NOTES ON SAMOA.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2142, 27 December 1920, Page 8

NOTES ON SAMOA.

SCIENTISTS OBSERVATIONS. CHINESB AND TUB NATIVES. A brief summary of observations made in Samoa was given to a "Dominion" reporter by Dr J, Alien Thomson, Director of the Dominion Museum. who recently returned from a tour 01 the Pacific Islands. Dr Thomson spent six weeks in Samoa. He went right round the island of Upolu, and also visited the island of Savaii, going on foot along its eastern coast. • "The Samoan- islands," said Dr Thomson, "are very mountainous, There are relatively few lowlands, and it Is only on the latter that there is any population. There are a few inland native villages, but apparently at one time there was a larger proportion of the native population living Inland. When the coconuts Were introduced early in last century, by the missionaries, the tendency was for the population to move to tie coasts, as coconuts do not flourish far inland. The interior is very heavily bushed, very difficult to travel in, and is practically in a virgin state. The islands are formed of young volcanic rocks, mostly of sufficient age for no native traditions of the eruptions to have been preserved. Of course, there ! were the known eruptions of Mauga An in 1902. and Matavanu from 1905 to 1911. The soil is never very thick, and the rocks are everywhere near the surface, so that the land cannot* be tilled, and sugar cultivation is out of the question. Tropical Forestry. "Cocoa, tea, coffee and other tropical products could be grown on the uplands, but it is to tropical forestry that W6 must look for the utilisation of the greater part of the interior. It will be news to most people that there is a species of true kauri in Fiji, a tree producing excellent timber and kauri gum. This tree wr/uld, no doubt, thrive in Samoa. Hawaii had a very valuable sandalwood tree at one time, and the possibility of planting this tree in Samoa should also be considered. Although hardwoods are not unknown, the majority of the trees in the tropical forests and softwoods grow at a very rapid rate. It suggests itself that the world's 1 paper-shortage might be relieved by pulping the tropical forests. I "It is well known, o£ course, that the German plantations fell into a very bad state during the military occupation, owing to the repatriation of the Chinese labpurers, and It is very disheartening to see extensive cocoa plantations in/ which the growth of creepers and vines has killed out the majority of the coooa trees. These plantations can be rehabilitated only by replanting. Unfortunately, at the present time, owing to the high coat of sugar, and the impossibility of making chocolate at reasonable pribes, the market for cocoa has become very bad. and at the present oost of labour it will hardly pay to harvest the COCOA Which )s now ripening. The same applies to the rubber plantations. Unfortunately, a good deal of bastard rubber seems to have been planted by the Germans in the early days, under a misapprehension. Insect Pests, "Samoa does not seem to suffer so very greatly from insect pests, if the rhinoceros beetle be excepted, but at the same time there is a great need for the appointment of an entomologist to collect dnd "Btudy the insects, which are very little known, and to work out the life history of the more important Ones. Perhaps this need is more urgent, from the medical than from the agricultural point of view. Praotically every Samoan boy and girl suffers from a disease locally known as tona, more generally called yaws,' which makes loathsome sores on the limbs and body. This disease is carried by flies. There are numerous species of flies of the house-fly type, and they occur in enormous numbers. The Samoans are a very clean people, personally, and dislike flies, but never make any attempt to kill them or to destroy the rubbish and filth in which they breed. Certain forms of dysentery are also carried by flies. "Elephantiasis, which is pretty widespread, is carried by mosquitoes. These are never absent from the neighbourhood of the coast. The control of mosquitoes will be very difficult, because with the empty coconut shell, or husk, Or a hole in a tree, or even the bottom of the leaf bases of the trees—becomes filled with water, and breeds mosquitoes. Too Many Church Buildings. '' The Samoans are a very pleasant, hospitable and courteous people, but have the reputation of being very lazy. At almost any time of the day one may see them reclining in their fales (houses'), but one would gather a false impression from this if one did not know that they did their main work from about three 6r four in the morning onwards. The taro plantations seem well kept, and I gained the impression that the Samoans were not so lazy as they were reputed to be. They certainly will not work for the whites, but there is no need for them to do so, as they can Satisfy all their desires so easily by growing their own ooconuts. They raise large sums of money by this means for the missions, as tho different villages do not like to be outstripped by their neighbours in their church, gifts. It is a pity that the missions have allowed so much of their labour to be spent on church building, for in Well settled districts there are three churches to a mile, and half-built or deserted churches are among the common objects of any journey. The Public Works Engineer has estimated that for the cost of the churches he could have built a tarred macadam road round the whole island of Upolu. I do not wish to be understood as suggesting that the missions have not done excellent work, but it would have been more in accordance with Samoan ideas to have made the fales the places of worship than to have imported the European idea of churches. "The education of the Samoans is undertaken almost entirely by the missions, and it appears to be well carried out. It is, of course, in the Samoan language, and relatively fen' natives outside Apia speak German or English. Intermingling of Eaces. "If Samoa is to be developed in the way of tropical agriculture, it is certain that outside labour must be relied upon. It is quite impossible for white men to work iu the open fields and maintain their vigour. From my observations in Hawaii and Fiji, I do not think that the system of indentured labour will he able to exist very long, aud the question is whether free ingress of Chinese or Indians to Samoa should be allowed. Or. sentimental grounds, the answer would be 'No.' The Samoans are a charming race, and one would have no desire to destroy their racial purity. On the other hand, admixture of Chinese blood has been found so beneficial in Burma, Java, the Philippines, and Hawaii in producing a class superior to the natives of these countries, that one would expect Chinese Samoans to be superior in initiative powers of work, and ambition to the Samoans themselves. The future of, the Samoans, if they are left as a pure race must be a gradual decline, whereas ii