Abstract
As secretary of state for the Colonies Lewis Harcourt had had plenty of opportunity to learn the strength of New Zealand hostility towards Asian immigration. When therefore in March 1915 he was asked by the Governor for advice as to the terms on which the Government of Hong Kong would allow indentured coolies to be recruited for Samoa the irony of the request did not escape him. ‘I should not be sorry’, he minuted grimly, ‘to see N.Z. pressing me to find coloured labour for a potential N.Z. possession.’
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