SAMOA.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1921, Page 5

SAMOA.

ADMINISTRATIVE DIFFICULTIES. A NATIVE’S VIEWS. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright Sydney, August 1. Over the signature of Oleaitu, who de- ' scribes himself as a Polynesian native and i claims to express native views, the Morning i Herald publishes a letter replying to the ! Hon. E. P. Lee’s statements regarding Samoa. Referring to the statement that the difficulties of administration arose from the suppression of alcohol, and the brlief held by Samoans that if they objected to Dominion rule they had the right to select some other Power to accept the mandate, the writer says that not one t Samoan in three hundred tasted liquor, so the suggestion about prohibition may be regarded as camouflage. He then says: “Our objections to New Zealand forcefully controlling our affairs against the wish of every resident of the group are due firstly, to New Zealand’s methods of administration; secondly, to the definite promises by all the Powers , that Samoa would retain its independence. These promises were made scraps of paper in the form of treaties, and it is the violation of those scraps of paper that we are challenging.” The writer adds that from a Garden of Eden Samoa has been reduced to a Sahara Desert, but the emancipation of Samoa from oppression is the new religion of every Samoan.