SAMOA.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 172, 22 July 1922, Page 5

SAMOA.

IMPRESSIONS OP -WTEIJCINGTOH VISITOR. SOCV-ETHICNG OF ITS TRADE. FINANOEAiL POSnTON "VERY SATB-^AOTORY.*' Mr. J. L. Arcus, the well known auditor and accountant, has returned to Wellington after visiting Samoa at the instance of the New Zealand Givernrrent for the purpose of auditing the Administration accounts and overhauling the finance of the Crown estates. The=e are the plant itions taken over from German settlers and the DJL and P.G.. which are now being run by the Government, witri ...r. C /irley (an Anstra : ian) as a kind of general manager. As far as those estate were concerned, said Mr. Arcus yesterday, there was not a great deal doing just now owing to the low price of copra, but they were being kept in good orricr, and were first-rate properties. The D.H. and P.G. trading stations —which had been offered for sale by the Government—were si-fcn-ated in the most advantageous positions, always where tbe native*; we; c thickest, and the fixings were all up to date and in good order. Each of th" plantations had been placed in charge'of an Englishman, and Mr. S. J. Collins, formerly of Wellington, was in Samoa, arranging a complete system of cost accounts, so that the cost of every ban- of copra would be accurately known in the future, which had not been the case in the past. "The native Samoan prefers not to work on Government or private plantations," Mr. Arcus said, "but relief has been given by the importation of 2000 Chinese—in two lots—who, with th° assistance of those Solomon Isl: nd boys who did not wish to be repatriated when their terms were up, are f :rnlshrag the labour retrnired to r"-_j> the eccoanut pl.trifctt.ons i-i r-i*|r. The Chinese are in charge of a Mr. North, who has ben lent to the Administration by the British I Gmrern-nent, because of his knowledge of i the Chinese dialects and their charac-

ter." THE TASK SYSTEM. "When in Samoa in 1i>19," continued Mr. Arcus, "I thought T perceived weaknesses, not in the labour, but in how the labour was used. The men worked all right, but twelve men were used where four men and a machine would serve. This was the German way. Now all tlrt ii irradually bein°r changed. On the big 'Mulifanua station, and elsewhere, the task system has been employed with -rood results. Under this avstem daily frisks are set the coolies, and as soon as these are done they can knock off, or go tc work on their own IWtle patches ol ground. 'Man-y of them welcome the idea, and in the time at their disposal prow vejretables, for which there is a read} market in Apia. The task system ha. meant an increase in efficiency of 50 pel cent. In addition to this, rn3-.hil.ery i= beirtsr introo-ireed. A coc:>an;:-t tree drop; a nut a day. and these used to be picke. up either with an ox-drawn or £ donkey with panniers. _so-y ' _ ljttl< motor truck poes the daily round of tN plantation, and brings the nn'ts in. TM; irroden-isimr 0 f working methods is Mni to be the saviour of Samoa, in th future." THE Tx-WS OF INDUSTRY. Three years ago Mr. Arcus found il difficult to purchase any native-madi Samoan fancywork. Last year th. position was much better, and this yea: there was an increase of 100 per cent on last year, an indication that th< Samoan.. were out to make money. An other significant thing was. that thong! the price of copra was low last yeai the output and export was a record This was excellent for the Administra tion, as there was an export duty of £1 per ton on copra. Tt meant that the natives were at work, though the return was not considerable. This year's out put was likely to exceed that of last year.

Copra, be explained, bad no season. A ;ocoimt tree bore about 50 nuts a year, and they dropped off whenever "ripe. Nuts for copra were never picked off the tree, but were gathered from the ground, .aken to central places, where hot-air kilns were provided. There the fibrous husk was torn off, the nut cracked, and with a special kind of knife, the milky kernel was scooped out on to large' trays. and placed in the kilns. The shell and the fibre were tossed aside to be used as fuel for the kiln fires; but there was so much of it that the furnaces could not consume it ail, and great heaps of it had to be burned from time to time. That seemed to iie a lamentable waste, as the fibre at all events was serviceable if the shell was not. Tbe native Samoans who grew coconuts on their own ground did not go in for kilns. but sun-dried the copra. In this way it was preserved right enongh. .but it was not so good as the kiln-dried article, and never brought the same price. Samoan copra was the best. The quote for Fiji, noted at Suva, was £13 10/ per ton for Fijian, and £9 10/ for Tongan. whilst Samoan kili-dricd copra was fetching £15 on the beach. .Another new feature of the tradr- was that the copra was now being chipped direct to London. The Clan _vTeTnnc«=i was at Apia when Mr. Arcn= was thcr". and he met the ?ami? steamer at Nukualofa, filling up with copra, from which a _oo<i deal of margarine was now mrul'v POSSIBLE BAN-ANA TRADE. Considering how easily Tiananns can be grown in Samoa. Mr. Arcus is convinced that >Tew Zcaland«rs pay f-ir tr><-; much for them here. A banana tree, hi says, only lasts a year—then it dies down, and round the old trunk spring up half a dozen little ones, which arc taken up and planted out in rows. In six months' time they begin to bear fruit, nnd continue to do so for some months. Thus, big plantations could lie ireated and exporting within nine months —if there were markets for the fruit. The Xavua. by which lie travelled to Auckland, brought down 10.Sim cases of bananas from Fiji instead .if the usual 18.000 or 20.000 cases— and very poor nualitv fruit it was. This was owing to somo blight that was affecting the trees in Fiji, a blight that was unknown in Samoa. If a direct service was established between Samoa and New Zig-land this country could easily takr its _0.()U0 cases per month. But what was happening now? We wr-r" taking inferior Fiji bananas, whilst Fiji was buying all the goods she wanted in Australia (which had ta.vi-il !"-r bananas in orrl.-r to benelit t':os- grown in Queenslandi. Thi.3 wns how Australia was scoring against New Zealand all the time.