I

I Remember walking along the shore one evening at Salailua. Never before or since have I seen such a sunset. The universe was a blaze of crimson. It was as if buckets of blood had been dashed all over sea and sky, and on the rise of sandy beach beneath the dark fringe of leaning palms lay three small dug-out canoes, stark and black-interiored. It was a lovely and intolerable sight. It may have been the pang of perfect beauty or it may have been the resurrection of some racial memory infinitely remote, struggling to break through.

"Or go up [wrote Rupert Brooke], one of a singing flower-garlanded crowd, to a shaded pool of a river in the bush, cool from the mountains. The blossom-hung darkness is streaked with the bodies that fling themselves, head or feet first, from the cliffs around the water, and the haunted forest-silence is broken by laughter. It is part of the charm of these people that, while they are not so foolish as to 'think,' their intelligence is incredibly lively and subtle, their sense of humour and their intuitions of other people's feelings are very keen and living. They have built up, in the long centuries of their civilization, a delicate and noble complexity of behaviour and personal relationships. A white man living with them soon feels his mind as deplorably dull as his skin is pale and unhealthy among those glorious golden-brown bodies…. He is perpetually and intensely aware of the subtleties of taste in food, of every tint and line of the incomparable glories of those dawns and evenings, of each shade of intercourse in fishing or swimming or dancing with the best companions in the world. That alone is life; all else is death. And after dark, the black palms against a tropic night, the smell of the wind, the tangible moonlight like a white, dry, translucent mist, the lights in the huts, the murmur and laughter of passing figures, the passionate, queer thrill of the rhythm of some hidden dance—all this page break

A Samoan Child

page 267will seem to him, inexplicably and almost unbearably, a scene his heart has known long ago, and forgotten, and yet always looked for."

I remember again sitting after nightfall alone in a Samoan house, and suddenly from the floor of a neighbouring fale a tiny fire blazed up tended by a little half-naked, copper-coloured girl who seemed as if performing some incantation. And again I had the almost unbearable sensation of "a scene my heart had known long ago, and forgotten, and yet always looked for."

And all this—something unique and beyond price—was being destroyed by fools. By the Mandates Commission "doing its best." By reformers who could see nothing better than modelling others in their own unlovely images. By the cranks, perverts, and publicists who make the South Seas their happy hunting-ground.

II

From whence the Samoans came in the first instance I will not speculate. There are vague legends of a great white race that once inhabited the Pacific. The Samoans possibly are a remnant, for they differ from all others of their supposed racial type.

"An elaborate courtliness [said Stevenson] marks the race alone among Polynesians; terms of ceremony fly thick as oaths on board a ship; commoners my-lord each other when they meet—and urchins as they play marbles. And for the real noble a whole private dialect is set apart…. The absolute chiefs of Tahiti and Hawaii were addressed as plain John and Thomas; the chiefs of Samoa are surfeited with lip-honour, but the seat and extent of their actual authority is hard to find."

There is, too, a peculiar tenacity about the Samoans which stamps them as being different. And yet Polynesia is known to have been peopled from the Navigators Islands, and Savaii is named as the cradle of the Polynesian nation. How then can one reconcile these seeming divergencies?

The only explanation which affords satisfaction to my mind is contained in the report of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, 1924-26.

"From time immemorial [it is said] the flux and reflux of race migrations between the South Sea Islands and the Asiatic land masses have swept back and forth along the 4,000-mile chain of Equatorial atolls whereof the Gilbert and Ellice Groups form a section. The last great swarmings from the direction of Asia took place during the first three centuries of our era. The migrants were copper-skinned men of great stature from the East Indian Islands of Celebes, Gilolo, and Ceram. They found already established in the Gilbert and Ellice Groups a race of small black (Melanesian) men. Part of the tawny-skinned swarm stayed and fought and eventually fused with this much darker race, producing a hybrid type. The rest, a great host swept on down the chain of islands into Samoa.

