A. C. Turnbull

Overdue Appointment as Administrator of Samoa

From Our Own Correspondent APIA, March 7.

THE Prime Minister of New Zealand (Mr. Peter Fraser), announced on February 22, that Mr. A. C. Turn bull, who has been Acting Administrator of Western Samoa since 1935, has been, at long last, appointed Administrator of Western Samoa.

At the same time, Mr. Fraser expressed his Government’s appreciation of the loyal and efficient service that Mr. Turn bull had rendered during the 8 years he has been acting as Administrator.

Prior to his appointment in 1930 as Secretary and Deputy-Administrator of Samoa, Mr. Turnbull held a number of important positions in the Public Ser vice. He was chief accountant in the Lands and Survey Department, which he joined as a cadet in 1899, and inspector of that department from 1915 to 1919.

Then he became Secretary of the Public Service Commissioner’s Office. ‘‘The qualities of tact, patience and sound judgment which Mr. Turnbull has displayed through a most difficult period,” said the NZ Prime Minister, ‘‘would, the Government was convinced, be of the utmost value and importance in the days ahead.”

It seems somewhat strange that it has taken the New Zealand Government eight years to come to the conclusion that Mr. Turnbull is the right man for the job, and that he is deserving of pro motion. It may be pointed out, also, that, at the time of the appointment, a news paper controversy was raging in New Zealand concerning the resignation from the Cabinet, of Mr. J. Langstone. During this political wrangle, Mr. Langstone stated that the position of Administrator of Western Samoa had been offered to him several years ago by the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr. Savage, but that, for some reasons of his own, he had refused the appointment.

Neither Europeans nor Samoans have always seen eye-to-eye with Mr. Turn bull’s policy in Samoa, but it must be acknowledged that his limited powers as "Acting” Administrator, plus the interfer ence of Wellington officialdom, probably did not allow him to exercise his personal judgment in decisions which were criticised in Samoa.

During Mr. Turnbull’s period of office, the Territory has been through some very difficult years. Samoan products were practically unsaleable in 1941—and, in fact, right up until the outbreak of the Pacific war—and the Acting Administrator did all that it was possible to do. He adopted a policy of appeasement, and tried to steer the Administration and the country through the economic crisis with the minimum of trouble and suffering.

The most pressing problem at the present time is the shortage of plantation labour. The Administration is doing its best to solye this by obtaining labour from the Tokelau group and from Niue.

EDITORIAL NOTE.—An outspoken article about the Administratorship of Western Samoa, and the very unfair treatment of Mr. Turnbull, was published in the March issue of the “PIM.” At that time, so infrequent is the mail ser vice at present between New Zealand and Australia, we were not aware that Mr.

Langstone had already retired from the New Zealand Cabinet, and the new Prime Minister (Mr. Peter Fraser) at last had remedied a grievous wrong by appointing Mr. Turnbull to the position he has occupied with success for several years.

We have nothing to retract or explain, however —the whole chain of facts and attendant circumstances, well known to the people of Western Samoa, speak for themselves.

The appointment of Mr. Turnbull is thoroughly well deserved. The elements of a political explosion were still present in Samoa when he took charge there. The prompt action of the new New Zealand Labour Government in stopping the persecution of Mr. Nelson and giving the powerful Mau community a voice in administrative affairs, undoubtedly con tributed most to the pacification of Samoa.

But much of what Wellington tried to do might not have been achieved had there not been at Vailima a man of Mr. Turn bull’s extraordinary patience and tact. It is great testimony to his patience that he was able to carry on, not only under circumstances of acute economic diffi culty, but also with the knowledge that his post of Acting-Administrator was held entirely on sufferance from a coterie of professional politicians.

Mr. Turnbull still is young enough to give Samoa much useful service, under present wartime conditions, and under the very dangerous conditions which prob ably will follow the war.

Mr. A. C. Turnbull.