Mr Holland Assails Samoan “Big Stick”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 283, 20 February 1928, Page 11

Mr Holland Assails Samoan “Big Stick”

MILITARY DICTATORSHIP' WHAT labour would do Press Association. WHANGAREI, Sunday. methods of the Samoan were again severely criticised by Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the Labour Party, on Saturday in his address to Whangarei electors. yr Holland who, at the time had not .sen the report of the sailing of H.M.S. rmnedin and Diomede for Apia, said Jv hoped there was not sufficient •timidity or criminality in the Cabnet to send warships to Samoa. In T, r Holland proceeded to review the -fnis leading up to the present crisis n Samoa. He criticised the Adminis-i-ation and alleged that certain admin- , trative acts were illegal. General Richardson, he said, was temperamentally unfitted: for his post. Mr Holland asserted that the samoans still felt bitter about the inepidemic, when over 8,000 persons died. On top of that there had established a military dictatorT*" by an "official bird of passage," “/native repudiation of the Fono of v.inules nominated by the Administhe limitation of the European (ranchlse, and a breach of the peace by C„a Chief judge, for which a fine of £3 imposed. He also referred to the "/mation and objects of the Mau and the sentences of banishment, imprisonment ard deportation. the case of foster

The Leader of the Opposition then ..(erred to What he termed the Foster Tae This man. he said, had committed unnamablo offences in Samoa and he u/tHeen sent, back to New Zealand. !£“ "Administrator had notified the New Zealand Government of the nature *, *w. offences Foster had committed ,h.re but notwithstanding this warnlnE he had been allowed to take areiDonsible position in Papanui, where he had again committed similar crimes ending with the murder of his wife and ieide The Government had not dared Jr'nermlt an investigation into this husIMSS The case of an official in who had committed suicide was had"'been* said that Labour was ..nine with the traders against the interest/of natives, said Mr. Holland, hilt the party was only concerned with riving alTthe right of trial. Prohibition Tnd copra. it had been said, were the root of the trouble, but. out of 13,000 tons of copra in one year the Administer had handled only 100 tons. Labour would nationalise the copra industry and would never consent to the introduction of liquor among the sLmoans. On the day the Labour came into power every banishment order would be recalled and every man given the same right to oppose the government by constitutional means •Our methods in Samoa are not British." said Mr. Holland in eonctuslon “they would, indeed, be discreditable' to the regime of Bismarck. “MAY INFLAME THE POSITION” Having learned definitely that the ■Dunedin and Diomede had been ordered to Samoa. Mr. Holland handed the following statement to the Press: "The Government's action is extremely ill-advised, and will probably only serve to inflame the position in Samoa. The people of New Zealand have been told repeatedly that the deportation of the Hon. O. F. Nelson, M.L.C., and his colleagues would end the trouble. Indeed, more than one miaelading report has been sent out conveying the idea that matters commenced to settle down after the departure of Messrs. Nelson and Smyth.” “Exactly the contrary was the case, however, and the real effect of the deportations has been to further incense the Samoans. SENDING OF WARSHIPS “The sending of the warships to Samoa may have the effect of precipitating trouble, and it would have been much better if the Government had taken the sensible way out of the difficulty. "A return to normal conditions can only be secured by an abandonment of the ‘big stick’ policy. Deportation and banishment orders should cease, and th# deported Samoans and Europeans should be allowed to return to their home. General Richardson should be recalled without delay, and the people of Samoa should be notified that the promises made to them in the name of New Zealand will be honoured, that we will recognise the right of the Samoan people to an effective voice in the government of their own country, and, finally, that there will be an application of the principles of justice with the right of fair trial in every W where offences are alleged on the part of either Europeans or Samoans.”