"In Samoa the new-comers, who called themselves the Tongafiti, found a folk even fairer-skinned than themselves. For the next millennium, the inveterate conflict of these two peoples in Samoa scattered fugitives in search of homes throughout Polynesia. In the thirteenth century the Tongafiti were finally hurled out of Samoa. Fragments of the race were flung thousands of miles in all directions from that centre: southwards to Tonga and New Zealand; east and southeastwards to the Cook Islands and the Paumotus; westwards to Santa Cruz and the confines of Melanesia; and northwards, back along the original migration track, to the Gilbert and Ellice Groups, where they fought for new homes against the descendants of their own ancestral kin who had settled there on the southward course so many centuries before."

The word "Tongafiti" subsists to this day in Samoa. It has now two meanings. As applied to oneself or one's friends, it denotes a plan or device. In reference to similar activity on the part of others it signifies a knavish trick: the usual explanation being that the Samoans in their dealings with the Tongans and Fijians found them very evasive; but the origin of the word is no doubt far older than that.

Apart from the expulsion of the Tongafiti, there seems reason to suppose that over a period of centuries, well-equipped and carefully arranged expeditions set out from Samoa, in large ocean-going canoes, and made voyages for exploration to all points of the compass. These canoes were decked, and fitted with sails; fire was carried under cover on a tray of earth and stones; water was contained in bamboos; and it is believed page 269that the early voyagers knew of a certain herb or plant, whose leaves when chewed assuaged the pangs of thirst and even permitted the drinking of sea-water with some impunity. Stair, who left Samoa in 1845, says that the natives did not then know what the leaf was, as the custom had fallen into disuse, but they were confident that such a custom had prevailed in the past, when voyages were more frequently made. He says that he questioned many men of intelligence about the matter without effect. The constant reply was: "We do not know what it was ourselves, but we are certain our forefathers were accustomed to use it."

Stair also affirms that apart from these old-time voyages of colonization or exploration, the Samoans were accustomed to make frequent trips to the groups around, for trading or for pleasure. Of late years, he said, writing towards the end of the last century, such trading voyages had ceased, apparently in consequence of a settled intercourse with Europeans, and also from the disuse of the large sea-going canoe. When I was on Savaii—1923–26—the remains of one of these canoes were still to be seen.

III

Samoa's most present menace—and this has its roots in commerce—is the contamination of its strange race by Melanesians and Chinese. The European half-caste affords no such problem, being fair-skinned and of Aryan stock on both sides and therefore to be completely assimilated. At the time of writing there are Samoan girls living openly with Chinese coolies in the crowded cubicles on the plantations of the Reparation Estates; and the Chinese half-castes are estimated to number between a thousand and fifteen hundred, as against a total native population of 40,000. The coolies were brought to Samoa by the New Zealand Administration. Although supposed to be against the law, and rigorously disallowed by the Germans, the process of racial-pollution, under New Zealand rule, is permitted to continue unchecked. There is, moreover, a "black-boy village" on Vailele (Government) Plantation, formed under the regime of General Richardson page 270and at his suggestion, where Solomon Islanders (coal-black negritos) are living with Samoan women.

The seriousness of the negrito menace can be gauged by the fact that there are villages in Samoa where the people all show a strong Melanesian strain—the result of some incursion or canoe-wreck of Fijians (who are fair-skinned as compared to Solomon Islanders) in the dim and distant past. The slanteyed Chinese half-caste business is fully as bad as regards the contamination of the Samoan race.

In the Minutes of the Fourteenth Session of the Permanent Mandates Commission, it will be seen, regarding 146 Melanesians who had been allowed to stay in Samoa after the expiry of their contracts,

"Sir George Richardson explained that Chinese labourers were not allowed to settle permanently in Samoa. The Melanesians had been brought over to the territory during the German occupation. They were good workers and very lawabiding. The New Zealand Government had tried to repatriate them, and those who desired to go had been repatriated to the Solomon Islands. The remainder in Samoa expressed a preference to remain in the country. They were in no sense a menace to the development of the population. Many of them had married Samoans, and the children were easily absorbed as Samoans…."

He stated further:

"Chinese labourers who stayed in the island did most probably form alliances with native women and desired to stay…. The fact that the Chinese labourers formed alliances with Samoan women could not be imputed to any fault of the Administrator.

