Task in Samoa

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 748, 22 August 1929, Page 8

Task in Samoa

Effects of Political Unrest LATEST official reports from Western Samoa indicate that political unrest is still the chief obstacle to stable government in the mandated, territory, and that the passii t resistance of the natives to the New Zealand Administration has affected practically every phase of life there. The collection of accurate information showing the population figures and vital statistics is impossible, anil heavy expenditure has fallen upon the Government because of the tactics of the Samoans.

The figures returned during the year 192 S announcing the vital statistics appear so ludicrous in the eyes of the officials that the Administration hat hours a strong suspicion that births and deaths are being suppressed by the natives opposed to the Government. The births registered up to the end of the year numbered 533, for example, or a birth rate a 1,000 of population of 21.82, as compared with a rats of 42.37 and 52.62 respectively for the two preceding years. This astounding drop rouses the suspicions of the authorities, who sayin the annual report that, as the year was a prosperous and healthy one and the native unrest had no bearing upon the actual births, there is no other reason for the heavy drop than nonregistration. “It is quite inconceivable that such a diminution could take place in a community which has been the victim of no epidemic whatever, and which, moreover, shows only 219 registered deaths as having occurred during the year,” the chief medical officer comments. “It is a matter of grave regret that accurate information is not forthcoming in regard to the registration of births and deaths, but in view of the continued unsettled condition of the country, and the fact that the native organisation known as the Mau is still very much in evidence, it would appear as if one will have to wait until the census of 1930 in order to arrive at anything like a satisfactoryconclusion.” WAITING FOR CENSUS

The fact which must annoy the Administration is the ground for believing that, in spite of the refusal of the natives to register their statistics, true records are kept in each village, the difficulty lying in securing this information and verifying it when it is obtained. Yet. as the medical officer optimistically points out, “there is no little consolation in the fact that the census returns of 1930 will in all probability reveal the true state of affairs, though the problem of sorting out results and allotting them to their particular years looks as if it might be of a very grave nature.” In the returns for infant mortality

Samoa is shown as having reduced the rate from 186 in the 1.000 in 1925 to 58 in the 1,000 last year. It Is not possible to credit these figures for. as the report explains, were they by any chance true, Western Samoa would be entitled to occupy a very high place among the nations of the world. As it is, there is a suspicion that at least 50 per cent, of the births and deatns have been suppressed. It is not only in the collection of statistical data that the Administration is experiencing difficulty with the natives. The loan accounts, which were arranged with the Xew Zealand Government, have suffered as a result of the persistent refusal of the Samoans to pay their obligations to the Treasury. ONE THIRD COLLECTED kithough the revenue through the Customs and Harbour Departments greatlv exceeded expectations and brought the total revenue up to beyond last vear's figures, only about one-third of the native taxes was collected, estimated at about £19,400. But in the loan accounts it is seen that, whereas the natives had agreed to meet a portion of the cost of the water supply (upon which £16.000 was spent during the year), the Administration is compelled to add, "unfortunately this must lie in abeyance. So far as No. 3 loan is concerned, the whole amount has been eaten up "for general purposes, not on public works, but to meet the deficit in revenue caused bv non-payment of native taxes owing to’the Mau. and extra expenditure in connection with the same political disturbance.” Much of the loan money is revenueearning. however, and some of it is invested In essential services for the development of the islands. The total loan obligation to the Xew Zealand Government is £ 165,200.

It is an interesting sidelight that crime increased during last year by 964 offences, of which SO2 were either breaches of Maintenance of Authority for Native Affairs Ordinance, or breaches of Intimidation Ordinances. Theft, drunkenness and threatening behaviour also increased slightly.