I

For the first year it seems that Prohibition to a considerable extent did prohibit; and in 1921 there was a petition to the King from the Fono of Faipules, or Samoan Native Advisory Council, praying that the Mandate be taken from New Zealand and their territory administered direct from the Colonial Office in London. It has been denied, but it is beyond doubt that there was European influence behind the petition. But in this matter the Beach were merely turning the tables on the methods adopted in the first instance by Sir James Allen.

It was about this time that Samoa was visited by Professor Macmillan Brown, from New Zealand, and his description, said to be penned then, of the current grievances, to be found in his Peoples and Problems of the Pacific, is somewhat interesting. He has no hesitation in deciding that "the Olympians of the Beach" are particularly annoyed because they have been "denied their nectar."

"The oceans of beer and champagne and whisky that flowed under German rule kept the Beach only half conscious of its grievances and half capable of expressing them. Now these oceans are dried up except in surreptitious channels, and there is no liquid oblivion to lubricate the parched throat of the Beach or make it forget its grievances…. Since that nip was denied, the Beach has become vocal with mighty oaths and intolerable wrongs: the Administration has done nothing but commit blunders."¹

These "blunders," the Professor notes, include the introduction of a fine water supply, the making of a liquorless hotel for officials pay, the production of an annual balance-sheet, page 106"though the Beach declares that it is rotten," and the keeping of obligations under indentured-labour contracts. "In short, its cup of iniquity is overflowing, when it ought to be 'the cup of kindness' that should be so."

"Now, the Olympians of the Beach are shrewd enough to know that they will never get their nectar back by direct appeal for its reinstatement to the League of Nations, or to the British Government. So they have got to prove that the New Zealand Administration is rotten beyond redemption; but they have a suspicion that their proof is not above suspicion, and that even if it were it would not work their purpose, unless Japan is on her old track and wishes to extend her empire south of the Equator. What they do know is that mandates are intended to protect the people of the mandated countries, and that the Beach forms but a small percentage of the people of Samoa; they also know that not only the League of Nations, but the British Government, lays itself out for protecting the aboriginal population. So the Samoan chiefs have got up a petition to the King to take over the government of Samoa from New Zealand, appoint a Governor, and the Samoans and the Beach will do all the rest; no trouble at all, thank you! It is here that the cloven hoof appears; along with the chiefs will act 'some of the old and experienced white residents.'"

The writer continues again:

"But the Olympians of the Beach have lost their nectar, and the only possibility of getting it back is through the leverage of a native petition, although the natives are quite satisfied with their ceremonial kava, and have no deep interests in the question of whisky or no whisky. Hence these tears; and hence for the first time we find the Beach assembly of the gods dealing tactfully with the natives and carrying out Dr. Solf's wise maxim: 'The fundamental rule for the treatment of the Samoans is, they can be guided but not forced.' … Had Dr. Solf lived to see the nectar denied these gods, he would have seen the unbelievable, the Beach controlling itself and its language so well as to guide instead of forcing the natives; for their nip is a life-and-death question with them, and if the British Government replaces New Zealand there is a chance of getting Prohibition cancelled; the brewers and distillers have great influence in the British Parliament, and Pussyfoot page 107Johnson has his work cut out for him. But it would never do to run that horse under its own name; so the two that have to run before the British Government and the League of Nations are Incompetence of the Administration and Native Discontent. Unfortunately they are hobby horses, and not real flesh and blood, as anyone can see for himself by spending a few weeks in Samoa unshepherded. The preternatural effort of the Beach assembly of the gods at unanimity and tactful self-control and shrewd wisdom deserves a better fate than it is likely to meet."

The fate of the petition, I believe, was that His Majesty King George, or his Ministers, replied in effect that neither the King nor the New Zealand Government had the power to transfer the Mandate, and that it was his wish that the Samoans should reconcile themselves to New Zealand rule.