"In reply to a further question by M. Sakenobe, Sir George Richardson said that it would be quite impossible completely to restrict contact between Chinese labourers and Samoan women. He had more belief in education than in the efficacy of legislation concerning sexual matters.

"Sir James Parr added that officially no contact was permitted between Chinese labourers and Samoan women. Oddly enough, the half-caste born of such an alliance was a very good worker."

I am prepared to believe that General Richardson believed that sexual instincts could and might be curbed by education. But it is absolute nonsense to suggest that it is impossible to restrict contact between Chinese labourers and Samoan women. There was a privately owned plantation in Palauli, Savaii, where Chinese were employed, the manager of which was continually requesting the Government to stop Samoan girls living (outside the plantation) with the coolies. A Government Proclamation was read. Ignored. And there the matter was allowed to rest. If I had had any jurisdiction in the matter, I would have guaranteed to put a stop to it within a week.

A Samoan girl's moral code¹ opposes her to going with a man unless, by living with him, she may be recognized as his wife. The problem therefore presents no difficulties at all.

The main attraction apparently of living with the Chinese is that the coolies give the greater part of their money to the women, who are allowed to live in complete idleness, the Chinaman even doing such housework as is done. The only other females in Samoa equally well situated in the latter respect are the wives of native pastors, who fill their fales with young girls who act as servants. It is said, of course, in various parts of the world, that if a woman has once had a Chinaman she never wants anybody else. None the less, there would be no difficulty in putting a stop to this business in Samoa.

For their attitude in the matter the parents of the girls are perhaps to be blamed. But there is something of the procurer and procuress in most parents. And an alliance with a foreigner is likely to be beneficial to the family in Samoa. Then, too, they are a strange people. An Englishman, an old resident there, once observed to me: "You might steal the favourite daughter of a chief from him, the apple of his eye; and provided you had done it by some smart trick, if you met him the next day he would laugh like anything and shake his head and say 'By Jove, that was a good tongaflti you made!'"—the implication being that the Samoans could appreciate the ingenuity of a stratagem even under these circumstances. Stevenson has remarked incidentally that pungent expressions are so much admired by the Samoans that they cannot refrain from repeating page 272those which have been levelled at themselves. And in relation to this characteristic I have a recollection of a debate—a matter of Government business—with some village chiefs in Savaii where they were clearly deliberately in the wrong with regard to some mistaken instructions given to them by another official who had gone on leave. By good luck the discussion which ensued went in a circle and so much in my favour that their talking-man was tied finally in a knot, and left hesitating at a loss for another line of argument. The controversy had been followed with close attention by the chiefs and orators assembled, and I shall not readily forget them in due course leaving the house, considerably abashed, yet chuckling—almost despite themselves—with an evident enjoyment of what they apparently considered the method of their own discomfiture. The white man, they admit, thinks more quickly than they do. They would not, however, be prepared to admit that his brain is better, in which possibly they are right.

No small part of New Zealand's trouble in Samoa has been caused by officials not sufficiently considering the ceremonial flair of the natives. It was no uncommon thing for officials to travel round in the course of their duties with incompetent interpreters, incapable of talking the chiefly language—youths picked up in Apia—totally unconscious that the atmosphere of the speech-making—for which they probably entertained an ill-concealed contempt—was electric with discomfort and ruffled feeling. They wanted to "cut the cackle" and get on with the job. It was the last way of getting the job done.

In the matter of the Administrator's malangas also, the trumpery rubbish—shoddy umbrellas, tins of cheap powder, and so forth, procured by the Native Department—that was presented to the owners of the houses where the party stopped was a positive disgrace. The average trader would have been ashamed to stock such junk. It would have been infinitely better to have given nothing. The Samoans are not fools, and are capable of detecting an article's quality and value.

To return to the point from which I have strayed away: A competent Administrator could have restricted contact between Samoan women and Chinese, without resort to the legislation, by precept and ridicule—directed at the chiefs.

