5.
This is one of the hard facts of life on which enthusiastic
administrative Officers sometimes stub their more ambitious
toes.
It is heartening to hear that members of the Council
appreciate the value, and indeed the necessity, of this preliminary research.
I should like to thank the distinguisned representative
of India for the interesting and illuminating statement that
he made yesterday afternoon.
I assure the distinguished re-
oresentative that his views and suggestions will be carefully
studied by the Administering Authority and Samoan leaders.
is not quite accurate, however,
simply to say,
It
as I understood
nim to say, thot the administering Authority is activated by 4
desire to unload its responsibilities and the Samoans refuse to
pick them up.
The vosition is rather that the Administering
Authority, recognizing its obligations under the Trusteeship
Agreement, wishes to give .estern Samo2 self-government in
the best form, and by the best method possible, and the Samoan
leaders are vondering on exactly wnat is the best form for
them, or what is the best way to obtain it,
Like so many of us
they may, ss suggested, display at times a desire to both have
their cake and eat it - they seem sometines to want self-govermnment with New Zealand conveniently handy to assist with advice
and, perhsos, to assist in more positive ways if anything goes
wrong.
But they must, I agree, face up to the fact that power
carries with it responsibility.
In the light of the Trusteeship
Agreement, the administering Authority has to take care not to
throw out the baby without his clothes,
It cannot simply clear
out - it has serious obligations which it must discharge responsibly.
The remarks made by the distinguished representative of
India concerning institutional reforms and self-administration
were most thought-provoking.
It is hoped and expected that
some institutional reforms will be one outcome of the reconmendations of the Constitutional Convention.
9001030
As far as self-
administration is concerned, I should draw the attention of the
distinguished representative to my explenatory statement made
in
.