DISCONTENT IN SAMOA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 826, 21 November 1929, Page 1

DISCONTENT IN SAMOA

Petition to the King CHANGE OF RULE SOUGHT DETERMINED that further investigation in Samoa shall be made into the affairs of Western Samoa, the people in the Mandated Territory are again petitioning his Majesty the King, praying to have the Administration taken over by the British Colonial Oflice at Home. The petition, according to private advice received in Auckland, sets out in elaborate detail the alleged wrongs of the New Zealand Administration, and gives reasons why the Samoan people have lost faith in the Dominion Government.

This is the filth petition troru the Samoan people, and is signed on be- j half of "the i hiefs and orators of I Western Samoa, representing unified I Samoa under its national organisation Known as the 'Mau.' Previously j petitions had been presented to his Majesty the Kina, the Prince of Wales when he visited the territory. tho j \'ew Zealand Parliament in 19:17 and I the League of Nations last year. This document has been addressed to his j Majesty, and is to bet handed to the Administrator. Colonel S. S. Allen. The general prayer of the Samoans s described as "A cry from prat tially the whole population of these tnhappy isles that your Majesty may hear and come to the assistance of ! i.ur little nation, struggling against dire oppression, tho squandering of our national revenue by a discredited administration which i 3 taxing our people intolerably and burdening the seneratious now- living, and those to follow, with a National Debt, unheard of before in our history, and which our I preseut or future national resources van never repay.'' bRfQIN OF DISCONTENT The origiu of the disaffection for \ Nf\v Zealand is rraced to the influenza epidemic of 191 S, which, it is alleged, was iatroduod into Samoa through rlie neglect of tho Health Department in granting pratique to a plagueinfested ship, thus causing the death | -i 'j.'.mjc ul' th- 10,000 people in the I territory. A protest -was made to the Dominion Government at the time, and although a commission confirmed the fact that the epidemic was introduced, uo responsibility 'vas affixed, thus in- j i-msifying ths discontent of the ‘ •a moans. Following upon tfua, the petition I states, the successive Administra- , tors had not improved the feeling of the Samoans, but on the contrary had stirred them to greater discontent by military administration, large expenditure of public moneys and by denying the people representation in their own government. The “Samoa Offenders Ordinance, | 1922,’* is a sore point of the petitioners, , who state that, although this enact- j meat was inf reduced as a precaution- : ary measure, it became, in the hands | of General Richardson, the instru- ; meat to stifle free speech by the ! banishment of the leaders who dared to express their discontent. The old order was upset and social i customs and traditions which had ! existed from time immemorial were overthrown, communal lands were individualised, and Samoan councils ’ 'ere replaced by those appointed bv i Administration. The petition sets out how this accumulated discontent led to more serious trouble between the leaders [ and the Government, resulting in the I banishment of several chiefs and the - imprisonment of High Chief Tamasese. ;

It traces the petition to Parliament and laments that no reply has yet urdsd tt- its prayer, ft mentions the Royal Commission of 1927, which, it is declared, refused to honour the promise of the theu Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, in regard to the taking of evidence and the representation of the Samoans’ ; case. CONFLICTING COMMISSIONS I “The general attitude of the com- j missioners to our witnesses,” they ' say, “caused us to lose all confidence i in the impartiality of the tribunal long I before the commission had terminated > its sittings.” Regarding the question of audit the commission had found that, “no possible complaint against the Administrator or the Administration can be sustained on this head,” but the petitioners compared this with the Government commissioners, who later i investigated and found among other things (1) The finances oe Samoa are in an unsatisfactory position; (2) the s public services require immediate re- ' organisation; (3) the type of official was of lower grade than in New Zealand; (4) the personnel of the service had deteriorated; (5) the direction of the various departmental services had to a considerable extent into the ! hands of men without adequate training and experience. RECENT EPIDEMIC Complaint is made that New Zealand makes the Samoan laws, and in j reference to the most recent epidemic i ! in Samoa, the petition says: "The steamer (Maui Pomare) was granted pratique, and a dis- J astrous epidemic again broke out, j causing the deaths to date of ' about 1,000 of our already ag--1 grieved people, and deaths still continue to date, while the administration issues most mislead- ! ing official reports of this unhappy event, denying the ravages of the epidemic which has opened many new wounds in our broken I homes." Petitioners pray that the mandated territory be taken away front New I Zealand and placed in sole control of j tho Colonial Office. They aim, they i say, for a reunion of Eastern and ! ! Western Samoa. ! The chiefs of Eastern Samoa volunI tarily ceded that portion of Samoa to the United States of America, they add, and a commission has been set !up to sit shortly to consider the 1 future status of Samoa with a view ] 'to survey the question of local, auto- j | nomy. I The question of reunion and un- : divided autonomy, they ask, should be I ! considered in conference by the two ; remaining Powers, who, with Samoa, ! were signatories to the Final Act of j ! ISS9 prior to the definition of Samoan f | status in Eastern Samoa being defined j ; by the coming commission referred to.