SAMOA

NZ Truth, Issue 1142, 20 October 1927, Page 4

SAMOA

Where Does N. Z. Come In?

In his most fluent vein and with an array of legal references which submerged a bench designed to seat four counsel, Sir John Findlay bombarded the Full Court with points of law designed to show that Tagaloa and Fuataga, native Samoan chiefs imprisoned by Administrator Richardson for breach of banishment orders issued against them, were illegally held in gaol. THE opening point made by the exAttorney- General was that the banishment without trial which the chiefs suffered and which was made under an ordinance issued by authority of the Samoa Act of 1921, was repugnant to the spirit of the Act. Sir John's big gun, however, was one which he handled gingerly, for it destroyed the very jurisdiction which he invoked. It was that the Parliament of New Zealand exceeded its authority when it legislated for Samoa, for Samoa was not part of New Zealand's territory. The case serves to underline one important fact which has dropped out of sight in the merry din of Imperial Conferences of forward-looking statesmen. Despite all the hip -hurrays and expressions of brotherly love at theae conferences, and despite the graceful recognition by the Motherland of the Dominions' right to decide their own destiny, make tariffs against British goods, create restrictions which require British citizens to behave as if they were aliens, and send representatives to foreign countries, we are still as much subject to Britain as ever. That is to say that legally all these pleasant fictions are without foundation. Our legislature draws its authority from the Act of the Imperial Parliament which constituted it, it may not legislate on lines other than those which are laid down in that Act, and the limits of territory to which that legislation applies are rigidly set forth. Only when, by Imperial statute or Order-in-Council, those limits are extended has the Parliament of New Zealand any additional power.