FROM Serajevo to Samoa is a far cry indeed. Yet the tragedy which, on the morning of Sunday 28th June 1914, awed the people of the Bosnian capital and gave, to Imperial Germany her chance to strike for world power, soon produced a remote sequel by the reefs of Apia.

At first the news of complication in Europe disturbed the tenor of the little Samoan community, outside of officialdom, but slightly. The German Pacific Fleet had been expected on 27th July, preparation had been, made to welcome it with Apia's traditional hospitality, and its non-arrival was a matter of considerable disappointment. It was not, in the beginning, generally expected that Britain would intervene, and it was hoped that Samoa would be sufficiently protected by the Pacific Squadron of the German Navy to be free from danger. Among the Germans, at least, it was thought that the war would be short -that the speedy fall of Paris would bring a speedy peace.

For Germany was strong: her enemies were disunited and weak; she would quickly put forth her, great strength, and then it would all be over.

The news of the entry of Great Britain into the war reached Samoa and was proclaimed on 6th August, and it may safely be said that few Germans in Samoa regarded that event either lightly or with pleasure. Dr. Schultz, as Governor, notified Acting British Vice-Consul Trood that British subjects would not be interfered with. and that their properties would be protected, as long as they remained peaceful and neutral. The following day the British and Chinese Consulates issued a proclamation enjoining their respective nationals to maintain a peaceful and quiet attitude. Apia was specially policed and order was maintained.

In New Zealand the possibility of Britain's participation in a great European war sent a thrill through the country during the last days of July. As possibility grew to likelihood men instinctively began to wonder what their own share in the titanic struggle might be. On all sides there was a firm desire and determination to help. In the first days of August territorial units were offering volunteers. On Wednesday 5th August the Prime Minister moved in the House of Representatives "That in view of the fact that Great Britain has become involved in war with Germany, this House approves of the necessary steps being taken by the New Zealand Government to have in readiness an expeditionary force." All forces, he continued, sent from New Zealand must be volunteer forces, joined by the free will of the individual, to go abroad and fill the ranks when required. They should also recognise that whatever the number of men the Government fixed, it would be, as it were, oversubscribed by loyal and devoted men, not anxious to participate in war as war, but ready to the end to maintain the honour of the country to which they belonged. The sentiments of the Premier received the quiet “hear, hears" of the House, and the resolution was put and carried unanimously.

On the night of Thursday 6th August the Secretary of State in London cabled His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand as follows:-

If your Ministers desire and feel themselves able to seize German wireless station at Samoa we should feel that this was a great and urgent Imperial service. You will realise, however, that any territory now occupied must at the conclusion of the war be at the disposal of the Imperial Government for the purposes of an ultimate settlement. Other Dominions are acting on the same understanding in a similar way.”

It is almost needless to say that this cable was not published at the time. The acceptance was prompt. Men were immediately enrolled, and by 11th August a force of six nurses and fourteen hundred and four officers and men of various units, drawn chiefly from the towns of Wellington and Auckland, was complete with field and machine guns, and kits had been distributed. It was ordered to parade for a route march on Wednesday, the 12th, but was embarked in two troopships instead. Early on the morning of Saturday, the 15th, the expedition sailed, picking up its escort the following day. A north-westerly course seemed to indicate Australia but first call was made at Noumea in New Caledonia where H.M.A.S. Australia and Melbourne, and the French cruiser Montcalm joined the expedition, now consisting of six warships and two transports, which, under the command of Rear-Admiral Patey, then proceeded to Samoa via Fiji. On the night of 28th August it was off the south coast of Upolu, and early the following morning it was abreast of Apia.

To such a force there could be no suggestion of resistance from Western Samoa. The little cruiser Pyche entered Apia harbour; the channel was swept for mines; and from the Psyche a landing party under a flag of trace carried a letter from the Admiral demanding the surrender of town and territory. The demand was refused, but it was intimated that no resistance would be offered. Immediately the New Zealanders were disembarked and the town and wireless station seized and picketed. Next morning the Union Jack was formally hoisted by the Force Commander, Colonel Robert Logan of the N.Z. Staff. The seizure was effected entirely without fighting, but it was a good job and a neat performance. "We simply did what we were told to do” said Colonel Allen, Minister of Defence, in New Zealand the following day; “the future of the island rests with the Imperial authorities."

On Tuesday, 1st September, the warships put to sea, leaving the New Zealanders in occupation. Certain prominent officials, including Dr. Schultz, were sent to New Zealand as prisoner, of war.

