New Government
p. 34 · Read in the full issue
Of Samoa
NZ and UNO Plans
rE plan for a new system of govern ment in Western Samoa, announced by the New Zealand Government on August 27, and reported in September “PIM,” has had a certain amount of attention during the month.
Speaking in the New Zealand Parlia ment on September 18, Mr. F. W. Doidge, MP, said that the Government had taken an extraordinary course in bringing down a plan for far-reaching political changes in Samoa, while conditions in Samoa were under review by a special mission of the Trusteeship Council, which had not yet delivered its report.
The NZ Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, replied at length to the criticism, but made no point other than saying that the NZ Government would welcome any recommendations made by the Trustee ship Council for an improved adminis tration, and the Government had in tended no discourtesy.
Mr. Doidge asked: Do you expect the Trusteeship Council’s mission to concur in the Government’s proposals?
Mr. Fraser: I cannot say. But I do not imagine that there will be any wide diversity of opinion.
The Government has not indicated the date of the introduction of the proposed legislation.
Local Reaction
¥¥7|HEN Lieut-Colonel F. W. Voelcker, TT Administrator of Western Samoa, was in New Zealand in September he discussed with the Prime Minister details of the plan for a larger measure of self-government for the Samoans.
It is expected that Samoan leaders will ask that this plan will not be put into operation until the report of the United Nations Commission on Samoa is pub lished.
Commendation By Mission
“fTIHE New Zealand Government has X done much for the people of Western Samoa, but much remains still un done, and if future progress is to be assured, fundamental changes will be in order,” said Mr. Francis B. Sayre, in an interview in New York on the work of the Trusteeship Mission, which he headed in Western Samoa.
“The New Zealand Government is con vinced of this, and the Prime Minister has already announced the Government’s desire to move forward.”
Mr. Sayre added that the mission’s re port was ready for printing and would be in the hands of Trusteeship Council members before the council session in November.