4

The letter by which the New Zealand Government forwarded the petition to the Secretary-General of the United Nations was as follows : " I have the honour to transmit herewith, for submission to the Trusteeship Council, a petition from the representative Samoan leaders of Western Samoa. " 2. The occasion on which the petition was prepared and presented to the Administrator was a public gathering to which the Administrator invited all Samoans who wished to attend, in order to discuss the proposed Trusteeship Agreement for the Territory in the draft form in which it was presented to you on 28 October, 1946. The Administrator informed the petitioners that their views would be made known to the United Nations and that the petition would be placed before the Trusteeship Council upon its formation. It will be recalled that the New Zealand representative informed the SubCommittee I of Committee IV at its meeting on 23 November, and during discussions in subsequent meetings, that the Samoans had expressed themselves as not desiring a Trusteeship Agreement but immediate self-government. "3. The New Zealand Government will be pleased to learn, in due course, what arrangements are proposed for the examination of this petition in consultation with the Administering Authority. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, P. Fraser (Signed) Minister of External Affairs." The statements made by the New Zealand representative in Subcommittee 1 of the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly in November, 1946, to which reference was made in the letter from the New Zealand Government, were the following : " Sir Carl Berendsen: I would like to tell the Sub-Committee that at the same time as this Agreement is being discussed here, it is being discussed with those who are primarily concerned, and that is the Samoans. On the whole they think it is a pretty good Agreement. They think it is better than the Mandate was, but what they do say is—and this will interest the Members —that they do not want an Agreement at all. They think they are now ready for self-government. And nobody need be surprised at that. No proud and intelligent people—and the Samoans are proud and intelligent—and legitimately proud—can be expected to take any other course. It is encouraging that they hold that view. The point I want to make is that when we have disposed of our Agreement, and in the course of the ages disposed of all other Agreements and have, as I hope, set up a Trusteeship Council, then one of the first things the Trusteeship Council is going to be asked to consider is the question whether the Samoans are now ready for self-government."*

* Verbatim record of the sixth meeting of Sub-committee 1 of the Fourth Committee of the first session of the General Assembly, 23 November, 1946.