'Guardians and Wards': a Study of the Origins, Causes, and the First Two Years of the Mau in Western Samoa

Abstract

What was the Mau? What were its origins and causes; how did it develop? Did Richardson cause the Mau or not? These were the main questions I set out to answer, if' I could. These questions forced me to examine the growth of discontent during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The growth of Samoan and European-part-European discontent is contained in Book One. Book Two is devoted to Richardson's Administration and the first two years of the Mau. While trying to answer the main questions, other questions kept intruding. Such as: What type of men were O.F. Nelson and Richardson? Were the 'myths' about these men true? Were the Samoans led 'astray' by Nelson? Were the Mau's criticisms of Richardson's Administration valid or not? Why did the Commission of 1927 dismiss Mau complaints as being of no consequence. One question led to another and so on. The thesis was getting beyond my control. So I ended it with an analysis of the 1927 Royal Commission. And was stranded with the major task of offering an 'interpretation' of the Mau.