SAMOAN ADMINISTRATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1919, Page 5

SAMOAN ADMINISTRATION.

COMMISSION OP INVESTIGATION. (From Our Special Correspondent.) Wellington, April 22. It is reported that a commission will lie appointed to investigate some of the charges that are being made against the Samoan Administration. The discontent in the islands is not confined to the natives, who blame the New Zealand authorities for the ravages of the influenza. White residents state that the administration has made very serious mistakes, that commercial and planting interests have sufi'ered severely, and that the future prosperity of the group has been jeopardised. All the statements that come from Samoa are not necessarily true, and it is important to remember that the Administration has had antagonistic influences arrayed against it. But there appears to be need for inquiry.

Colonel Logan, the Administrator of Samoa, is still in New Zealand, and Colonel the Acting-Administrator, remains at Samoa. The Minister for Defence has stated that Colonel Logan is merely on furlough, and that he has not been relieved from office. It is a fact, however, that Colonel Tate, who .is Adjutant-General of the Forces, has stayed in Samoa a good deal longer than wag expected when he left New Zealand. He has had the handling of difficult problems.