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may be noted that vigorous leadership was given by the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Right Honourable Mr. Fraser, as Chairman of the Trusteeship Committee at the San Francisco Conference, in extending the spheres of international responsibility and introducing explicitly, as an objective of the administration of non-self-governing peoples, the progressive development of free political institutions and of selfgovernment. Under the new Trusteeship Agreement as approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 December, 1946, the New Zealand Government assumes direct responsibility for the administration of Western Samoa. 21. In the German era political disturbances occurred from time to time. These arose from conflict between the Samoan-style political organization, including powerful orator groups known as Tumua and Pule, and the German authority. The Germans suppressed these older forms of leadership, substituting for them new positions which still exist — the Fautua (High Advisers) and the Faipule (District Representatives). A major outbreak in 1909, known as the " Lauati Rebellion," resulted in the banishment of a number of Samoan leaders to the Mariana Islands. 22. From 1921 the New Zealand authorities launched an active programme of development and welfare, based on a policy of putting Samoan interests first. This was interrupted by the rise in 1926 of a movement called the Mau (" Opinion "). This movement was in some respects a reaction against the vigorous impact of new Government measures, and involved some resurgence of the older Samoan political institutions. But it also had the elements of a modern nationalist movement, including slogans for self-determination, and political techniques of non-co-operation and boycott. Certain European leaders supposedly associated with the rise of the Mau were banished at this time to New Zealand. A minority of Samoans held aloof from the movement, but among the bulk of the population the Mau leaders organized a separate Territory-wide administration roughly paralleling the Malo (" Government "). For a brief period in 1929 violence flared, and blood was shed, but otherwise the movement was peaceful. 23. The great depression of the early 1930's reduced the political activity of both the Malo and the Mau to a minimum. In 1935 the present Labour Government came into power in New Zealand, and the following year it sent a " Goodwill Mission" to Samoa. The banished leaders were returned and a series of measures were taken to break the stalemate between Malo and Mau, and to advance the welfare of the Territory. In 1939 the Second World War interrupted this programme. 24. Western Samoa felt the impact of the war to a considerable degree. From the start of hostilities with Germany in 1939 the agricultural resources of the Territory assumed importance as a source of supply for the allied Powers. Early in 1942, after the United States entered the war, the Territory became a base for thousands of United States troops. These forces were finally withdrawn in 1945, after influencing considerably the economic and other life of the Territory. Hundreds of persons from Western Samoa also went to American Samoa during this time to work on constructive projects. The post-war period has been marked by the greatest economic boom in the history of the Territory as a result of exceptionally high prices for some of the local products.

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