied that tno Administrator acted with great patience*—if not perhaps always, with sufficient psychological insight—and showed a forbearance and confidence in the people which may have been misunderstood, and so to some - extent may have undermined his authority. The lamentable absence of sufficient means to enforce the law which it was his duty to uphold placed him in an extremely difficult situation.” ' •

The Commissioh discovered nothing wrong with the administration of Samoa, but it (found that the natives hau. been misled. Mr Holland’s fiery speeches, relative to the matter were., of course, utilised for propaganda purposes against the Administration. His talk of the violation of the principles of Magna Carta by the. Samoan Administration, his harpings on the need for the withdrawal of the orders of deportation. his sapient assertion that the best thing the Government could dp was to surrender the mandate to the Leagfie of Nations and admit its incompetence to govern the territory, wero all based on the assumption, and intended to convey the impression, that the Samoans were an ill-used people, and that the ‘Administration was to blqme for all the disaffection that had been fomented. Deportation without trial, when, practised by a British Administration, was a method of procedure that was certainly open to criticism, but tlie Mandates Commission h ( eld that the Administrator, so far from ignoring the principles of conciliation, carried them if anything too far. In face of this Mr Holland has been compelled to modify bis tune to some extent and to if all back upon a different line of argument. He no longer argues ■ that New Zealand should inglor- : onsly appeal to be relieved of the mandate as the. best method of ending a bad business, but be now expresses the opinion that, given the “essentials,” to which he refers in his Masterto.n speech, the mandate can be successfully administered. “ Hie. Samoans must,” lie says, “be met on q basis of conciliation and justice,” - This has become a stereotyped phrase with him but.it never bad any. magic force, and it counts for less than evei now that the dust which lie and others contrived tci raise has drifted away and lelft the atmosphere 'comparatively dear. •

During the recent session of Parliament be discovered another grievance —this time under the present Administration. It related to tbe treatment of certain Chinese prisoners, two of whom had been rightly convicted of the murder of a fellow-countryman. With his, contention that tbe circumstances revealed in connection with these cases were such as to call lor an inquiry there need be no quarrel. But in an Australian publication, for which h would appear to act as tbe contributor of a New Zealand letter, he .wrote last month: “ New Zealand has oecu considerably stirred as a result off tl e revelations made affecting the trea! meat of Chinese prisoners in Samoa. . An intense feeling of uneasiness prevails in New Zealand in relation to the death of Wong See. . . .”

These are typical example of Mr Holland’s penchant for exaggerated language. It will be news indeed to the people of New Zealand that they were c-*er stirred or uneasy over the treatment of these prisoners. It would be more correct to say that they nevei heard of them. The wish is too often permitted by Mr Holland to be father to the thought. Hyperbole may be on occasion a useful servant, but it is ertuinly a bad master. An when .lie public knows of the extravagance of the terms in winch Mr Holland speaks and writes about one subject, it may realise the .need for libeially discounting what he says on other upjects.