Clench Bain
envolent,
The wordy
t
ship. hav
Befor
"treatment accorded by the law".
The law itself before enactment had been
submitted to and approved by Your Lordship. In fact, as
I have pointed out, the draft which had received approval
included under the definition of an "Assisted Emigrant"
any person already under a contract to labour, and it
was upon my own personal initiative that I erased these
93
words which the draft submitted before my arrival contained.
2
The Ordinance as encted received His Majesty's consent.
In these circumstances there appeared to be no grounds
for referring to Your Lordship for instructions, and no
obvious way in which I could refuse assent to the German
demand. I had however a misgiving as to the treatment
accorded to labourers in Samoa and I did not like the
methods which had been adopted by Dr Schultz.
But in this connection, and with reference
to your Lordship's allusions in paragraph 3 to the complaints
of continued ill-treatment I may observe that not only
had I the emphatic assurance of Consul Voretzsch that
the grounds for complaint had entirely ceased to exist,
but also in the Foreign office report on the trade of
Samoa (Diplomatic & Consular Series No. 4308 page 4) Mr
Consul Trood states that "the men
are well looked
after