Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

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

Autonomy Recognised

page 23

Autonomy Recognised.

It will here be seen that three Great Powers forty years ago, while making provision for the protection and equal trading rights for their nationals in Samoa, recognised the autonomy and independence of Samoa. Ten years later, Britain withdrew, leaving Germany to assume a Protectorate over the islands of Savai'i and Upolu, America taking over Tutuila and Manu'a. There was no conquest, so Samoa cannot properly be called a conquered country. The Chiefs of Tutuila and Manu'a shortly after signed a Deed of Cession to the United States, which was not accepted at the time, but, after over a quarter of a century, it is said the Deed is still valid and will now be ratified by the United States.

The German Protectorate over Western Samoa was relieved by a New Zealand Mandate. The Samoans, after having given New Zealand every opportunity to justify her Mandate by asking her to grant to them what is universally admitted to be the right of all free peoples "to live their lives according to their own customs and laws," have now appealed to the world for relief from the incompetency and oppression of the present New Zealand Government, but the League of Nations have given a verdict against them.

Will New Zealand give this verdict the diplomatic interpretation underlying it, which is that the question is again referred to her to settle in a satisfactory way, or will she take the literary interpretation and impose sterner measures, thus killing the last vestige of a settlement?

It is only fair here to say that, although the Government hold a majority in the present Parliament, their policies in Samoa have never been endorsed by the New Zealand people. Had means been given them to learn the truth of the whole situation, I feel confident the New Zealand people themselves would have brought about the reforms which alone could have retained the confidence of the Samoan people. The Leader of the Opposition in the New Zealand Parliament has openly advocated in the House and on the public platform drastic changes in the system of government in Samoa. He deplores the measures imposed on the Samoan people by the New Zealand Government and sympathises with their complaints. He and his party represent a very large number of the New Zealand people, who are every whit as patriotic to New Zealand and conscious of their national duties as those who are represented by the present Government. While he is fully prepared and anxious to carry out the trust imposed on New Zealand in its mandate over Samoa, should his party get into power, he has expressed the view that it is contrary to British methods and British traditions to inflict on the Samoan people a rule which is repugnant to all that they hold dear. He has even gone so far as to ask the Government to bring about such conditions in Samoa, which will restore the confidence of the people, or admit their inability to govern the Territory and hand the Mandate back to the League of Nations.