STARTLING ACCOUNT OF APIA SHOOTING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 873, 17 January 1930, Page 1

STARTLING ACCOUNT OF APIA SHOOTING

SNIPING OF DEMONSTRATORS

Story Cabled to Labour Leader asserts fire opened needlessly A STARTLING account of the shooting at Apia, Samoa, which ended in the death of a constable, the High Chief Tamasese, and six other Samoans, has been given by a resident of the territory to Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the labour Party. The shooting, he says, was deliberate, and snipers and machine-gunners fired on the natives without provocation.

. Press Association WESTPORT, Today. , Th<* Leader of the Labour Party, Mr H. E. Holland, has received a ctblegram from Suva in which the minder, Mr. Frederick Polley, formerly of New Zealand, declares he wis in Apia when the shooting affray took place on December 28, and saw the incident at ciosr range. His statement is to the effect that the police fired on the mass of the people j almost simultaneously with the at-! tempted arrests, and that stones were | not thrown until a number of Samoans j kid been shot down. Three rifle- j men were then sniping from the j courthouse verandah. Mr. Polley saw the police run down I the alleyway when they had emptied their revolvers. Constable Abraham reloaded and started firing again phen ha was struck with a rock. A machine-gun was firing down | 111 Ifi Road wounding and killing the bearers of Tamasese. This gun was then turned on the native village, where there were women and children who were not in any way interfering. Two boys and two young men were killed and seven wounded. Tamasese had run from the rear of the procession with upraised hands a ad was appealing to the Samoans to keep the peace, and to the police to s op firing, when he was shot down. He was also declaring that the two men would be handed over. He seemed to be deliberately sniped by the rifleman. The two wanted men had been stalking the streets of Apia daily. The Mau leaders say that absolutely no notice was given of the intended arrests. The whole white population was terrorised into silence, but both white residents and visitors from overseas unanimously desire the punishment of those responsible for the tragedy. Accounts of the incident which have huen published in New Zealand aio almost wholly untrue, says the sender rf the cablegram, who is prepared to swear on oath the facts which he has stated. CABLE FROM GENEVA CLERGYMAN’S PROTEST MR. GREENWOOD INDIGNANT A message from Geneva to the effect that th« Finnish Foreign Minister, reporting to the Council of the League »f Nations on the Mandates Commission's investigation into the affairs of Western Samoa, had paid a tribute to 'he efforts of the Administration, apaeared in The Sun on Wednesday. M. fTocope, the Minister, was reported to uave expressed confidence in New Zealand and the Council, it was said, noted with satisfaction that order had been restored in Samoa, and congratulated the New Zealand Government.” Today we have received the following letter from the Rev. A. John Greenwood, 'vicar of St. Alban's Parish: St. Alban's Vicarage, Auckland, Jan. 16, 1930. Sir.— In your issue of yesterday I noticed a cable message which, you say, you received on January 14 last at 11.25 Pat from the Finnish representative ft n the Mandates Commission of the

League of Nations. But you omitted to state that the message was part of the substance of a resolution passed at a meeting held during October-No-vember last. To many people reading this cable it would appear to have reference to the dreadful tragedy of December 28 last, wlieeras it could only relate to the state of affairs existing prior to the killing of one New Zealand policeman and eight Samoans, one of these latter being the High Chief Tamasese. Now, sir. to switch on to the Finnish representative of the League of Nations the responsibility for sending to the New Zealand Government a message of congratulation for the killing and wounding of a lot of unarmed Samoans appears to me like hitting below the belt; and it is up to you to prove to the satisfaction of your readers that that message and direct reference to.the recent sad happenings at Apia on December 28 last or else to acknowledge your omission as publicly as you made the statement. For any official of the League of Nations to send a message of congratulation to this Dominion on the merciless atrocity of killing and wounding unarmed men with rifle and machinegun fire would be going beyond all sense of decency and right feeling—this, coupled with the circumstances of the attack, is surely evidence not of wise administration, but rather of blind ferocity in an endeavour to save the face of a stupid administration even at the dreadful cost of human life. It seems to me that the time has come for responsible journals to sit up and take notice of facts, so that the public may have the opportunity to read both sides of the question and form their own conclusions as to the true state of the case. You must know that up to the present, the Samoans have not had a fair hearing, neither have they been governed according to the principles of British law. Why then continue the policy of bolstering up a discredited system which has failure written on every page of its short and unsavoury history? As a leader of public opinion you could do much to put an end to this miserable fiasco and I hope that for the credit of the Press, if for no better reason, you will, at least, allow the other side a hearing. I am, sir, A. JOHN GREENWOOD, Vicar of St. Albans’ Parish.

It may be pointed out to Mr. Greenwood that the cable message to which he refers was forwarded from Geneva and was received in our office in the same manner as the rest of the cables that day, was filled in by a sub-editor, and published in good faith. If Mr. Greenwood is implying that, for some obscure reason, the newspapers have invented or distored or resuscitated a cable message, as his words, “which you say you received on January 14,” might be construed to mean, he is here given a flat contradiction. The Sun has given ample evidence in the past, and gives it daily, that it is not afraid to publish both sides of a controversy. Mr. Greenwood’s appeal to “allow the other side a hearing” is all the more extraordinary when one considers the fairness with which we have endeavoured to present the Samoan situation to the public.—Ed.. The Sun. MAU MEMBERS CAUGHT POLICE SEARCH IN BUSH ARRESTED MEN UNDER GUARD APIA, Wednesday. Six mounted police proceeded this morning into the bush near the old wireless station and returned at noon with seven members of the Mau under guard.