1962: The Treaty of Friendship

August 3, 2022

By AHNZ

Samoans were having their own bloody equivalent of the Maori Musket Wars. And, in the same time period. Fierce tribe-on-tribe violence was curbed here, as in NZ, by independent Whalers and Missionaries after the 1830s. When it was safe, in came the politicians. The Great Powers of Germany, USA, and Britain divided up the islands formally in 1900.

Our State was very upset about the Great States doing this but eventually got its chance in August 1914 to make a “brave conquest” and take over German Samoa. New Zealand placed the Samoans under military rule and sometimes fired machine guns into unarmed protesters to show ’em who’s boss.

Nevertheless, the Western Samoans kept on pushing for freedom and home rule. Labour 1.0 rejiggered the matrix so it would feel as if they had it and that strung them along until 1962. In this year National 2.0 rejiggered the matrix again under the branding of the Treaty of Friendship.

“TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP SIGNED.—The New Zealand High Commissioner in Western Samoa (Mr J. B. Wright) and the Prime Minister of Western Samoa (Mr Fiame Mata’afa) signing the treaty of friendship between the two countries on August 1. The ceremony took place in the grounds of Vailima, formerly the home of Robert Louis Stevenson, and now the Samoan Government House.” – Press (1962,) Papers Past

“The New Zealand born Polynesians were disaffected youths. Their parents came here on a wave of 1950s immigration but the kids were not alright. Coming of age in the late 1960s they formed gangs and…” – 1971: Polynesian Panthers, AHNZ

“January 1971 “Ten years ago Otara existed only on paper. Today it houses a community of some 21,000 people – one third of them Polynesian…its production of youth gangs, suburban neuroses, vandalism, wife swapping, theft, rape delinquency…”” – 1952: The Otara Project, AHNZ

“From 1964 to 1965 over 2000 Western Samoans went to New Zealand to work on three-month or six-month visas. Because of a Treaty of Friendship signed with New Zealand at the time of independence they did not need to register as aliens.  There was plenty of well-paid factory work and the pace of emigration quickened in the later 1960s and 1970s.” – p77, Stenson (2006)

“The last time Ardern was in Samoa a few years ago, she was greeted by then Deputy PM Fiame Naomi Mata’afa – who has since been promoted to the top job after a new government was voted in last year….Before leaving the Whenuapai Airbase in Auckland, it was revealed that a special meaalofa (gift) would be presented to the Samoan PM as part of the visit….The gift is a series of photographs, including some of Fiame’s late father Fiame Mata’afa Faumuina Mulinu’u, taken 60 years ago when Samoa achieved political independence in 1962.” – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits Samoa to commemorate 60 years of friendship between nations, NZ Herald (1 August 2022)

This Friendship helped the over-populated and under-developed nation and it helped a New Zealand that had plenty of well-paid low-skilled work to offer. The State planted the seeds of future slums like Otara (Auckland) and gave them to the welcome visitors. Then, when the Golden Weather turned to recession the work-visa Samoans were viciously turned on by Labour 3.0 and National 3.0 in the 1970s with cruel Dawn Raids to enforce the law.

Now the Treaty of Friendship turns 60 there is risk to The State of losing its little annex to another Great Power (China.) That’s why Labour 6.0 and Opposition parties National and ACT are in Samoa now trying to put on a united front for The State to hold onto its 1914 prize.

—
Image ref. Prime Minister of Western Samoa (Mr Fiame M. Faumuina) and the New Zealand High Commissioner in Western Samoa (Mr J. B. Wright) signing the treaty at a flagcovered table. L. C. Mitchell, of Wellington. Ref. Press (1964,) Papers Past

Image ref. Samoan New Zealander, Jay Lagaia

Ref. Illustrated History of the South Pacific, Marcia Stenson (2006)

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