SAMOAN PROGRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 1, 3 January 1927, Page 8

SAMOAN PROGRESS

ADDRESS BY ADMINISTRATOR

CHANGES /UNDER BRITISH' RULE.

(Bj Telegraph.—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, This Day

A fono of Faipules opened at.Mulinuu on 7th December. The Administrator of Samoa, Sir G. Richardson, addressed the assembled chiefs. In referring t6 the recer»fc outbreak of dysclitry/ and prompt treatment by the doctors, nurse 3,: and villages committees v)flich enabled the outbreak to be overcome in a cbmimratively short time, His Excellency pointed put that the lesson to bo learned was that by good sanitation, clean villages, and proper precautions, sickness can be controlled. Reference was made to the measles which appeared in one village— By prompt action the village was isolated and the disease did not spread. Yaws and hookworm, treatments had been carried out in. every district in Samoa, and will have to be continued for some time before ■ these diseases can be fully controlled. Forty-nine Samoan nurses had been, trained during the year, said His Excellency. There were'now fourteen dispensaries round the islands, and fourmore will be opened in 1927. Two Samoan boys were being trained in Fiji to qualify as doctors and two more boys will go to^Fijinext month for the same purpose. In the coming year it is proposed to make a Samoan village and plantation near the Apia Hospital for the convenience of relatives of Samoan patients. Reference was made to education and the great progress in the last four years. There were now 46 schools in bainoa under Government teachers, with a roll of 1900. Pour years ago the pupils numbered 100. Education was now on definite progressive lines. Children started in the village school, went from there to a grade 2 school, and then passed into the Government schools at Malita, Avele, and Vaipouli, where they can qualify for appointment as teachers, medical cadets,' /clerks, interpreters, wireless operators, etc. A limited number of pupils who display special ability would be selected for higher education in New Zealand. Special attention would be devoted to training the girls ■Hie Government's desire was - so to educate Samoans-that they would' be less dependent on> others and able to promote the welfare- of their own country, ' . : . The Admisistrator referred to the .Maoris and the wealth they had gained under New' Zealand's protection, and said the Samoans were .being cared for m the same but they could only advance; by developing their lands. He was pleased to: record that the natives were moving in this direction, and that m >\e past two years 6000" acres of bush lands had been cleared and planted with approximately 290,000 coconuts. Copra had' increased by about . 4000 tons a IZ'n t«^ e of . Samoan copra as "South Seas" had resulted in a loss of about £20,000, because of the inferior quality of the latter. *„ i ?% r Ship ordered by the New Zealand Government for Samoa, so that ananas and other i s ] and f rui ts c^ld tionoT "f t O*T Zealand W.me£ tioned.. The production of cotton had been increased, and it was hoped, said the Administrator, that cultivation would be further increased^ the fi£ ture. His Excellency the%S* pules that the New Zealand Government had. 3UV ited three representatives ?■£s*„ T" Oan rSCe t0 P«>«*a.to Auck- &£%&&&£ ish Empire, and that they were merSt