CONDITIONS IN SAMOA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 207, 1 September 1932, Page 3

CONDITIONS IN SAMOA.

COPRA INDUSTRY SLACK,

ALL REVENUES AFFECTED,

(By Telegraph.—Presi Association.)

WELLINGTON, Wednesday.

The Samoan correspondent of the Press Association, writing from Apia on August 18, said:—-Samoa, like the neighbouring islands, ie feeling the effects of the low prices received for copra. Until there is an increase no marked improvement in the trade can be looked for.

Most of the copra is produced from native plantations, and at the preeent prices the natives are inclined to "sit down on the job." They are not cutting out the quantity they would do if prices •were better.

Retail storekeepers in Apia and the managers of trading stations outside are complaining of the lack of business. The Administration also suffere, as the main source of ite revenue—the Customs —is adversely affected. Merchants still are restricting buying, with the result that imports have fallen and are likely to go lower. Cocoa prices remain fairly firm, but production is small —not nearly sufficient to offset the loss in the production of copra. The depression experienced in other countries has not been felt to nearly the same extent in Samoa. Few Europeans are out of work, and the Samoane can never be classed as unemployed. When the class of work they are engaged in is slack they go back to the villages and plantations, where there always are sufficient native foods. There is little chance of them ever having to face starvation, either through want or climatic conditions.