Office.”

“Hand Samoa Over to Colonial Office.”

The following- letter from Mr. Ernest Davies, a leading merchant and public man in New Zealand, was published in the Auckland “Star” on August 17; While I was in Fiji recently I had numerous opportunities to discuss with prominent persons the subject of our administration of Samoa.

The view that the islands should be handed over to the Colonial Office was almost universal.

While people were not ready to discuss our Samoan troubles, the unmistakeable impression I gained, was that New Zealand had failed and was continuing to fail because we could not sup ply trained administrators, nor could we supply civil servants trained to handle a native race.

The natural corollary to this was that the Mandated Territory of Samoa should be handed to the Colonial Office in Downing Street to govern.

The Colonial Office has trained officials to call upon, and moreover I believe the Samoans themselves would prefer to be governed direct from Downing Street and not by New Zealand, which admittedly has been looked upon by the natives with such disfavour.

The impressions I gai.ed in Fiji and from people recently returned from Samoa are that this disfavour continues and I think New Zea land would be well advised to ask the Colonial Office to take over the administrations of the Western Samoan Territory.