IV

In regard to the attitude of the London Missionary Society towards the Samoans in their contemporary troubles, I must mention that at the Fourteenth Session of the Permanent Mandates Commission, General Richardson, in reply to a question from Lord Lugard, said:

"He would emphasize the point that the missions in Samoa had rendered most valuable services to the natives. It had been the Government's policy to work in close co-operation with the missions and he personally had always had very friendly relations with them. When the troubles first arose he had taken up the question with the missions, but they had preferred to leave the matter alone, as it was one of political importance, and had declined to take sides. Unfortunately, the missions of the London Missionary Society had suffered, largely, Sir George Richardson thought, as a result of their inactivity concerning the Mau movement. One member of the London Missionary Society, however, had made a frank public statement and had drawn attention to the harm done by the Citizens' Committee. His speech had been translated by the Citizens' Committee and circulated to the natives as evidence that the missions were now infected with the Government's point of view. The adherents of the London Missionary Society included about two-thirds of the native population, and the position had become so serious that the Society had had to close down some of its schools and institutions…."

So serious indeed did the position become, that the London Missionary Society was obliged to send out a delegation from London in an endeavour to stabilize the concern; resulting in the removal of the local head of the London Mission, who then proceeded to New Zealand and indulged in pulpit propaganda against the Mau.

V

The Anglican chaplain of Mount Eden Jail, Auckland, when Tamasese was serving sentence there for "resisting arrest," referred to him as a "fine stalwart fellow, clear-eyed and courageous." He observed further:

"The New Zealand Government is unconsciously defeating its own ends by imprisoning this Christian rebel chief. Tamasese, by the sacrifice of his liberty, is paying part of the price that God seems to exact for the advancement of a race. By persecuting a movement we help it to grow, hence Tamasese is on the winning side, and he will possibly live to see the day when the Samoans, like the Maoris in New Zealand, will be given equal privileges with their white brethren."

This prediction unfortunately was incorrect. Tamasese, still in the twenties, in response it would seem to the promptings of the Mandates Commission, was shot down on the Apia Beach on December 28, 1929.

Owing to his quarrels with the former Administrator, General Richardson, it may be remembered, Tamasese in 1924 was banished for life to the island of Savaii, but was later allowed to return to Upolu although his royal title was not restored to him. After this he remained quietly in his village at Vaimoso and took no active part at first in the move against the mal-administration. When before the Royal Commission at the end of 1927 he told the Chairman—who refused to inquire into the merits of his banishment—that the Mau wanted selfgovernment for the Samoans under the protection of Britain, and not New Zealand. The deportation of Messrs. Smyth, Nelson, and Gurr followed at Christmas, and a few weeks later, on the eve of his retirement, General Richardson had two cruisers rushed to Samoa and some four hundred Samoans were rounded up at Mulinuu.

After he had paraded his audience and personally harangued them, without the medium of a talking-man—for he could speak a little Samoan—General Richardson demanded to know what the Mau wanted from the Administration. Tamasese then came forward as spokesman and asked the retiring Administrator if he had full authority to act as well as talk. Richardson replied that he had, and the Fono was adjourned until the following day. Tamasese then intimated that the Samoans wanted General Richardson to leave, and for the Samoans to run their own affairs under British protection according to their ancient laws and customs. This proposal they were informed was seditious, and shortly after they were page 275released, the Administrator recognizing that they had been "misled by non-natives." From then on Tamasese, by unanimous election, assumed the leadership of the Mau.

At the end of 1928, for non-payment of poll-tax, he was brutally arrested by an armed force of military police (the handcuffs could scarcely be made to click on his massive wrists, and left him permanently scarred) and jailed in New Zealand for resisting arrest. His arrest had been covered by two machine-guns.

Two years had elapsed since the deportation of three members of the Citizens' Committee, and in the case of one of them, Mr. Smyth, the banishment order had expired. It was determined by the Mau to give him the greatest reception ever accorded to a European in Samoa. In this there was perhaps a certain irony, for Mr. Smyth admittedly had had but little contact with the Samoans, and possibly had been more interested in General Richardson's unwarranted interference in the copra trade: an activity condemned in due course by the New Zealand Public Service Commissioners.

