An Adventure into Illegality

The 1924 Samoa Immigration Consolidation Order and the 1927 Maintenance of Authority in Native Affairs Ordinance might have been thought to give sufficient punitive powers to the Administration; but apparently those in authority did not think so; and, on June 20 of this year, an amending Order-in-Council was promulgated, extending the provisions of the Samoa Immigration Consolidation Order to Europeans who were either native-born or permanently resident in Samoa. Even if those responsible really believed that the Samoa Act, 1921, gave them the authority to make this Order-in-Council (which it did not), it might have been expected that, from the Australian High Court decision in the Walsh-Johnson case, they would have known that they could not bring native-born citizens of Samoa, or citizens who were permanent residents there, under an immigration law made by Order-in-Council in 1927; and, consequently, they might have been expected to know that the adventure they were embarking upon was foundationed on illegality. If they were not aware of it at the time, it would be interesting to know when they discovered the fact.