III

The first act in civil administration—as it was officially termed—was the dumping down in Samoa of a semi-military police force from New Zealand. The purpose of this force—which was soon disbanded—was probably to cover the deportation of those German settlers not married to Samoan or half-caste wives. It was equipped with special heavy winter uniform, and so occasioned great astonishment when it first came marching along the beach of tropical Apia. A speech made by Sir James Allen, the New Zealand Minister of Defence, to the members of the force, immediately prior to their departure from Auckland, is of interest. Since it was captured in 1914, he said, Samoa had been under military occupation. The constabulary were the first evidence of the great change that was being made.

The Samoans, continued the Minister, were a peculiar people, but they would learn to know them better after they had been there some time. They had a great responsibility towards them, and in that they were responsible to the League of Nations, to whom they had to report every year. The League of Nations would watch them very closely. It was their first experiment in government beyond their own shores. They were told that they could not do it, and they wanted to prove that they could do it with success.

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Sir James said he wished to point out that the men on parade as constabulary would be a most important factor in the administration of Samoa. They were going as the representatives of the British race to be the trustees of the natives, to maintain justice in all times and difficulties. They would come closely into contact with the Samoan people. He was not so much concerned about the whites as about the natives, and he appealed to them to carry out their duties with dignity, calmly and firmly. The natives respected a dignified man. They should always be dignified. He wanted to see them a fine upstanding body of men, typical of the British race, and the best New Zealand could produce. If they did that they would help the New Zealand Government very materially in laying the foundations of civilization there.