Samoan Turmoil

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 142, 6 September 1927, Page 8

Samoan Turmoil

Commission to Investigate Chief Justice and Judge of Native Land Court

Press Association. WELLINGTON, To-day. THE personnel and terms of reference of the Commission on Samoa were announced by the Prime Minister this evening.

The members of the commission will |be Sir Charles Perrin Skerrett. Chief ; .Justice, and Judge Charles Edward ! MacCormick, of the Native I_*ind j Court. The commission is to inquire into | and report upon the following ques- ; tions:— ! (1) Whether, having regard t,o the , duties undertaken by the Government of ' New Zealand under the mandate, there is a just or reasonable cause for the com-

plaints and objections that have been made to the New Zealand Government and by the petition to Parliament concerning the administration of Western Samoa. (2) Whether the Administrator o-r officials of the Administration have in any manner exceeded their duty in the exercise of the authority entrusted to them, respectively, or have failed to exercise their respective functions honestly and justly. (3) Whether, having regard to the Samoan native customs and to the due maintenance of Government and order in the mandated territory, it would be prudent and safe wholly to repeal and abrogate all power to require a Samoan to remove for a definite period from one place on the islands to another. It is believed that the commission will proceed to Samoa by the Tofua. leaving Auckland on September 10.

“SATISFACTORY”

MR. NELSON’S VIEWS IRREPROACHABLE PERSONNEL “fT'HE personnel of the Commission is quite satisfactory, and the order of reference seems to be quite wide,” said the Hon. O, F. Nelson, this morning, in a statement concerning the latest developments in Samoa. Mr. Nelson, who is leaving for Samoa on Saturday, said he was not sure whether the Citizens’ Committee which is dissatisfied with the administration, would be able to have counsel to represent it. He was keeping in touch with Sir John Findlay, K.C., in the meantime.

“The order of reference.” he remarked, “does not seem to include an inquiry into the justice or otherwise of the new law whereby Europeans of long residence, and those ; born in the territory, may he deported without trial. "SEMBLANCE OF TRIAL” “It has been said that there is a

semblance of a trial, but after all, the Administrator makes the recommendation and if one reads of the trial of Mata’u, Aimiu and Papalii, by the Administrator, he must conclude that it is a ‘star chamber’ method to say the best of it. “It is hoped the Commission will have full scope, and a free hand to investigate all matters wh’ch have any bearing on the present unrest and the administration of the Western Samoa Islands by New Zealand. “DEPLORABLY MISHANDLED” “No one can gainsay the fact that the whole matter has been deplorably mishandled by those in authority and th- political situation has been made acute by official blundering in high places. Any curtailment of a full impartial inquiry into all the points at issue will reduce the Commission, despite its irreproachable personnel, into a worse fiasco than the Minister’s visit.. “When the Hon. Mr. Nosworthy was warned by the chairman of the Citizens’ Committee, in Samoa, of the great responsibility he was undertaking in the attitude he adopted toward the Samoan people and their grievances, he replied: “I am not afraid of responsibility. I take it-* Probably he would like to take responsibility for the Commission as well.” well.” A LATER STATEMENT Later to-day Mr. Nelson told THE SUN that he had instructed Sir John Findlay to lodge a protest with the Government against the limits of the inquiry, and the shortness of the time .allowed to New Zealand counsel to get witnesses and evidence for the hearing by the Royal Commission.