WESTERN SAMOA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23351, 17 November 1937, Page 4

WESTERN SAMOA

APPOINTMENT OF ADMINISTRATOR OPPOSITION CRITICISES DELAY THE STORING OF FRUIT JFrom Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Nov. 16. The delay in the. appointment of an administrator of "Western Samoa was one of the major points raised by the Opposition in the House of Representatives this afternoon when members were discussing the vote in the Estimates for the External Affairs Department. It is this department that controls the administration of the islands governed by New Zealand, and many of the activities in both the Sarnoan and Cook Islands were discussed. Mr G. W. Forbes (Opposition, Hurunui) asked the Prime Minister (Mr M. J. Savage) if he could give the House some indication of the Government's intentions. about the appointment of an administrator in Samoa. Mr Forbes claimed that it was an unsatisfactory position to have maintained only an acting administrator there for so long. The last Government had left the position alone because a new Government was coming in. Replying to Mr Forbes the Prime Minister caused laughter when he asked how it was that Mr Forbes had known a new Government was coming in. Mr Savage said that the acting administrator was doing good work in Samoa. Both Mr Forbes and Mr J. G. Cobbe (Opposition, Oroua) raised the issue of the presence of Chinese coolie labour in the Islands, but the Prime Minister assured them that it was the policy of the Government to get the coolies back to their own land. That question was receiving the attention of the Government at the moment.

Giving details of the sale of bananas grown In the Islands; Mr Savage pointed out that whereas in 1936-37 this business had resulted in a debit balance of £llOO the estimated credit for 1937-1938 was£76sl. The previous year's figure would not have been a debit had certain receipts come to hand earlier.

The debate on the department's activities took a lively turn when the three members of the Parliamentary Delegation to the Cook Islands—Mr S. G. Holland (Opposition, Christchurch North), C. L. Hunter (Govt., Manawatu), and J. Robertson (Govt., Masterton)—entered the discussion. Mr Holland offered some criticism of the proposals for the storing and marketing of Cook ..Islands fruit, and the .other two members stoutly defended the Governnient. Mr Holland claimed that the Government was apparently about to make a mistake in introducing a scheme for the centralisation of fruit storage in the Islands, involving a collection from the outer Islands into Rarotonga at increased freight charges. He also alleged that merchants this year had offered growers 4s a case for their fruit, but the officials had insisted on the new scheme which would return only 2s 6d a case to growers. Mr Robertson protested that Mr Holland's complaints were not correct. He defended the proposals to erect cool stores at Rarotonga, the scheme which Mr Holland had criticised, and he claimed that the stores were necessary to allow the oranges to be picked and kept until the arrival of a steamer. He was pleased that the offer of the merchants had not been accepted. Scheme after scheme proposed for the advancement of native growers had been wrecked by traders. The new scheme of the Government, based on the report of the delegation, provided the foundation for beneficial progress for native growers and for the Dominion as far as it was affected.