SAMOAN SHOOTING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 876, 21 January 1930, Page 9

SAMOAN SHOOTING

A COMMENT ON OFFICIAL’ EXPLANATIONS MR. 0. F. NELSON REPLIES Until this morning the Hon. O. F. Nelson has refused to make any comment on the censored news received from Apia concerning the fatal events of December- 28, but in view of inconsistencies in the official accounts of the affray which have been released by Sir Joseph Ward. Mr. Nelson submits the following comment:

It was only fair for the Prime Minister to give Colonel S. S. Allen an opportunity to defend himself against the scathing indictment of the part played by officers of his administration in the recent shooting, contained in an eye-witness's report by Mr. Frederick Pollev. a New Zealander. But the Prime Minister might havs served his own Government better and been kinder to Colonel Allen i£ he had withheld from publication the very lame defence offered by the Administrator, such as was doue with portion of the Verschaffelt-Park-Ber-endsen report. Colonel Allen says: "The attempt made by Mr. Hall Skelton and others to work up a meeting failed entirely, anti I biuk the general feeling support: me." Colonel Allen here assu . t .at because the indignation meeting of the Europeans did not come or ,i generally supported him. I t is unlikely, in the circumstan • ■! the while citizens, more th.,. < f whom are either officials < . . ministration or indebted to i w u!d now give themselves an oppett ni : of being declared seditious. The Administrator advises . . toll inquiry is being made at. the , into all the circumstances d opportunity is being given to vs 1 1 e> dence.” But neither he no: -t:-v Prime Minister has yet d< • Skelton's allegation? that * .<, • duct” was refused to Mau • who wished to give eviden e at. i:.a inquest. It will be rememl; i eel th 4 every member of the Mau -now been declared by the Admin ■ r ato a seditious person, so any o - •. diug the inquest was liable u. arrest, and imprisonment. Is tlm. shat Colonel Allen calls “every ope- ? -ti t, \- is being given to c-all evident.- And it is not stated whether th- • ,u----included that upon Tamases ; his compatiiots; so far as is ki - he inquest is only into the deal - : instable Abraham, who, Mr r - y sta.tes, was struck down with a n-rit after he had reloaded his rev \- r ,->,d had started firing again. “Can Polley in Suva know ■ v. published in New Zealand?" a.?: . t Allen, but Mr. Polley was in Apia long enough to learn of tb- -95. i.-il reports published here which were sent back to Apia by Press r die . contradicted by Mr. Hall Ske' other statement is that “Poll v . i not see both the point where T ■ « was killed and Apia villag at th* same time,” but I wish to tei> Col. Allen that anyone standing on : ■ lfi Road near where Tamase? ■ was slain could also have seen a Lr \i» gun being trained on Apia nativ# village from the police station.

BASED ON HEARSAY It must therefore be noted that Col. Allen’s defence is based on hearsay, whereas Mr. Polley relates facts which he is prepared to confirm on oath. When, the real inquiry is held, why not have both Mr. Polley and Col. Alien repeat (heir statements on oath? Col. Allen now admits that the Lewis gun was trained on Apia village and fired a “burst” over the village, but the first official report published here stated that the Lewis gun only fired over the heads of the procession into the sea. Apia village from lfi Hi Road lies at right angle to the sea, so how will Col. Allen reconcile these two statements? Col. Allen states there were no women and children in Apia village where the burst was fired. But he does not say how he knows this nor does he say how much of the tragic business he actually saw himself. Why was the machine-gun turned on the Apia village at. all? He admits that two “boys” were killed but they were “grown-up.” He does not say how grown-up they were, neither does he admit that a Samoan is of tax-paying age at about 17. Col. Allen states "Tamasese may have tried to stop the attack on the police station, but was shot in the road.” Why has Col. Allen not yet satisfied himself as to whether Tamasese did or did not try to restrain the Samoans? "Tamasese was fatally injured by rifle fire,” says Col. Allen, but in the first official report published there was no mention of rifles having been used by the police. If the riot only lasted two or three minutes, and the police were not armed when it began, ho v is it that so many Samoans were killed and wounded while the police almost escaped free of casualties? HOW MANY WOUNDS?

“Medical evidence shows that no person treated at the hospital received more than one wound," continues tho Administrator’s report, but thtj censored Press radio to the Sydney ‘Daily Guardian’ by Mr. Isi Kronfeld stated that a young man who rushed in front of Tamasese fell after receiving several bullets through him. Mr. Hall Skelton states that he actually saw one man will seven bullet wounds. It will, however, be remembered that the Prime Minister’s report, which must have been based on ‘medical evidence* that there were only 10 deaths in the island of Upolo last May, was proved to be totally incorrect when a list of over 100 names of those who died iff Upolo in May last was published in Auckland and never contradicted nor denied by the authorities. How much reliance can therefore be placed on ‘medical evidence’ in Samoa? The web of plain untarnished truth, is weaving fast around the New Zealand administration in Samoa, and unpalatable as it may be, it is undoubtedly the solemn duty of the Government to take the lead and even at this eleventh hour to bring the whole truth out to tile light of day. Instead of hunting the Samoans in the thick jungle, and inciting further trouble, a Board of Inquiry should be set up immediately, -vith representatives upon it, elected by the Samoans, to investigate into the recent disturbances and the root causes of New Zealand’s failure in Samoa. Public opinion in New Zealand and elsewhere demands this. Congratulatory reports of the Mandates Commission passed last October on the mandatory’s report for the financial year ending March, 1929, even though published now, will no longer deceive the people. Abraham Lincoln’s famous remark still stands good today: "You cannot fool all of the people, all the time.”