Judge Ayson

His Record in Cook Is.

From Our Own Correspondent.

Rarotonga, June 16.

STRAWS showing the direction of public opinion have lately waved gently in the New Zealand press ahent the forth coming appointment of Administrator of Western Samoa.

The Christchurch “Times” pertinently points out that there are not in the Dominion many men with the necessary qualifications for this particular office.

The outstanding record of Judge Ayson, C.M.G., as Resident Commissioner of the Cook Islands is quoted as an example of what can be effected by a sympathetic and kindly, yet withal a firm and impartial, man at the head of affairs.

The inference is obvious. Samoa is a more important post—and that post will shortly become vacant.

We in Rarotonga have often wondered at the good fortune which has repeatedly left Judge Ayson among us. And now, again, with this appointment filling the official horizon, speculation is once more rife and local sentiment on the lines of the old song “We don’t want to lose you, but we think you ought to go!”

But whoever may ultimately become the new Administrator of Western Samoa does not detract from the interesting parallel provided by these two Adminis trations, both exercised over very similar peoples, but one having a history of con tinuous blundering, while the other is a chapter of beneficial rule and general contentment. Wherein did the former fail?

The answer, I think, lies principally in the personal equation.

No one who has not spent some con siderable time in a small, comparatively isolated Islands community can assess the importance or significance of the many tiny jealousies and infinitesimal clashing interests which make the path of an Administrator no easy road to travel.

For thirteen years Judge Ayson has successfully balanced the power of trader and planter, at the same time maintaining a frictionless relationship between the Administration and the native population.

Those—and they represent a very small minority indeed—who dislike the present regime, are apt to complain that it owes its smooth working to the principle of "'apres moi le deluge." On the other hand, deluges do not usually appear out of clear skies, and the best evidence of clear human atmospherics in the Cook Islands are the smiling faces and general appearance of well-being seen everywhere in these Islands after thirteen years of Judge Ayson’s uninterrupted authority.