A SAMOAN WAR RELIC

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 81, 5 April 1923, Page 8

A SAMOAN WAR RELIC

NATIVE PAPERS OF 1914.

A curious relic of German Samoa, was shown to a "Post" representative today. It consists of a number of copies of a monthly newspaper, "0 Le Savali," published'in the Samoan language, the first in the set being dated January, 1914. The numbers run in apparently placid sequence until August, 1914, 'but there was no September issue. In its place in the folio is a series of several official notices, consisting largely of war news received by wireless, and signed by "Sulusi"—that is, Dr. Schultz, the German Governor. The next regular number, exceptional in being printed on a smaller and thinner paper than the rest, is dated "Oketopa," and on. its first page is the Royal Arms of Britain, which has replaced the German symbol of the eagle. This, number contains an official notice signed by Colonel Robert Logan, as Governor of Samoa; and the series is resumed, to conclude in this set with the December issue. No doubt a translation of the journal would produce much useful information, especially to those interested in the history of the war. It is perhaps fortunate that these papers have been brought out of Samoa, for tile paper bears plain evidence of the destructiveness of the /damp tropical climate, and 60me marks of insect attacks, such as may make it difficult to keep papers in a readable condition for more than a few years.