New Zealand's Opposition leader, Bill English, says he is surprised by reports that the Government is planning to apologize to Samoa for the failings of its early colonial administration.
He says he has not been briefed and says many in New Zealand's Samoan community have also queried what it is about.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark arrives in Samoa today for the country's 40th anniversary of independence.
She is expected to express regret that the colonial administration's incompetence allowed Spanish flu of 1918 to have a devastating impact on the islands.
Nearly a quarter of Samoa's population died.
She is also expected to refer to the shooting deaths of nine unarmed Mau demonstrators in 1929.
Mr English says it is complicated territory to get into.
"I have had many people from the Samoan community asking me what this is all about...they are much more focussed on their positive role in New Zealand than they are on that long standing history, so it is complicated territory to get into, I think here at the core of it, is that it is a good thing to acknowledge to the families who lost loved ones, and in the case of the shootings, that is quite specific, ah it is a good thing to acknowledge that to them and for those who have carried the burden I hope that some of the old wounds will be healed."
Bill English.