However, on December 27, 1929, a member of the firm of O. F. Nelson & Co. interviewed the Chief of Police at Apia, and asked if permission would be given for Mr. Smyth and Mr. Skelton, a visiting lawyer from New Zealand, to land at the Tivoli wharf. He mentioned that a procession of the Mau was expected. The Inspector said that permission would be given, and "Tell the Mau not to send any wanted men down." Mr. Kruse—who had made the request—replied that he was not the legal representative of the Mau and it was not his place to warn them. He added, however, that if he saw any of them he would tell them. On meeting Tamasese he appears to have told him what the Inspector had said.

At 6.15 the following morning there were two processions wending their way along the Apia Beach. One came from the west and the other came from the east. They were to meet at that point of the water-front near the Court House where a road runs off to Vailima. The procession that had come from the west would then turn about and together they would march past and salute the Union Jack flying above the Government building.

As the column that was coming from the west passed the Customs House, the Chief of Police, who was waiting ostensibly to put off to the steamer then entering the harbour, rang up a posse of constabulary stationed near the Court House and told them that a Samoan named Matau, who was wanted for contempt of court for non-payment of poll-tax, was at the head of the Mau procession and playing in the band. This procedure on the part of the police had been prearranged. It had been determined to make an arrest on this occasion. Matau is said to have been walking about Apia unchallenged all the previous week.

The procession continued on their way, marching in column of four, unsuspecting of what was to come. They were going into a machine-gun trap. In the procession were four high chiefs: Vele, Tamasese, Faumuina, and Tuimalealiifano. The chiefs wore white lava-lavas and dark coats. The Mau followers all wore the Mau uniform blue lava-lavas with the white stripe about six inches above the border.

On each side of the procession marched members of the Mau police with purple lava-lavas and white stripe and purple turbans on the head and the same baton fastened to the wrist such as any police carry. "I could not help," said a lady visitor from Fiji, "but feel thrilled, it was such an imposing sight.

"The Mau procession wended their stately way past me; some carried umbrellas furled and used as a walking-stick; others had walking-sticks and all more or less were smoking as they quietly marched past. I remarked what a splendid body of men and how orderly when I was horrified to hear a sharp volley of revolver-shots followed a little later by bursts of machine-gun fire. There was no mistaking that rat-a-tat-tat."

As the procession had neared the Court House the arresting party of European police had joined and walked alongside the head of the column, and on passing the Government building a white policeman threw himself into the midst of the band and siezed upon Matau. Blows were exchanged with the Mau police, the white man fell down—he was uninjured—and within the space of a few seconds the Europeans had produced revolvers and were firing into the thick of the crowd. A party of eighteen page break

The Top Of Ifi-Ifi Street—Where Tamasese Was Shot

page 277constabulary who had been waiting at the Police Station at the back of the Court House, on receipt of a prearranged signal, rushed to the assistance of their confrères and also commenced shooting. The natives retaliated by throwing stones.

Fearing that they would have no opportunity to reload their revolvers, the police retreated down a side-alley to the Police Station for rifles and bayonets. One of their party was left behind and killed, in the act, it is believed, of attempting to reload. The news was broadcast to the world that he was beaten to death with an axe. This apparently was incorrect. Medical evidence disclosed that he was killed by a fracture at the base of the skull and there was no open wound.

At the corner of the Court House at the top of Ifi Ifi Street, about seventy yards from the Police Station, the High Chief Tamasese took his stand, facing the sea. Both arms were raised above his head. He turned from side to side and called continuously "Samoa, please keep the peace." His behest was being obeyed. A single shot rang out from a concealed sniper and Tamasese fell. Samoans ran to his assistance and there immediately came, from the balcony of the Police Station, at the hands of one of the men who had provoked the riot, the first burst of machine-gun fire. All the Samoans went down. A kinsman of Tamasese—a boy—who protected with his own body the wounded chief was riddled with bullets. There were thirteen holes in his lava-lava alone. Six bullets entered one leg. He was also shot in the groin, left side, through the foot, and between the shoulders. It was announced to the world that a Lewis-gun had been fired over the heads of a mob which attacked the Police Station! After the ground around Tamasese had been well sprayed, bursts of fire were loosed in other directions. There were several casualties in Apia village. Rifle-fire was maintained in the meanwhile. Within five minutes all was over. A machine-gun had also been mounted at the old British Club.

