VIII

On the following day was examined the report of the three experts on finances and staffing, which had been appended to the annual report.

There was much moaning from the Mandates Commission over its embarrassing position.

"Mlle Dannevig said that she had first become a member of the Mandates Commission in June 1928, and had listened then with an open mind to the statements made by Sir James Parr and General Richardson. She had received the impression that the administration of Western Samoa might be weak, but that it was honest and in good hands, that the complaints made by the petitioners were unfounded, and that the Mau was misled by persons who were not disinterested. She had been very much astonished when she was told officially some months afterwards that these complaints as regards extravagance and lack of efficiency of the administration were well founded, and she wondered how it had been possible for General Richardson, the actual Administrator of the territory, to ignore these facts. She also wished to know, concerning the severe sentence which had been passed on Mr. Nelson, whether the opinion of the Mandates Commission on that point also would have to be revised.

"Sir James Parr thought that Mlle Dannevig's statement was too sweeping. The only point on which the opinion of the page 264Mandates Commission must be revised concerned details of finance and administration. The main issue had not been changed at all by the report of the three Civil Servants. He pointed out that General Richardson had come to the table of the Mandates Commission to explain the whole position. At that time, when questioned concerning his staff, he had given them all the highest character. The Mandates Commission had had the opportunity to judge the worth and sincerity of what General Richardson had said and to form its opinion accordingly."

In due course the following report—from which I have omitted nothing material—was sent to the League Council:

"The Permanent Mandates Commission had before it at its present session (I) the annual report of the mandatory Power for the year 1928-29, and (2) a report forwarded by the New Zealand Government on various financial and staff matters, drawn up by three high officials who, under instructions from the mandatory Power, visited Samoa at the end of the year 1928. This latter report was generally approved by the New Zealand Government.

"The Permanent Mandates Commission encountered a real difficulty in forming a judgment upon the actual situation in the territory, since the two reports before it expressed very different estimates of the local administration.

"The report for 1928-29, like previous annual reports, though admitting the unsettled conditions of the country, is written in a general spirit of optimism. The special report of inquiry, on the other hand, is extremely critical of the whole administration of the territory and of its finances.

"While greatly appreciating the frankness shown by the publication of this special report of inquiry, the Permanent Mandates Commission deeply regrets the state of affairs which it reveals—a state of affairs which is described by the three commissioners in very severe terms.

"The Permanent Mandates Commission also noted, on various points, a discrepancy between the report of the Royal Commission appointed in 1927 and that of the three special commissioners. The conclusions at which the Permanent Mandates Commission arrived last year were thus based upon incomplete information.

"The Permanent Mandates Commission is of opinion that page 265there is no reason to modify the view expressed by it during its thirteenth session, viz. that there was no evidence of policy or action contrary to the mandate on the part of the mandatory Power. On the other hand, the New Zealand Government appears to accept the new report of inquiry as presenting an accurate picture of the state of affairs prevailing in Samoa, and therefore to admit that some of the charges of inefficiency which have been made are at least partially justified. The good intentions of the Administration and its efforts in matters of public health, education, and the economic development of the territory are not questioned, but it is now clear that the methods of recruiting officials have not been satisfactory from the beginning. Moreover, the financial control exercised in the first instance by the Administrator himself and, in the second instance, by the New Zealand Government, has been deficient….

"The Commission expresses the earnest hope that the annual reports of the mandatory Power will, in future, be such as to allow it to form a true opinion of the whole administration, and so to avoid the painful surprise which it experienced this year in considering the report of the administrative experts."