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Not An Appeal By Catholic Church Move for Secondary School In Samoa Is Explained

Letter to the Editor IN your March issue, an article entitled “Too Many White Collar Aspirants” discusses certain aspects of our edu cational problems in Western Samoa.

As to the first part of the article, I do not wish to make any comment, either for or against. However, the exaggera tions and errors of your anonymous con tributor in reference to the Catholic Mission call for a statement of the facts.

At the present time, the Catholic Mis sion has no Secondary School in Samoa.

The only Catholic Mission school which approaches Secondary standard is the Commercial School, conducted by the Sisters in Apia. Furthermore, the Catholic Mission has not made any de mand from anybody for “a large sum for the maintenance” of such a school.

The statement, that the Catholic Mis sion “has been appealing to the Samoans to agree to pay a special tax of 10/- per annum for a Matai (chief) and 5/- for a Taulealea (commoner) to help the Catholic High School,” is false. No such appeal has been made by the Catholic Mission, either directly or indirectly.

The matter has not even been mentioned in our Samoan monthly paper. It has never been referred to from the Cathedral pulpit here in Apia, nor has there been any appeal made in any Catholic church in an outside district.

It is a fact that an appeal is being made at present by the Samoans them selves, but the Catholic Mission is in no way responsible for this appeal. The Samoans themselves launched it on their own initiative.

THE NZ Government has been provid ing scholarships for secondary edu cation in NZ, but the Samoans wished to have facilities for such educa tion available here in Samoa. There fore, in July of last year, they approached Brother Borgia, the provincial of the Marist Brothers, asking him to open a secondary school in Samoa.

The Hon. Fautua invited the Brother Provincial to go to Lepea to discuss the matter with representatives of all West ern Samoa who were at that time meet ing in Lepea. The Brother Provincial met the chiefs and agreed to the proposal, but stated that he could not undertake to provide the building as the Marist Brothers were already launching out on a building programme of additions to the present primary school, and also propos ing to rebuild their residence, a dilapi dated wooden building which has been their home for the past sixty years!

In reply to this statement the chiefs accepted the Brother Provincial’s offer and declared that they would help to finance the project—i.e., they would take steps to provide both school building and accommodation for the additional num ber of brothers which would be necessary.

His Lordship Bishop Darnand was in formed of the desire of the chiefs, and agreed to the acceptance of the new school by the Brother Provincial.

This is the sum total of the activity of the Catholic Mission in this matter: the acceptance by the Brother Provincial of the request, on the terms stated above, and the agreement of the Bishop.

The Samoans then conducted the ap peal on their own initiative. They dis cussed it among themselves and, at a meeting in November, decided on a levy of 10/- per Matai and 5/- per taulealea, for this one year. This was their own arrangement, in accord with their customs, and is entirely their respon sibility.

The proposed school, of course will be conducted on the lines always by the Brothers in Apia-te., open to

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the whole of one of his broadcast speeches to c th< ; JJ p P ea lL ft ter P nf Rt r elision education. He reminded Samoa that it was hig Qwn fami i y which had receiyed LMS Missionaries in 1830— referring

to this fact to emphasise his statement that the School Appeal was not being made by any mission, but was an appeal by the Samoans for the welfare of Samoa.

Likewise, the Fono of Faipule, when they met after Easter, discussed this matter among themselves, as something which was their own affair. They even made arrangements with the Adminis tration to use the facilities of Radio 2AP to urge some districts to complete their collections as soon as possible.

IP you wonder why the Samoans have taken their request to the Marist Brothers I would merely suggest that it is because of the record of the Brothers in Samoa.

A very large proportion of both the local European and the Samoan em ployees of the Government and private business firms are Old Boys of the Marist Brothers’ School, as are a num ber of native Pastors of the Protestant

Missions in Samoa. The Hon. Fautua, and tour ox the five members of the new Legislative Council, are also Old Boys of the School. The Catholic Mission, through the Marist Brothers, gives them, by its educational record, the feeling of permanence and satisfactory service which they desire. !f your anonymous contributor had wished t° do so, he could have learned that the Catholic plan” exists only in his imagination. The Catholic Mission did not suggest it, nor has it taken any s J e P s to further it, beyond agreeing to staff the proposed school. The Catholic Mission has made no appeal, because this is a Samoan affair, not a Catholic one I am, etc.,

S. J. Bourke. Sm.

Apia, May 6, 1948.