"Approaching the scene of carnage," said the lady from Fiji, "it was hardly possible to avoid stepping in pools of blood, even though keeping to the side of the road.

"When we came abreast of the Court House where the High Chief Tamasese and his men had been shot, the asphalt was like a shambles, police with hoses were attempting to page 278wash away the stains, but no hose will ever wash away the stain of the blood of unarmed men from the memory of all who happened to be there and saw and heard for themselves."

The High Chief Tuimalealiifano—who like Tamasese had been distinctively dressed—was shot through the arm. His eighty-odd years had not availed him. Vele was killed. The High Chief Faumuina was grazed across the loins by a bullet. Due to his calm control the Mau ranks were re-formed and the procession moved off quietly to the wharf to await the arrival of Mr. Smyth and Mr. Skelton. Following the procession at a distance of a few hundred yards was a party of twenty-five fully armed European police, with bayonets fixed. One member of the party carried a Lewis-gun.

At the special request of Tamasese the festivities at Vaimoso were proceeded with according to plan. During the time the function was in progress pathetic sights are said to have been witnessed as wounded men were brought into the village: the lamentations of the women relatives being found heartrending. In the early afternoon, however, the proceedings terminated abruptly owing to the announcement of further deaths.

That evening Tamasese, in hospital, issued a manifesto to all Samoa: "My blood has been spilt for Samoa. I am proud to give it. Do not dream of avenging it, as it was spilt in maintaining peace. If I die, peace must be maintained at any price." Towards the early hours of the following morning all hope of his recovery was past. He was removed to his village of Vaimoso where he died shortly after 8 a.m.

The Samoan casualties were eleven killed, including two high-chiefs, and sixteen wounded, many of them seriously. The European casualties were one killed and superficial injuries.

In the normal way the obsequies of a chief of Tamasese's rank, with presentation of fine mats, would occupy about a month, and during this time there would be no breach of the peace, but hardly was he buried—at Lepea—before the Administrator announced that Samoans not usually resident at Lepea and Vaimoso must vacate those villages. Tuimalealiifano and fifty-seven others were ordered to meet him at Mulinuu. Twenty others were commanded to surrender to the police. page break

Tamasese's Funeral CortÈGe
(Faumuina in "Lava-Lava" With Single Stripe)

page 279The cruiser Dunedin, equipped with a seaplane, was despatched to Samoa. The Prime Minister of New Zealand announced that the death of a New Zealand constable at the hands of the Mau in the recent riot had altered affairs. The New Zealand Government passed an Order-in-Council enabling the Administrator of Western Samoa to declare the Mau, or any movement in its place, a seditious organization. "The term seditious organization means an organization declared to be seditious by the Administrator." Wearing badges or other devices identifying the wearer with a seditious organization were also prohibited. Offences under the order to be punishable by a fine of £200 or twelve months' imprisonment. The League Council about this time gave birth to a resolution hoping that the New Zealand Government would succeed in putting an end to the present situation of administrative instability and re-establishing its full authority in the territory.

The Mau was proclaimed a seditious organization, and having received what must have seemed tantamount to a declaration of war upon them by the whole world, the members of the Mau deserted the coast villages of Western Samoa and took to the bush. Marines from the warship Dunedin and police, in the words of the London Times, "went after them." Nine long whale-boats belonging to the natives were seized and taken to Apia where they were left to warp in the sun. And a sign bearing the words "Samoa for the Samoans" was torn from Tamasese's office—a converted bandstand at Vaimoso—and removed. The New Zealand Minister of Defence arrived to direct these operations. A supplementary military police force—numbering 250—was recruited from among the unemployed in New Zealand. Chief Justice Luxford, who conducted the inquest into the deaths of the victims of the "riot" on December 28th, found that the precautionary measures taken by the police were reasonable and proper, and that there was serious active resistance to lawful arrest which endangered the lives of the police. He said, further, that the police use of fire-arms, including a Lewis-gun, for moral effect was justified, but that no evidence was disclosed showing the necessity for rifle-fire. Commenting on this report, Sir Joseph Ward, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, expressed the opinion that page 280the report would effectively refute the allegations made against police action in this case.

