First Legislative Council in Samoa

Members of the first Legislative Council of Western Samoa, c 1921.

The League of Nations confirmed New Zealand in its mandate over Western Samoa in 1920. The following year New Zealand passed the Samoa Act, which set out the constitutional and governmental structures for the mandated territory. Included in this was provision for a legislative council. The Samoa Act came into force on 1 April 1921. The President of the Legislative Council was Colonel Robert Ward Tate, who was New Zealand's Administrator of Western Samoa from 1919 to 1923.