THE SAMOAN TRIP.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1920, Page 3

THE SAMOAN TRIP.

GRAVER QUESTIONS BEFORE GOVERNMENT. Mr. H. Atmore, M.P. for Nelson, who is at present on a visit to New Plymouth, declining the Government's invitation to visit Samoa and other islands in the Pacific, replied &j follows:—"Regret that 1 cannot see my way to accept the courteous invitation of the Government to visit Samoa. I believe such a trip quite unnecessary. An immediate session of Parliament, with a view to the settlement of pressing questions, is infinitely more important, and a vital necessity. All information necessary for the consideration of Samoan problems could be obtained from official reports, or, if the party system rein'era the visit of members necessary in the Government's opinion, let each party select two or three members who could make the trip on an ordinary trading steamer 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. 1 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 I that country. I consider Die settlement I of the housing difficulty, coal shortage, and the amelioration of the living conI ditions in New Zealand infinitely more important that a personal visit to see I indentured labor in Samoa. I am disI appointed at the Government not having an early session."