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pillion of the people as a whole could be consulted. In response to this request the Administrator called a Fono (Council) of all Samoa to meet the following month and discuss the draft Trusteeship Agreement. 4. The Fono assembled at Mulinu'u on 13 November, 1946. It was attended by the Fautua, the Faipule (district representatives), Samoan associate Judges, and additional representatives from each district. On the opening day the Administrator distributed 180 copies of a Samoan translation of the proposed Agreement, and gave a general explanation of its significance. A personal representative of the Prime Minister, Mr F. Shanahan, came by air to attend the meeting and made a brief statement, saying that the Prime Minister wished the Samoans to " have a full understanding of the Agreement and its great advantages." The next four days were devoted to discussions among the Samoans without New Zealand officials being present. On 18 November the latter returned, and the Administrator was presented with a petition. He and Mr Shanahan spoke at length on this and the following two days in an effort to convince the Samoans that the draft Agreement was not inconsistent with the purposes of the petition.. But Samoan spokesmen stood firm against the Agreement, and the meeting finally adjourned on 20 November with mutual expressions of goodwill and respect. 5. The wording of the petition reveals the fact that the terms of the draft Agreement were not considered thoroughly, nor well understood. In the letter dated 18 November, 1946, incorporating the petition, the petitioners stated: " The proposed draft Agreement of the Trusteeship concerning which you sought our views was discussed at length . . . and, while we recognize that this represents an advance upon the Mandate,, we feel that an acceptance of it would bring us no nearer our ultimate aim of self-government ..." 6. The signers of the petition clearly disregarded the fact that one of the outstanding differences between the Mandates charter and the new Trusteeship Agreement was that while the Mandate contained no specific promise with regard to self-government (though such a promise was implicit in the provisions of the Covenant of the League of Nations) the Trusteeship Agreement expressly sets self-government as a basic objective. The New Zealand Government, as the administering authority, is committed to promote " progressive development towards selfgovernment or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each Territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned " ; to foster the development of " free political institutions suited to Western Samoa " ; to " assureto the inhabitants of Western Samoa a progressively increasing share in