9

CHAPTER I.—THE PETITION The petition which the Mission was asked to investigate contains three requests : {a) The granting of self-government; (b) Continued relations with New Zealand "as Protector and Adviser to Samoa in the same capacity as England is to Tonga " ; (c) Consultation between Eastern and Western Samoa with a view to ending the " unnatural division of the islands of the Samoan group " into Eastern and Western Samoa. A. HISTORY OF THE PETITION 1. The circumstances surrounding the November meeting of the Fono (Council) of Representatives of all Samoa which drafted the petition throw revealing light upon the underlying significance and meaning of the petition. 2. On 28 October, 1946, the New Zealand Government presented to the United Nations its proposed draft of the Trusteeship Agreement for Western Samoa. Since the New Zealand Government was the mandatory Power, it was under no legal obligation to secure the prior approval of the Trusteeship Agreement by the people of Western Samoa. Nevertheless, consultation with the Samoan people was a course which the New Zealand Government desired to adopt, although under the necessity of first reaching agreement with " States directly concerned" (Article 79 of the Charter). Accordingly, New Zealand's representative in Western Samoa, the Administrator, on 30 October made known, on behalf of the New Zealand Government, the terms of the proposed Agreement to his Samoan " High Advisers," the Fautua, and to the Legislative Council. Unfortunately, the gesture of friendliness lost its force because of its timing two days after the presentation of the draft Trusteeship Agreement by New Zealand to the General Assembly of the United Nations. The resulting impression upon the minds of the Samoans vitiated effective discussion by the Samoan representatives. 3. At that meeting one of the Samoan High Advisers stated that a document of this kind which affected the future of Samoa should have been submitted to the Samoan people earlier, and not at the last moment, just before being brought before the United Nations. One of the Members of the Legislative Council voiced the opinion that Samoa had been partitioned in 1899 without the consent of the people, that it had been handed over to New Zealand in 1919, and that now in 1946 the same thing was being done in the same way, without consulting the Samoans. The Fatua and the Samoan Members of the Legislative Council were emphatic that the question should be held over until the