FONO OF FAIPULES

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 30, 4 January 1927, Page 4

FONO OF FAIPULES

ADDRESSED BY ADMINISTRATOR. PROGRESS OF SAMOA. AUCKLAND, Jan. 3. A fono of Faipules opened at Mulinuu; Samoa, on December 7. The (Administrator of Samoa, Sir G. Richardson, addressed the assembled chief! In referring to the recent outbreak I of dysentery and prompt treatment I by the doctors, nurses and village coinhiittees which enabled the outbreak to be overcome in a comparatively short time, His Excellency pointed out that [the lesson to be learned was that by good sanitation, clean villages, and proper precautions, sickness could be controlled. Reference was made to tho 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 Saiioa, and would have to be continuedjlfor some time before these diseases ifculd be fully controlled. Forty-nine Sarnoan nurses had been trained during! the year, said His Excellency. There were now fourteen dispensaries round J ’-he islands, and four more would be opened in 1927. Two Samoan boys were qeing trained in Fiji to qualify as doctorisand two more boys will go to Fiji next month for the same purpose. Irfrthe coming year it was proposed to male a. Samoan village and plantation War the Apia Hospital for the cenvenfeuce of relatives of Samoan patients. | Reference was made to education: aud the great progress in the last jlfcur years. There were now 46 schools in Samoa under Government teaches, with a roll of 1900. Four years ago ihe pupils numbered 100. Education) vas now on definite progressive lines. spMdren started in the village school,Sjrcnt from there to a grade 2 school,], and then passed into the Government schools at Malifa, Avele and Vaipouli, where they could qualify for? appointment as teachers, medical-®; cadets, clerks, interpreters, [(wireless operators, etc. A lipiitcd number of pupils who dispjlawd special ability would be selectdp tor higher education in New Zealandf Special attention would bo devoted to training the girls. The Governnjiert’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 Administrator referred to»- the Maoris, and the wealth they hadjigoined under New Zealand’s protfcti.n, and said the Samoans were being cared for in the same way, but theydcoald only advance by developing theirijanls. He was pleased to record that tn'e natives were moving in this direction, and that in the past two year! 6’JOU acres of bush_ lands had been cleared and planted with approximately 2&0,'J00 coconut trees. Copra production had increased by about 4000 tons jKjycar, but the classifying of Samoan copra as “South Seas” had resulted in /a loss of about £20,000, becauso of the inferior quality of the latter. ( The new ship ordered by the New Zealand Government for Samoa, so that bananas and other islandfifruits could bo exported to New Zealand, was mentioned. The productionijbf cotton had been increased, and vjt was hoped, said the Administrator that cultivation would be further increased in the future. |_ His Excellency informed the Faipules that the New Zealand Government had invited three representatives oft the Samoan race to proceed to Auckland in January and join with representatives of the Maori race and the Cook Islands in welcoming the Dulte of York. Those must realise that this great honour was not for them personally, but for#; every man, woman, and child of the ■Samoan race under the protection of this great British Empire, and that thepY were merely channels through which the well-known loyalty of the people of these islands to the King and the Government would be expressed.