Now began what amounted to war upon the Mau. It was attempted to cut off food supplies, villages were raided, small parties of Samoans were dragged in as captives. One boy was shot in the stomach, it is alleged as he sat on the ground, being exhausted. He died in hospital. But it was found impossible to get in touch with the main body of the Mau, numbering several thousands. Tuimalealiifano, after a week in the bush, returned, on account of his age and the rainy weather, to his village, and for wearing the Mau lava-lava was seized and cast into jail. A charge of libelling the Administrator was brought against Mr. Slipper, the Mau solicitor—one of the few Europeans of recent years to show any sympathetic appreciation of the Samoans—and he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, heavily fined, and had his licence cancelled.

A statement made by Commodore Blake, the officer commanding the cruiser Dunedin, at Apia, reviewing the operations in Samoa, was published in the London Times of February 19th. Commodore Blake stated that peaceful persuasion would not induce the Samoans to submit, and there was no alternative but to use force. He was of the opinion that the present policy was the only possible one at the moment. When the Administrator's demands had been fulfilled, he continued, harsh treatment or retaliation would be unnecessary, but until then force alone would appeal to the Samoans. A larger force was required to bring sufficient pressure to bear upon the Mau (members of the League of Samoans) in the bush and sheltering in the villages. Sailors and Marines had worked ashore magnificently, often under difficult conditions. The present force was insufficient to round up the large number of Samoans in the bush, but indirect pressure was being exerted by cutting off food supplies, raiding the villages, and preventing the Mau from coming into the villages for food and shelter. The stronger force which was now being provided would permit the effective patrolling of the coast and the isolation of the Mau. Commodore Blake concluded by saying that the matter must be settled now; there was no alternative. When the affair was settled the page 281authorities could get back to investigating the causes of the trouble and endeavouring to meet them in a spirit of good will, while yet upholding law and order.

This plain if surprising statement of the Government's case resulted in a frenzied denial from the Prime Minister of New Zealand, who said that Commodore Blake was speaking for himself. He implied that it was not proposed to use force. The Executive of the New Zealand Seamen's Union, however, passed a resolution protesting against the sending to Samoa of "Black and Tans" to "terrorize the Samoans by force of arms." The Executive declared further that its members would refuse to man any ships conveying the new military police to the islands.

The Administrator of Samoa—following the faux pas of Commodore Blake—convoked a conference with the Mau at Vaimoso by proclamation, the conditions being that the Samoans attending would be free from arrest (it is significant that he refused a safe conduct to Samoan witnesses who wished to attend the Tamasese inquest), that neither the naval forces and police on the one hand, nor the Mau on the other, take action during the conference, and that villages be exempt from search for the same period.

The Samoans attended the conference and, it was remarked naïvely, were found quiet and respectful. They raised no objection to the arrest of the twenty Samoans wanted on alleged criminal charges, and since the Chief of Police at Apia once testified in court that the Mau had often assisted the police in effecting such arrests, this was scarcely surprising. The natives, however, refused—as now demanded of them by the Administrator—to dissolve the Mau organization. But the twenty wanted men surrendered and in due course were savagely sentenced. The cruiser Dunedin returned to New Zealand. The special force of military police, which the seamen had refused to carry, remained where it was. The Samoans returned to their villages. This extensive fiasco was hailed as a triumph on the part of the Administration. And so it might well be termed. Tamasese has been "bumped off." Something has been done. The Administration has discovered and concealed its impotence. It would have been impossible to starve out the Samoans living page 282in the bush—rich in natural food. But a gesture had been made. The Mandates Commission will be satisfied.

