NO DANGER IN SAMOA

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 9

NO DANGER IN SAMOA

Official Statement Issued

CABINET CONSIDERING ACTION

Press Association. WELLINGTON, To-day. WHILE the Government is not yet able to make a full statement as to the position of affairs at Samoa, and as to its immediate intentions, I wish the public of New Zealand to understand that the alarmist reports that have been recently circulated from unofficial sources in Samoa are greatly exaggerated,” says a statement issued by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates.

“T\,TY information is that, notwithstanding the activities of the Mau, there does not appear to be any present danger of a breach of the peace in Samoa," the statement continues. “Provocative and illinformed comments on the position are not of course helpful in maintaining peace, but lives and property in Samoa to-day are not in jeopardy. Large numbers of Mau adherents who had gathered in Apia, have now dis-

persed to their homes, and. while I do not wish to be understood as implying that the position in Samoa is yet satisfactory, or that the law is being complied with. I can see no reason why, in the absence of mischievous interference, any breach of the peace should occur. “As soon as the Government is in a position to do so it will make a detailed announcement of any action Cabinet may decide to take.”