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Samoa at Geneva : misleading the League of Nations : a commentary on the proceedings of the Permanent Mandates Commission at its thirteenth session held at Geneva in June, 1928
Mau Orders to Natives
Mau Orders to Natives.
"Have you any experience of the method in which they attended the Governor's malaga after the King's Birthday?—I was in Aleipata when the Governor arrived there."
"Did the Mau people put in an appearance?—The orator that made the speech was a Mau man. There were a few Mau people who turned up and made a speech of welcome, but they disappeared afterwards. It was not like the usual turnout. When they were asked to turn up, by the Governor, in page 20
the afternoon for a fono they did not put in an appearance; there were only the Pulenuus and the Faipules present."
"Have you any doubt that there is a fairly wide-spread agreement to reject the authority of the Administrator?—There is no doubt about that."
"What is your experience as to the necessity of constant inspection, and the manner in which they keep their plantations and catch beetles; can they be trusted to do it without the necessity of supervision and inspection?
—No. I can give you an illustration of that. The orders of the Mau committee were to hunt for beetles and keep their plantations clean. When Faumuina was sent over to Lotofaga he found, when he got there, that they were not hunting for beetles and keeping their plantations clean. He took the matter in hand and made them keep their plantations clean. This shows that they are not obeying the orders given to them by the Mau."
Mr. Connor is a Government official, who is the inspector of plantations in a very large portion of Upolu, the most important island in the Samoan group. He must have been well aware of the fact that the policy of the Government was to prove to the Royal Commission that the Mau was responsible for all the evils prevalent in Samoa at the time. He did his best, so far as his conscience permitted.
Faumuina is the chief of Lepea, near Apia, and resides there. He was elected by the Samoans, one of the six Samoans in the Citizens' Committee at the public meeting in October, 1926, and has always been considered one of the founders of the Mau and a leader of the same. He was banished by Sir George Richardson to Lotofaga, over thirty miles away, where he also has great authority, being the leading chief of that district. That gives the Administrator the excuse for saying that he only sent him back "home." If some of the English-born New Zealanders were deported to England, it could perhaps rightly be said that they were only ordered back "home." But my purpose here is to show that Sir George Richardson did not tell the Mandates Commission the truth when he said the Mau ordered the Samoans not to search for beetles and not to clean their plantations. The Royal Commission evidently was not impressed by Mr. Connor's evidence, but he still remains the Agricultural Inspector in the same district, rather an important position among the Natives.
"The Commission cannot too strongly condemn the action of Mr. Nelson and those associated with him who seem to have been inspired less by a desire for the public welfare than by personal ambition and interests. By unworthy means they have worked upon the minds of an impressionable people, who, prior to their propaganda, showed no disquieting signs of discontent. ..."