“BOUGHT AND PAID FOR.”

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16993, 26 March 1926, Page 11

“BOUGHT AND PAID FOR.”

N.Z. SAMOAN ESTATES. NOW SPLENDIDLY FINANCED. j Ta a reference to the Samoan Crown | Estates i now the Xmv Zealand ! Estates), Sir George Rie.hsmtsou, Ad- | jiiinisir.itor, recently told a. gathering jal Apia t]l:>t they viitc now in a spion- • did linaacia! condition. Perhaps the : ti iio ion of ‘ hose estates was not indy recognised locally; lint Ihe fact j was that they were bought by New ; Zealand and paid Tor; so they, now I were the property of New Zealand, and she was mini lug 1 them in the same way i that any private "ompanv might- lie. Out with this noteworthy difference; insti ad of tailing the profit moneys from the estates to pay dividends to shareholders, the Now Zealand Government was leaving the money m Samoa i for tin- iipnolit of that connin'. i At the end of March last, over hGoO.OOO profit had been placcd-dn the reserve fund, and this now was availj aide for clearing' bush, building of I railway lines, improvement of rubber j plantations, etc. Also, some of the j moneys would be available for other j important local works.

(Tudor the Treaty of Versailles, mortgages in Samoa, which were held by German nationals could have been delegated to the Reparations Clearing House for payment. but (as most of them knew) New Zealand, had been paying the interest on these loans (as an act of grace), and now she had agreed to pay (iff the mortgages, though tiier-.* was no obligation on her to do so.