VI

Experience has clearly proved that Mandatory status is a menace to the people of the mandated territory. The ignorance revealed by the Mandates Commission concerning Samoa was abysmal. Yet its members did not hesitate to advocate the adoption of violent measures. For more than one reason apparently they hate continued evidence of unrest in the mandated territories. At all costs also, the Mandatory Power must, in the first instance, uphold the local administration, for fear of increasing the power of the Mandates Commission.

It seems impossible that the system can last. But lest it does, I would state that the right of petition to the Commission has been established worthless. A petition signed by more than 93 per cent. of the Samoan tax-payers was referred to as a petition "by a certain number of natives"—and ignored. In the case of Europeans petitioning the Mandates Commission, they simply put themselves up to be shot at and cannot possibly do any good.

I would recall that the Permanent Mandates Commission has been proved lazy, incompetent, and capable of making vital omissions in quoting from its own Minutes—when trying to save its face. It must be obvious, I think, that the men who should be appointed to such an institution are, generally speaking, the very last who would be appointed; and in view of this the sooner the present pack—with perhaps one or two exceptions, notably M. Palacios—are swept from Geneva, and the system resigned to the limbo whence it came, the better for the world and its prospects.

The most pressing need of the times is to curb the activities of the reformers and cranks who seize on all helpless peoples—not excepting children—and inflict incalculable misery and mischief. The stamping out of the Mandates Commission would result in the destruction of a certain forcing-ground for such as these.

Unless youth rises and exerts itself, there is likely to be little beauty and decency left in the world. Authority is too much in the hands of the hypocrites and old men.

Regarding the Pacific Islands generally, it lies in the power of the Prince of Wales—and of him alone at present—to save countless lives, by issuing a manifesto to the natives under British rule on the subject of clothing (vide Chapter iii) in relation to Christianity. Is it too much to look to him for a lead?

VII

The salvation of the Samoans lies with themselves; provided they are given some respite from being harried as they are at present. They should insist on the withdrawal of the Chinese from their islands. They derive no benefit from the coolie-worked plantations, which could quite well be handled on contract by Samoan labour. Probably indeed the wisest thing the Samoans could do would be to let the beetle increase and wipe out the greater part of all the coconut-plantations. Mosquito-netting, knives, axes, and a few drugs are the only things they get from Europeans of any real use. If their islands become of no commercial value they will be left severely alone.

According to a recent newspaper report from New Zealand, "since the Mau proclaimed its policy of non-co-operation and non-recognition the Samoan people have been thrown back on their own recourses. The old social and economic system, which had shown signs of falling into desuetude under the exotic and artificial system New Zealand sought to impose, has been restored and now embraces nine out of every ten of the native population. The Matais are again in full authority as heads of their families and clans, and the younger generation which was tending to revolt against the old order of things is again willingly submitting to discipline and authority." This is indeed satisfactory news.

At the commencement of the world-war, Rupert Brooke remarked that there must be a handful of wanderers here and there who, among all the major conflagration and disasters of nations and continents, had felt the tug of the question, "What of Samoa?"

As long as the Samoans remain Samoans, that handful of wanderers will no doubt be found. They will also be sufficiently interested to try and lend a hand in hour of need. Once Samoa is denationalized—once her beauty fades—her last friend is lost. For love of Samoa is love of beauty, courtesy, mirth, and grace, with something slightly sinister beneath. In short, it resembles the love for a beautiful woman. The Samoans would do well to realize this. So soon as they depart from their old mode of life, their interest and nearly all their good points will be lost. They will stand alone in a harsh and unsympathetic world, and they will deserve their fate. They must cling to their old customs as they value their life.

In doing this they will not in any way be, as they have been stigmatized, "a backward race." They will be in the vanguard of the world's best thought. For it is "back to the sweetness it had destroyed, that ultimately the course of progress must return."

It has been depressing to see published a photograph of the Mau Committee dressed—doubtless in the hope of favourably impressing public opinion in New Zealand—in semi-European clothes. Stage your appeal instead to the world. If only you can preserve yourselves as you are, posterity may appreciate you. If you fail to do so something very fine will have been irretrievably lost. It rests with yourselves. Tagat 'uma lava Samoa silifia lelei.¹

The Scene At The Grave