IMPRESSIONS OF SAMOA

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21004, 4 November 1933, Page 15

IMPRESSIONS OF SAMOA

(srecut.LT writteh ion TR« TRESS.) IBy W. 11. MONTGOMERY. ]

Pago Pago, the American naval station on the island of Tutuila in the Samoan Group, is a port of call for the steamers of the Matscn Line on their way to San Francisco. The harbour is one of the beauty spots of the Pacific. The lofty and precipitous mountains which surround it, covered with dense tropical forest, call up memories of our West Coast sounds. One wonders whether the famed hanging gardens of Babylon could have been a greater delight to the eye. The passengers have a few hours to wander on shore, to buy curios, and to visit the native villages round the beach. Those of us who were going on to Apia, 80 miles away, had to wait for one of the smaller steamers, which make the voyage by night. We were fortunate in obtaining a passage on the Makoa—relatively fortunate, that is; for she was by no means a luxury liner. There were 14 of us, and the accommodation consisted of one cabin, already occupied by giant cockroaches, and one deck chair. The night soon came on. We lay in heaps on the deck, which was very hard, and watched the stars slowly moving across the sky as the ship rolled from side to side. As the day broke we welcomed the low hills of Western Samoa and reached the roadstead of Apia after a passage of 14 hours. An unpleasant experience, certainly, but a luxury compared with a voyage in the "still smaller steamer. I know, because I came back to Pago in that evil smelling, uncomfortable gasolene tug which does not possess a cabin or even a chair, and where you are lucky if .you can lie down on a small hatchway, half suffocated by petrol fumes. Visitors to Samoa should be warned of the horrors of this passage. It would save them no little misery to commit suicide before Starting. The lure of the luxury liner's calling at Pago makes one forget that the Maui Pom are goes direct to Apia every month. Politics. Apia is the only town of Western Samoa, our Pacific mandate. It seems to be the purpose of the few hundred of white officials, traders, and planters who live there to give the 38,000 natives an object lesson in British respectability. The administrative officers, like Agag, walk delicately with self-conscious steps, feeling that their actions, however well intentioned, are sure to be adversely criticised by ill-informed New Zealand, legislators. or may even come under the glare of the •searchlight of the League of Nations. Perhaps it is for this reason that there is a noticeable absence of militarism. I did not see an officer in uniform, except an occasional policeman. during the month of my visit. The natives must find this strange after the German occupation, which was essentially military. An effort is evidently being made to respect the rights and customs of the natives and to make the administration a model one. But there is no intention of assimilating the two races. The colour line is distinctly drawn. If you are a white man you wear a solar hat and a collar and tie with a white suit; the Samoan wears a lava lava round his waist and sometimes a singlet. The friendliness of intercourse | which exists in New Zealand' between the Maori and the pakeha does not seem to have its counterpart in Samoa. One hears in a vague manner that the Home Rule asnirations represented bv the "Man" though smothered for the time being, con'inue to smoulder :-,nd mnv p«ssihlv blaze up acain; but no one who has not been at least 10 years in the country is competent to express a reliable opinion on this delicate subject. and old residents nr<> discreetly reticent. I met Mr O. F. Nelson, who has recently returned. He said that the weather was unusually fine, and that the price of copra was unfortunately low. Local politics annarently did not interest him. There seemed a general opinion among both natives and Euroneans that the successive Administrators had each in his way tried to do his best in difficult circumstances and with limited powers; but that it was impossible for anyone during a short term of office to gain sufficient knowledge of native customs to ensure continuity of policy. The personality of Lord Bledisloe during his recent visit and the _ interest he showed in native affairs created a very favourable impression among the natives with whom he came in contact.

Churches and Missionaries. The days are gone by when the devoted forerunners of the Church who visited the Pacific were regarded by the warlike islanders as an 'interesting change of diet. Samoa is now a land of churches and missionaries. Religion in its many forms has been absorbed by the natives and now forms the main basis of their national life. The L.M.S. (London Missionary Society) being first in the field have the moSt adherents; but many other sects flourish. In Pago I am told that one may not only find the adherents of Aimce McPherson, but also the rival sect, called the "sDlit." But there is no Salvation Army, though it would be immensely popular. The Samoans have become a nation of church builders. They live in trim and tidy villages along the one road which goes half round the island. There is intense rivalry between these village communities, which takes the form of competition in church building, promoted (it is hinted) by traders who supply suitable material. It is a strange sight to see a dozen or two of native houses surrounding several gigantic, more or less white churches belonging to diiferent sects. Thus there are no fewer than 63 churches to be seen on the 23 miles of road between Apia and Mulifanua. Unfortunately, the size of a church appeals more to the native eye than the beauty of its architecture. Hence there are many pretentious buildings which can only be described as tawdry. Western Samoa is a prohibition country—officially, at any rate. At Vailima, the Governor's residence, the King's health is drunk in lemonade. There is, however, a wonderful elasticity in the phrase "medical supplies"; and now any white person who considers that his health needs stimulants can obtain them without difficulty. On the other hand, all the whites agree that alcohol is a rank poison for Samoans. There are few attractions for tourists in Sanqoa. Beautiful as it is, it lacks the dharm of the less respectable, more interesting Tahiti. There is no harbour like Papeete, with its blue lagoon, its white copra boats and yachts, and its splendid esplanade along the waterfront. But Samoa has