Then commenced the varied delights of an Occupation. The troops were distributed to positions, and, as it was known that certain ships of the German Pacific Squadron were in the South Pacific, many military precautions were taken. The German Government officials refused, after consideration, to serve during the occupation except on behalf of Germany, and they were accordingly dismissed. Their places in the civil administration had to be filled from the Occupying Force and from local British residents.

The occupation at first was far from uneventful. On 14th September there arrived off Apia from the China station the two sister armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau each of 11,400 tons, of the German Pacific Squadron. One entered the harbour slowly. The troops ashore were at stations. For a time it was thought bombardment was imminent, but both ships steamed westward after a stay of from three to four hours off the port. From Mulifanua, scone twenty-four miles west of Apia, they were visited by two German planters who were afterwards transferred to New Zealand. The ships then steamed away to the north-west. They did not return. On September 22nd they shelled Papeete, and their subsequent battles and final destruction in South American waters are matters of greater history.

On September 23rd eleven German sailors, escaped from the interned Elsass at Pago Pago, put in at Apia in the ship's cutter under the mistaken belief that the place had reverted to German hands. They were promptly taken prisoners and later transported to New Zealand,

The Force soon settled down to a workaday life. The humour of the situation appealed to not a few and it quickly found expression in the publication of a newspaper, which, as “the unofficial organ of the Advance Party," was called The Pull-Thro, and which came out in six numbers with marked success. Some of the troops found local diversion, and some saw a good deal of the island of Upolu. But the game was by no means one long joy. The health of the troops around Apia suffered considerably from minor tropical ailments toward the end of the year. Skin troubles, dysentery, and fevers, to say nothing of monotony, began seriously to affect the men. Sanitary precautions were taken, but unquestionably better arrangements in camp-sites, clothing, and food, should have been made. Yet the spirit of the men continued high - in retrospect it seems wonderfully so. Save for one break from discipline on Christmas Eve - a relief from restraint which time makes ludicrous and for which the troops paid literally as well as figuratively - the conduct of the men was not only good but even gentlemanly. And this is a fact which reflects credit on their officers as well as on themselves.

In April 1915 the occupying troops were relieved by a much smaller garrison of men over military age. Colonel Logan remained as Administrator of the occupied territory with those of the original force who were performing civil duties in the military administration. The business of the occupants became that of continuing, under the Hague Convention, the government of the country under German law and as nearly as might be in accordance with the German pattern, and providing that government with the requisite military support. The precedents of departmental business were a heritage from the previous administration. It may be said, almost without denial, for it was as fully acknowledged by German as by Briton, that the departments of the government were, almost from their inception, running efficiently, and that the business of the country was carried on at least as promptly as before. To this end certain of the German officials had the wisdom to assist.

Towards the end of 1914 the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, which long had provided the only regular steam service to Apia, opened a branch there.

In 1915 the Bank of New Zealand also showed its enterprise by opening a branch. Thitherto banking methods had been unknown in Western Samoa; merchants however soon commenced to avail themselves of the institution; and the financial convenience afforded has proved a boon, not only to the community and the administration, but also to outsiders having business relations with Apia.

In 1915 also the German Firm was placed from New Zealand in military receivership, and in 1916 all other German trading concerns of any importance were closed, and their trade assets liquidated. By the end of 1916 German trade was broken, at any rate for the time being.

Long before 1915 had closed active war had passed Samoa by. In 1916 there was formed at Apia a volunteer company of British and Allied nationalities some eighty strong, and the services of this force have afforded considerable support to the security of the administration.

Little more remains to be said. There have been no native disturbances and no affairs of note. Indeed the day of native disturbance, where government is not unduly oppressive, has long gone by. Many questions of government and of military control have come up, and have been decided. Questions there are still; the labour question is acute. But the occupation is still in progress, its record is incomplete, and cannot in justice yet be accounted or criticised. In Western Samoa, as elsewhere, there are, people who are doing what they can to serve their country, as well as the land where they have found themselves, until the end and the outcome of the war.

The future of the territory is being decided upon the blood-stained fields of France. The end is not yet, but the result is clear. When sanity and decency shall have routed extravagance and oppression, when peace shall come to be decided upon a footing that can be permanent, of the multitudinous matters for debate possibly the least important of them all will be the disposition of Western Samoa. Three nations at least will have participation in claims to it, for it will be impossible that the American people should have no concern in the future of the group wherein they are already shareholders. Our own claims are large; every Briton will wish to see the flag remain. But if that is not to be, then the great Republic whose history and instinct have ever been the antithesis of Prussianism, as her greatness and virility will be its final doom, whose record in Samoa has been clean beyond question, can be trusted even as ourselves to secure in this remote portion of the earth the rationalism and liberty to which she and all bet Allies stand pledged.