WESTERN SAMOA

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 99, 21 January 1926, Page 5

WESTERN SAMOA

PROGRESS OF THE NATIVES WELL PLEASED WITH NEW ZEALAND RULE An interesting address on the progress which Western Samoa is making was delivered by Major-General Sir George Richardson, administrator of Samoa, at the New Zealand Club luncheon yesterday. Mr. W. A. Kellow presided.

General Richardson first thanked the people of New Zealand for the sympathy they had given to him in his work in endeavouring to uplift the Samoan race. Any doubts or suspicions the Samoan people may have had regarding New Zealand rule had been entirely removed by the visit of the Faipules to the Dominion. The Samoan chiefs had furnished a report to the speaker on their return, and they had been very impressed by the kindness they had received in New Zealand, and with the remarkable development the country had made They had been specially impressed by the water supplies and hy-dro-electric undertakings in the Dominion. Ope Faipule on his return to Samoa had encouraged the people of his village to save money in order to install a water supply. The Faipules placed Palmerston North and Auckland ahead of Wellington in the matter of city beautifying. * The New Zealand administration, he said, had not abolished Samoan rule in their own affairs. Twice a year koreros were held, in which the natives brought forward their own ideas. New Zealand took up the view that the Samoans should be allowed to work out their own destiny. - Had they attempted to alter the native system of government it would probably have led to discontent. Since New Zealand took over Samoa, forty schools had been opened, and owing to the good work done by the medical men there had been an increase iu population of 1300 per year. The New Zealand policy was to educate the Samoans and get them to develop their lands. The latter matter was difficult, as the lands were held under the communal system. Where the land was held under the communistic system, development was a very difficult problem. . With regard to trade, he said that the greater portion went to Great Britain. Copra was the principal product of the country, and about 16,000 tons were exported each year. Good quality cocoa, cotton, and rubber were other industries which were growing. If New Zealand wanted to help Samoa they should see that a fruit-carrying ship was provided to bring fruit from the islands to the Dominion. There was not a single fruit-carrving ship in the Pacific. New Zealand, Sir George Richardson concluded, was playing its part in Samoa. Though the islands might be something of a burden, the Dominion had a duty to perform in bearing their share in helping backward races.