THE SAMOAN TRIP.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3396, 29 January 1920, Page 5

THE SAMOAN TRIP.

MR ATMORE DECLINES II\LVITA- ' TION. . % GRAVER QUESTIONS BEFORE GOVERNMENT. NEW PLYMOUTH, Jan. 27. Mr H. Atmore, 11.13. for Nelson, in’ declining the Government's invitation to visit. Samoa and other islands in the Pacific, with the Parliamentary party, replied as follows‘:——‘ ‘Regret that I cannot see my way to accept the I courteous invitation of the Government t-o visit Samoa. I believe such a tripl quite unnecessary. An immediate ’ession of Parliament, with a. View to‘ the settlement. of pressing questions, is I infinitely more important, and a vital necessity. ' All information necessary for the consideration of Samoan problems could be -obtained from ofiicial reports, or, if the party system renders the visit of members.necess'a.ry in the Government ’s opinion, let each party select two or three members who could make the trip on an ordinary trading steamship instead of taking a fine ship like the Mokoia, entailing a large consumption of coal at! a ,time of a coal shortage which Will‘ possibly be accentuated‘ in the near future. I cannot conceive the possibility of members of the House of Commons and House of Lords being taken by the British"-Government to visit Palestine, if Britain obtains a mandate over that country. I consider the_settlement of the housing! diificulty, coal shortage, and the. amelioration of the living conditions in New Zealand infinitely more important than a personal visit to see indentured labour in Samoa. lam disappointed at I the Government not having an early} session.” E’ CONDEMNED BY SHIPMASTERS. ’ Shipmasters and oflicers are takingi strong exception to the proposed tripl of the Mokoia with the Parliamentary} party to Samoa, owing to what they: consider is an unnecessary waste of} coal.

At a meeting of the committee of Qmanagement of ‘the Merchant Service Guild yesterday at Wellington, after discussion, a motion was passed recording the committee ’s emphatic protest against the Mokoia being sent ‘to Samoa, and decided to call a special meeting to go into the question more fully. The secretary in the meantime is to approach other marine bodies so as to obtain their views. The committee expressed thepopinion that the trip is unnecessary, and will consume a. great deal of coal that could be put ‘to more profitable use in New’ Zen_lland_ RESOLUTION OF‘ PROTEST. A resolution of protest against the proposed trip of members of Parlia. ment to Sainoa was passed by the Wellington North branch of ‘the Néw Zealand Labour Party at a meeting held last night. The motion was as follows:———“That this branch of the pjgtew Zealand Labour Party directs public attention to the fact that last year, when co‘:-11 and shipping were at a. premium, a trip to the Pacific Islands, under the jurisdiction of New Zealand, Mfilas Orflflfliffiifl by the Government for e G~overno'r-'Genera'l and Dr. Pomare; filat the Government now purposes organising ,a similar pleasure jaunt for Parliamentarians to the Pacific Islands

when eoa.liand' shipping are equally scarce and precious, that such action is ‘entirely unneees§é.ry, and is in conflicr with public *oPillioll, being a woni ton Waste of money and useful commo--dities; and that in 1903, when the Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon Organised a similar trip in the Mklpourika, when there was no shortage Of either money, coal, or shipping, Mr Massey ‘became denunciatory violent when referring to if, and in making political capital of it from one end of New Zearhand to the other, he featured the subject so pronouncedly that it loomed largely as the most serious and urgent reason that Mr Massey could advance for “the removal of the Sedéion Government fromthe Ministerial benches.”