SAMOAN POLICY

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3928, 9 April 1929, Page 1

SAMOAN POLICY

DEFIANCE MUST END. The Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward) on Saturday handed out for publication a copy of a letter he has forwarded to Mr A. Hall-Skelton, of Auckland, chairman of the Saaiioan Defence League, who in a letter to the Prime Minister had suggested that the recent report ton the finances and stall of the Administration of Western Samoa had justified the actions of the Mau.

“After the fullest consideration,” wrote Sir Joseph Ward, “the Government find themselves unable to alter in any direction the policy that they have announced. As I have already intDmaJted, the Government are anxious to arrive' at a settlc■ment of the difficulties ill the territory' They wish to take the mlost generous and conciliatory attitude, and immediately the Mau abandon their open defiance of the law, the Administrator and the Government are prepared to call a fono, unrestricted as to subject and time, and to provide facilities for Tamasese to attend. Beyond that point, the Government cannot go—they 'cannot deal amicably with open defiance of the law nor would public opinion in New Zealand or elsewhere expect or even allow them to do so. “Finally, I feel it necessary to refer to one further point —the suggestion made by you that the recent report on the finances and staff of the Administration has justified the actions .of the Mau. This is not the case —the burden' of any want of economy in the Administration of the Territory has fallen not upon the Mau or upon the Samoans, but upon the people of Nelw Zealand. “In view iof the importance of tlhe subject, it. is my intention to hand a copy of this communication to the Press.”