SAMOA'S DIFFICULTIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 293, 8 December 1923, Page 13

SAMOA'S DIFFICULTIES.

DRIFTING TO CHAOS. UNPROFITABLE PLANTATIONS .By G. E. L. WESTBROOK.) At the present time the serious economic outlook of Western Samoa overshadows all other queetious of the day (such as matters of representation and other questions of vital importance). When it was decided by the three Great Powers in 1900 that Germany should be awarded the control of Western Samoa, the people here settled down to an era of peaceful development of the country's agricultural resources, and outside capital commenced to flow into the new German Protectorate, and the future looked very promising. The peaceful development was interrupted by the war breaking out in 1914. It could not be expected that much, progress would be made by way of development during tbe period of the military occupation, as it stands to reason'that people would not invest money in a country or start plantations, as nobody was in, a position to guess at the time what eventually would be the fate of these islands. Would they go back to Germany, or would they come under British control? Such a condition as a mandate from a League of Nations had never been dreamt of. What is the result of the present system of control? Samoa to-day is iv a most pitiable condition, mostly brought about by want of ability and tact on the part of the politicians, who apparently were under the impression that they could govern a tropical country they knew nothing about from an office desk in Wellington, and unloaded machinery for administration of these small islands big enough to govern a country ten times their size. Rules and regulations were promulgated and enforced which retard and hamper natural progress, instead of advancing the interest* of the country, by making simple i laws suitable for a tropical island, and a small native race. Under the conditions of the mandate received from the League of Nations, New Zealand started out with every prospect of a successful project. There was a surplus in the Treasury taken over from the Germans, the Customs were in receipt of a large revenue, a sign manual of a prosperous condition in any country, and in addition the confiscated German properties, estimated at two millions or more, became State property. It is a well-known dictum that Governments are not competent to bring any business acumen to bear on any commercial concern or business. Thie has been proved conclusively in the case of the Crown Estates, which from affluence have descended to a state of financial chaos, showing heavy losses. We will admit that Xew Zealand has the interests of Samoa at heart, and has advanced large sums of money to assist the Administration of Samoa, but unfortunately the advances have been useless and futile, as there is apparently nothing to show how the country has "benefited by these advances, as at the present time there is a depleted treasury and very little money available to carry on the necessary public works, and in" place of tbe profits from the Crown Estates going towards increasing the revenue of the country, the reverse is the case. New Zealand taxpayers will in all probability have to din deeper yet into their pockets to maintain this costly "white elephant." The salaries by themselves, without tropical allowances, housing, furniture, and other expensive concessions paid to officials, ought to be ample for their support, now that the high costs of living have come down. An undercurrent of jealousy and discontent obtains, instead of tbe old free sociability: a tenseness is in the air, owing to the present gloomy outlook. There is added to tbis, loyalty to the new Administrator, who has proved himself to be of Bound material, and has won the respect and regard of everyone. Settlers anxiously await the result of bis visit to New "Zealand, trusting that good will accrue from it. Now I am on the subject of the Administrator, let mc emphasise tbe fact that residents of Samoa cither individually or collectively, have never been hostile to the Administration as an administration, but they certainly have been hostile to policies not advantageous to the development and progress of tbe country. There is a feeling still prevailing in Samoa that it would be better for tbe development of the Islands if all the Islands under the British flag were linked up into a confederation under one flag, and allowed to legislate according to their individual necessities.