CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 155, 21 September 1927, Page 16

CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT

ANOTHER OUTCRY ON SAMOA COMMITTEE’S REPORT TO BE USED (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. THERE was another outcry hy the Labour Party in the House of Representatives to-day against the Government’s handling of the Samoa trouble, when the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) moved that copies of the evidence heard before the Joint Select Committee should be supplied confidentially to members of the Royal Commission.

THE Leader of the Opposition, Mr. ■*" H. E. Holland, wanted the Prime Minister to give some reason for his “extraordinary motion.” He hoped that the House would not support the back-door method proposed. Mr. Holland read an extract from one of Mr. Coates’s published letters regarding the Samoan question, in which the Prime Minister said that the Select Committee had decided to adjourn pending the report of the Royal Commission. “I want to know how the Prime Minister got to know of the decision of the committee,” said Mr. Holland. “Who committed the breach of privilege? I suggest it is a question of whether the Prime Minister himself is not guilty of a breach of privilege in making known that decision through the public Press. “The Prime Minister proposes to submit the evidence confidentially to the Royal Commission, but if it is only for confidential purposes, how can it be of use if the commission sits in public? “The Prime Minister has told us that copies of the evidence have already gone to Samoa. That is another breach of privilege. “Although I am a member of the committee, I have not received the corrected evidence. Is the evidence which is to be made available to the commission the corrected evidence, or the uncorrected evidence? Administrator’s Recall? “I suggest to the Government," said Mr. Holland, “that they know that if the Select Committee reports to the House, and if General Richardson’s own communications are put before Parliament, he must be recalled immediately. The Government cannot deny that that is so!” The Prime Minister: Nonsense; sheer, utter nonsense. Mr. Holland: The Prime Minister was not a member of the Select Committee. The Hon. W. Nosworthy, Minister of External Affairs: Well, then, I say it’s nonsense. Mr. Holland: When that report is before the House, it will prove what I say. If the Prime Minister will lay on the table a certain document in his possession, it will prove it. Will the Minister of External Affairs tell the House the real reason why the Government does not want the report of the Joint Select Committee to reach the House? I want to find out what i» the fear that is in the mind * 4

of the Government. The Prime Minister: What is the fear in the hon. gentleman’s mind? Mr. Holland: I have no fear. I am trying to get at the Government’s fear.

Mr. Nosworthy: There’s no fear in our mind. Mr. Holland: Then let the Government tell us why it wants this backdoor method.

Mr. Coates: The hon. gentleman is a member of the committee. He can perhaps supply the best answer.

Mr. Holland: I could supply many answers if Mr. Speaker would allow me.

Mr. W. D. Lysnar, Gisborne, did not think that the motion should be agreed to. The Select Committee should complete its investigations and report to the House. The Prime Minister’s motion would set up an extremely bad precedent. Mr. E. J. Howard, Christchurch South, said that all the cards should be laid on the table. Mr. Coates: Is the evidence so desperately against the petitioners? “What We Have Done”

Mr. Howard: I am not permitted to say. I believe that if the question had been given the publicity it should have been given from the start, we would not have been involved in all this trouble. ... I plead with the House to decide this question not on party lines, but on British lines. We have done things in Samoa which we shall be sorry for in the future, I believe, and we are going to do a thing this afternoon which we will regret as long as we hold the mandate over Samoa. Sir Apirana Ngata, Eastern Maori, said that the only part of the resolution he did not like was the word

“confidentially.” He thought it could very well be done without. There was nothing in the suggestion of secrecy, because, after all, what the Government proposed to refer direct to the commission was the case for the petitioners, and not the case for the Crown. He did not think anyone took seriously the references at Geneva. Mr. T. M. Wilford, Hutt, who had looked up some authorities, said that the course taken by the Government was without precedent, but he was of opinion that the Royal Commission should have the evidence before it for the benefit of both the commissioners and the counsel for the Samoans. “A secret and sinister motion,” is how Mr. P. Fraser described the

resolution of the Prime Minister- The Government was cracking the party whip and using its majority to evade the usual rules of the House so that it could carry out its own blundering policy. Mr. Nosworthy raised a point of order and complained reproachfully that the discussion had become so wide that he did not know where he was in the general question. Mr. Speaker ruled that although a general discussion was not allowable on the motion, the member for Wellington Central had so far not transgressed. Mr. Fraser made the assertion that never had an Assembly been treated with such disregard as had this Chamber been treated by the Prime Minister upon this particular subject. Trust the Government “The Government can be trusted,” said the Prime Minister. “The action taken has been proper, and constitutional, and will bring a solution to some of the difficulties that exist.” Mr. Coates went on to say that suggestions of secrecy and underhand motives had been made, but he asked what effect would this have upon the Samoan mind. Mr. Holland: What effect will the newspaper statements you have made have upon them. Mr. Coates: The Government has appointed this commission . . . Mr. J. A. Lee: Yes, with a restricted order to reference. Mr. Coates: It is not restricted if you eliminate the question of European banishment. (Labour chorus of: “Is that not restricted)? Mr. Coates: The Commission has been asked to express an opinion on the question of Samoan deportation. After a sharp exchange between Mr. Coates and Mr. Holland the question of whether the evidence should be made confidential was discussed, members of the Opposition wishing counsel represeting the defence to have access to the documents. The Prime Minister assured the House that the Government wished to give the Samoans a fair hearing in presenting their case. The matter had been made confidential so the whole question of Samoa would not be able to be discussed in the House. A division was taken and the motion was carried by 45 votes to 17, Mr. Wilford, Mr. Seddon and Mr. Ransom voting with the Government, and Mr. Lysnar against the Government. Notice of a question relating to Samoa was given by Mr. H. E. Holland, who wishes the Prime Minister to explain whether the Samoan Commission will proceed to take evidence immediately upon its arrival or merely open the proceedings formally and take evidence later. Mr. Holland pointed out that there was a discrepancy between a statement by Mr. Coates and a radio message from the Islands on this aspect of the investigation.