APIA LIBEL LETTER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 920, 13 March 1930, Page 10

APIA LIBEL LETTER

MR. SLIPPER'S ADDRESS TO ADMINISTRATOR ' FULL TEXT PUBLISHED From Our Resident Reporter WELLINGTON. Today. I The Prime Minister has released I for publication the text of the letter ; addressed bt' Mr. T. B. Slipper, 1 solicitor of Apia, to the Administrator j of Western Samoa, on which the re- ! cent proceedings for defamatory libel I were based. The following is a copy of the letter:— Apia. Samoa. February 11, 1930. ; His Excellency the Administrator of Western Samoa, Apia. Your Excellency: Referring to correspondence between Your Excellency | and myself relating to acts of violence ' perpetrated bv members of the police I or other uniformed persons, and rej terring to my application on behalf of Samoan ladies that they should meet ' you tomorrow morning. namely February 12. at 9 a.nt. at Mulinuu, 1 am instructed to report that the leading ladies concerned in these acts of violence have already this morning brought before Your Excellency the gist of what would be represented to you tomorrow. These leading Indies departed from your presence this morning with the full conviction that no protection against terrorisaticn of women and children could be granted by Your Excellency and that Your Excellency’s attitude was such that terrorisation must be expected to be continued until the women of Samoa can persuade their hunted and hounded men to surrender themselves to an unknown fate. It is true that Your Excellency has averred that "wanteu" men (whoever they may be and for what they may be “wanted”) are supposed to submit themselves to the High Court for trial. It is equally true that that High Court, in its coronial judgment, has found that the rifle fire resulting in the death of Prince Tamasese and other Samoans has been pronounced by the coroner (namely, the Chief Judge), as being without his ability to And that fire necessary. The ladles of Samoa remember the tragic clrcamstances surrounding the death of Molia. This matter was brought, to the notice of Your Excellency and the commodore this morning by Chieftainess yaiei. An authority informed her that she had been misinformed. She responded by saying that she had been present personally at the hospital when the dying depositions of Molia were recorded by the Chief Judge as coroner. “FOUR WINDS OF HEAVEN” In all these circumstances, and in view of Y’our Excellency's repeated asseverations to the effect that the Samoan men must “come in” and surrender, and in view of Your Excellency’s apparent atti ,ude that the Mau must be broken, a id in view of the fact that the Mau as such has been scattered by gunfire to the four winds of heaven, the women of Samoa fee! that it would be at or.ee futile and stultifying to themselves to ask Your Excellency for protection against the ravages of uniformed persons. The ladies of Samoa feel that If the terrorisation of the women and children is ordained under Your Excellency’s authority to continue, then it must continue. I am instructed that it appears to the ladies of Samoa that their representations to Your Excellency as to the safety of themselves and their children are regarded as of no consequence. The said ladies are a ware that the Commodore has firmly intimated that there will be no further shooting, hut they are unable to igaore the fact that c’vil government still remains, and jt is Your Excellency, and not the commodore, to say whether or not there shall be further shooting. The plea of the ladies to the commodore was made in desperation. To these ladies the matter of life and death Is more than a matter of obedience to laws that, have never been promulgated, either by the electors of New Zealand or the people of Samoa. They can but die, as Tamasese and others have died. It is regrettable that dea n and bloodshed appear to be of small consequence to Your Excellency, as compared with the desire evident and expressed of absolutism. In view of these circu nr stances, the ladies of S~moa desire me to say, on their behalf, that they are unable to keep the suggested appointment at 9 a.m. on the 12th instant at Mulinuu. They desire me to fo -ward a copy of this letter to the c: mimodore, and another copy to His Honour the Chief Judge and another copy to the Prime Minister of New Zealand. On behalf of my lady clients, 1 have the honour to subscribe myself Your Excellency’s most obedient servant. (Signed) Thos. B. Slipper. The copy of the above letter, which was apparently to have been addressed directly to the Prime Minister, has not been received by him.