CONDITIONS IN SAMOA.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 September 1921, Page 5

CONDITIONS IN SAMOA.

MANY MISTAKES. NEW ZEALAND EXCULPATED. By Telegraph.--Press Assn.—Copyright. Sydney, Sept. 6. The Sydney Morning Herald publishes a series of articles by its special commissioner, who recently visited the Pacific Islands, dealing with Samoa and the discontent over the administration. He says he is not disposed to agree with the local contention that all the blame for the perilous conditions is to he laid at New Zealand’s door. The administration had made many mistakes, but had really not ’done so badly when all the difficulties were taken into consideration, and it promises to do a great deal better in the future. New Zealand would no doubt he glad enough to be rid of the disgruntled community if a satisfactory way out could be found, for there can be no really national desire to continue the control of Samoa against the wishes 1 of its people. There are many elements there different from any other group in the Pacific, and this fact makes government very difficult indeed. There is no form of administration that, in these days, would satisfy the Samoans for long. They are a peculiar people, as New Zealand must realise by now, and it is not alone 1 the defects in the government that account for the trouble. The diminished. prosperity is due to the collapse of the markets for tropical products, and that is a caitee far beyond local control.