SAMOAN PROBLEMS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1510, 9 March 1920, Page 5

SAMOAN PROBLEMS.

THE liABO'JK 1»II lIC LI.TY

(By Wireless)

APIA,

March 6

On Saturday morning the Parliamentary party made a tour of the State and various mission schools. The result of the missionaries' efforts is that all the Samoans read and write their own language, and English is now generally taught. The native chiefs were entertained at luncheon on the Mokoia and in the afternoon the members visited V'ailima and Robert Louis Stevenson's tomb, the wireless station and Geographical observatory, where visiting scientists were delighted with the scope and value of the work undertaken. To-day, which is the Samoan Saturday, the members motored to the plantations, visiting an estate where there is a fairly plentiful supply of labour, and later a property on which before the war there were 294 indentured labourers, and are now 12. The former employs 41 Chinese and seven Samoan women. The Chinamen weed and prune the cocoa trees, and pick the pods. Their pay is about £2/10/- per month. The women break the pods, remove the seeds prior to the process of drying. They receive three shillings per day. The party inspected the workers' quarters and through an interpreter closely questioned the indentured men. The Chinese are not permitted, so far, to bring wives frdm China, but some have Samoan wives. The second plantation was a wilderness, choked with tropical undergrowth. The homestead was dismantled, and the few remaining indentured labourers pick the cocoa pods where the trees have survived, while the rubber is practically untapped. The planters state that the solution is more labour. They estimate that a thousand additional indentured labourers are needed immediately. In the afternoons the Samoans gave a feast, with generous supplies of Taro, plantation figs, poultry and fish, which the members partook in native fashion. There was a great display of tribal dancing. The European residents were entertained on the Mokoia in the evening at a ball. We will take a cargo of sugar to Suva. It. is now probable that the party will reach Auckland on 22nd. The weather is hot, but all are well.