PROGRESS OF SAMOA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 9

PROGRESS OF SAMOA.

CHANGES IN PAST TEN YEARS.

MISS JEAN BEGG’S OBSERVATIONS. AUCKLAND, September 29. The remarkable progress made in Samoa struck Miss Jean Begg most forcibly when she paid a return visit to the islands after an absence of 10 vears. She came down that way from Honolulu, where she had been attendnig the PanPacific Women’s Conference. After she finished her studies at Otago University, Miss Begg went to Samoa and was connected with the Samoan Mission School for girls, in which work she spent 10 useful years. It was from Samoa that she came to New Zealand and took up work in the Y.W.C.A. with such good results. Miss Begg visited both American Samoa and Western Samoa, over which New Zealand has a mandate, and was naturally interested in comparing what she saw with the Samoa of her day. Speaking this morning, she said the experience was most encouraging Samoa struck her as being much more pr >s];-cr-ous than it was 10 years ago. Asked about the recent trouble she said that among the Samoans themselves politics did not matter. For instance, the centenary of the missionary John Williams was recently celebrated by great crowds of Samoans who went over to the island where he landed f'Lcx all took part in the celebration ceremonies. There was no question' of Mau j> nonMau ; all fraternising as Samoans. “ They have better —roads than when I was there,” said Miss Begg. “ They have better water supplies for villages, and they have better sanitation. The coconut _ plantations look healthier, because of the fight put up against the rhinoceros beetle, which was working havoc among the trees.- The education of the natives is going ahead by leaps and bounds, and there are other signs of remarkable progress. All these things must of necessity create a situation that must be met.

“ With such rapid progress on all sides the* Government must of necessity make some mistakes. No Government couid be perfect under changing circumstances, and New Zealand’s job now is to keep pace with the strides civilisation has made in the group. From my point >f view I think the administration is cop.ng with the problem remarkably well. In my opinion the main thing is to keep Saino.a out of New Zealand politics. Per sqnally, I would like to see something on the lines of the organisation of the Colonial Office in London. The Colonial Office officials are trained for the work and there is no question of politics. “ New Zealand has done remarkably well in Samoa,” concluded Miss Begg.” " but we are a young country, and I think we might arrange to have some of our officials trained under some such auspices as those of the Colonial Office, which has been dealing with these problems for generations. Personally I would like to see some sort of Legislative Council in Samoa' itself, and . its affairs removed- altogether from New Zealand politics.”