Territory of Western Samoa
Territory of Western Samoa Teritori o Sāmoa i Sisifo (Samoan) | |||||||||
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| 1920–1962 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms
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| Anthems: "God Defend New Zealand" (Samoan: Le Atua Puipui Niu Sila) "God Save the Queen"[a] (Samoan: Faasaoina e Atua le Tupu) | |||||||||
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| Status | Class C League of Nations mandate of New Zealand (1920–1946) Trust Territory of New Zealand (1946–1962) | ||||||||
| Capital | Apia 13°50′S 171°45′W / 13.833°S 171.750°W | ||||||||
| Common languages | English (official) Samoan (native) Austronesian languages Papuan languages | ||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||
• 1920–1936 | George V | ||||||||
• 1936–1936 | Edward VIII | ||||||||
• 1936–1952 | George VI | ||||||||
• 1952–1962 | Elizabeth II | ||||||||
| Administrator | |||||||||
• 1914–1919 | Robert Logan | ||||||||
• 1919–1923 | Robert Tate | ||||||||
• 1923–1928 | George Richardson | ||||||||
• 1928–1931 | Stephen Allen | ||||||||
• 1931–1935 | Herbert Hart | ||||||||
• 1935–1946 | Alfred Turnbull | ||||||||
• 1960–1962 | Jack Wright | ||||||||
| Historical era | British Empire | ||||||||
| 30 August 1914 | |||||||||
• Established | 17 December 1920 | ||||||||
• Trusteeship | 13 December 1946 | ||||||||
• Independence | 1 January 1962 | ||||||||
| Currency | Pound sterling (1914–1930) New Zealand pound (1930–1962) Western Samoan pound (1930–67) | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Samoa | ||||||||
The Territory of Western Samoa was the civil administration of Western Samoa by New Zealand between 1920 and Samoan independence in 1962.[2] In 1914, German Samoa was captured by the Samoa Expeditionary Force shortly after the outbreak of World War I, and was formally annexed as a League of Nations mandate in 1920 in the Treaty of Versailles. It was later transformed into a United Nations Trust Territory following the dissolution of the League of Nations in 1946.[3][4]
History
[edit]Occupation of German Samoa in World War I
[edit]
At the outbreak of World War I German Samoa was a German colony. On 7 August 1914, the British government indicated to New Zealand (which was at this time a British dominion), that the seizure of a wireless station near Apia, the colony's capital which was used by the German East Asia Squadron, would be a "great and urgent Imperial service".[5] This was followed by the first action of New Zealand in the war, the sailing of a Samoa Expeditionary Force on 15 August, which landed at Apia two weeks later. Although Germany refused to officially surrender the colonies, no resistance was offered and the occupation took place without any fighting. Despite claims that German Samoa was the first enemy territory to fall to imperial forces, the first seizure of a German colony had occurred four days earlier when Togoland was captured as part of the West Africa Campaign.[6]
Colonel Robert Logan, who had commanded the Samoan Expeditionary Force, was the military administrator of the colony for the remainder of the war.[7] By 1918, Samoa had a population of some 38,000 Samoans and 1,500 Europeans.[8] Approximately one fifth of the population died in the Influenza epidemic of 1918–1919.[9] In 1919, The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Epidemic concluded that there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the SS Talune from Auckland on 7 November 1918, which was allowed to berth by Logan without quarantine precautions. Within seven days of this ship's arrival influenza had become epidemic in Upolu and had then spread rapidly throughout the territory.[10]
Mandate
[edit]On 17 December 1920, the League of Nations formally conferred a Class C Mandate over the former German Colony of Samoa to the Dominion of New Zealand.[11][12] The mandate was supported by the Samoa Constitution Order, 1920, which had replaced the military occupation with a civil administration on 1 May 1920.[11][13] On 1 April 1922, the Samoa Act 1921 came into force.[14]
Under the Samoa Act the New Zealand Governor-General appointed an administrator based in Apia to hold executive power and to report to the New Zealand Minister of External Affairs in Wellington; lawmaking power was held by the administrator and a local legislative council, although Wellington had final authority.