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Samoa Under the Sailing Gods
I
I
Soon after the publication of the Report of the Royal Commission in New Zealand, and before the full text had been released in Samoa, it was announced that three members of the Citizens' Committee—the Hon. O. F. Nelson, senior elected member of the Legislative Council; Mr. Gurr, the editor of the Samoa Guardian, a new publication; and Mr. Smyth, a leading merchant of Apia—were to be deported under the Bill passed by the New Zealand Parliament in 1927.
"You are the recognized and active head of an organization called the Mau or League of Samoa, the purpose of which is to secure self-government for Samoa, and in furtherance of such purpose, by unlawful means to frustrate and render ineffective, and which is frustrating and rendering ineffective, the functioning of the Administration of the Territory."
"That you have since the 26th day of May, 1927, up to the present time circulated in Samoa a publication called the Samoa Guardian, of which you are the Editor, and which is published by a Company of which you are a shareholder. The said paper has a supplement prepared and printed under your immediate supervision and control in the Samoan language, in which you are well versed. In such supplement you have since the last-mentioned date consistently and deliberately sought to discredit the executive Government of Samoa and to arouse dissatisfaction and disobedience to the laws and the Administrative officers of the Government and to belittle them. To attain that purpose you have employed your wide knowledge of the language, customs, mentality, prejudice, party rivalries, and history of the Samoan people, and you have made use of false page 236and misleading statements and suggestions. You have particularly played upon that characteristic of the Samoan people which causes them to give ready credence to sensational falsehood. Under a pretence of loyal motives and solicitude for the Samoan people, you have, in the said publication, and especially in the said supplement, sought to bring the Government of the Territory and its officials into the hatred and contempt of its Samoan subjects."
The charge against Mr. Smyth was that he was a member of the Mau.
The three accused appeared before the Administrator, as required, and protested that they should be called upon to prove negatives. Nothing more specific was charged against them. A few days later they were informed in writing that they had "not disproved the charges," and deportation orders were served upon them, for periods of five, five, and two years respectively. Mr. Westbrook, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Meredith, the remaining European members of the Citizens' Committee,1were called before the Administrator and asked what they proposed to do to disperse the Mau.
1 The private planters seceded from it when pressure was put upon them by the Administration, to whom they were in debt.