Samoa, And Feeble

N.Z.

Position of the Administrator

(Thus the “New Zealand Herald”, commenting mildly upon a situation that is not only grotesque and politically scandalous—insofar that it re flects directly upon the ability of the New Zealand Government—but which also represents a de liberate cruelty to a fine type of public servant.) A MESSAGE from Apia announces that a record now stands to the credit of Mr - A. C. Turnbull, who has held the position of Acting-Administrator of the Mandated Territory of Western Samoa for three and a half years.

This may be a record for Mr. Turnbull but it is a record of an entirely different sort' for the Government—a record of indecision. The last Administrator wa/s Sir Herbert Hart, who retired from the position on July 25, 1935, during the life time of the Coalition Government. On several occasions the then Prime Minister, Mr. Forbes, was questioned concerning the choice of a successor to Sir Herbert, but before any decision was made the results of the 1935 elections removed the matter from his hands.

The question was then applied fairly diligently at intervals to Mr. Savage, but it seemed that Cabinet was never able to get round” to the question of con firming a competent official in a post which he was holding with ability, or else appointing a new man.

During the last three years, however, while Mr. Turnbull has continued in his temporary-permanent post, the Govern ment has recruited a young army of new directors, controllers, supervisors and com missioners, all of them very permanent Surely it is not too much to expect that Cabinet Ministers should have been able to spare sufficient time to define clearly the position of a man who has been dis charging for New Zealand an interna tional trust. Mr. Turnbull’s present title is nothing but a fiction.