PEACE FOR SAMOA

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 32, 10 March 1930, Page 6

PEACE FOR SAMOA

Are we trying to take the Samoan too quickly along the road of our civilisation ? To-day's cable news from Samoa suggests the happy ending to a long period of unpleasant happenings in the Mandated Territory. The conference between the Administrator, Colonel Allen, and the Mau, has concluded, and whilst the Mau is determined not to forego its organisation it has surrendered 18 wanted men. In consequence it is expected that H.M.S. Dunedin \tall leave Apia shortly and it is doubtful if the body of police at Trentham will now be sent. The territory is quiet and the whole atmosphere suggests the concluding chapter of a most unpleasant business. Perhaps it is a little early to consider the Samoan difficulty as finally settled, but the negotiations that have been carried out by the Ilon. J. G. Cobbe during his short sojourn in our island possession appear to have been conducted in a most satisfactory manner. Possibly no member of the present Cabinetc was better equipped for the task of peace-maker than Mr Cobbe, for he aenjoys an enviable reputation as a clever tactician, a m^n of honest purpose, and the utmost integrity. All these qualities would do much to impress these misguided people. To the Ilon. J. G. Cobbe, then, must be given a large jneasure of praise, if, as seems likely, he has effected a peaceful solution of the difficulties of this much troubled- territory. In three weeks' time the Administrator is to discuss with the four chiefs, Mataafa, Aalietoa, Faumuina, and Tuimalealifano a basis of settlement, and it is to be sincerely trusted that wise counsels will prevail and that. such an understanding will take place that it will be the forerunner to many years of pleasant association between the people of Samoa and New Zealand, to whom the-League of Nations has entrusted the care and welfare of these natives. New Zealanders are well aware of the difficulties that confront the Government of this country in effecting a settlement of the diificulty. The Mau cannot be allowed to defy the Administrator, no matter by which party in our Parliament that Administrator might have been appointed, and they cannot be permitted to flout the law. We have a mandate to govern Samoa and govern it we must with firmness and fairness and yet dignity, There has been a long duel between the authorities and the Mau, and the authorities have undoubtedly had to contend with a difficult situation, which has been accentuated by certain Europeans who have egged on these foolish natives. From the information we have at our disposal we are firmly of the opinion that a much earlier solution of this difficulty

'would have been found if stern measures had been adopted against those Europeans who were lurking in the background and urging the natives to continue their opposition to the Administrator. The Samoan is very much like the Maori. He is an angry individual when roused, but it takes a lot to rouse him and it is not in his make-up to continue a quarrel over a long period with such bitterness, unlegs he is spurred on by some guiding spirit, and particularly if that guidance is of the same nationality as the party with whom he has the quarrel. No one can minimise the folly of the Mau, and perhaps there is some little fault on our side in trying to hasten the establishment of our 'civilisationon these ' natives. Sir Apirana Ngata, a member of the present Government, a man who, by knowledge, study and experience, is exceptionally well qualified to judge the sitution, has expressed the opinion that we have tried to take the Samoan too quickly along the road of our civilisation. He thinks that the "taihoa" policy, as applied to the Maoris, should be also applied to the Samoans. He believes that the only safe way for a civilised Government to handle primitive peoples is to familarise itself by slow degrees with the native point of view. He regards all the worst Ynistakes made by Europeans .in dealing with the Maoris as due to precipitate attempts to force advanced conceptions upon minds untrained to appreciate them ; and he fears that in Samoa the same mistakes were made as were made so often here in the early days of conflict between Maori and pakeha. This warning created a deep impression in New Zealand when it was uttered last year, and it will be remembered now. Even though the Hon. J. G. Cobbe may have effected a happy ending to the present crisis, a long time must elapse before we win baok the confidence and affection of the Samoans and re-establish those good relations between the

races that must be our ideal. In the meantime the Hon. Mr Cobbe has earned the gratitude of every New Zealander for his successful attempt as peace-maker. Perhaps if he returns to the territory in a month's time he will finalise a settlement he has so capably inaugurated.