THE TWO SAMOAS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4558, 10 April 1942, Page 7

THE TWO SAMOAS

U.S. AND N.Z. AREAS ADMINISTRATIVE METHODS

(By

W.L.)

No threatened territories are to-day more deeply concerned than those of Australia’s and New Zealand’s mandates, and Samoa, as the most turbuent and difficult of them, is an outstanding problem. Pago Pago is the outpost of the U.S. navy in the Central Pacific, and in its sheltered harbour stands the U.S. navy radio station that links America with New Zealand and Australia. On the Territory of Eastern Samoa the United States has maintained a naval .base since 1872. The strategic group, near the International Date Line, lies astride air and ocean routes,

There are two distinct Samoas, vastly different in social conditions, topographical character and administrative methods. American or Eastern Samoa, with Pago Pago as its focal centre, is in all phases • of its control similar to the Hawaiian administration. New Zealand’s mandate, Western Samoa, is controlled by the capital town of Apia, which has been in constant flux and upheaval ever since the coming of the white man, and is still rather a handful to the New Zealand Government. AM&IICA’S SHREWD DEAL When the Americans took over the four small eastern islands, which had only one-sixteenth of the land area and one-sixth of the native population, but included the splendid harbour of Pago Pago, they made a chrewd deal. Germany had to be content with the less sheltered harbour of Apia, around which practically all European enterprises were concentrated. The year 1897 was memorable in the history of Samoa. Sir Arthur Gordon, High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, then visited the islands and laid out the boundary of the municipality of Apia. This consisted of the actual site of the township, with a more or less well-defined frontier some distance inland, which was to be considered neutral ground, in native warfare. AU within this area was controlled by a board consisting of three consuls, each appointing one assessor. Outside the area the native chiefs dealt with their own people in their own way. According to the mandate, the mandatory shall promote to the utmost the material and moral well-being and the social progress of the inhabitants of the Territory. The administration of Eastern Samoa has been delegated to the Navy department by the President of the United States, and the Governor has always been a naval officer appointed by the > Presit dent. While the Governor promulgates the laws, subject to the approval of the navy, the natives are permitted the enactment of many measures concerning their sectional and village life, measures which as far as possible reflect their traditional forms of government. The native officials are paid from the Native Tax Fund, assessed by the natives themselves. During 1931, U.S.A, granted the Samoans some further measure of self-government. THE COPRA CROP Since, then the natives have each year requested the Government to handle all the copra, buying the copra from the natives and selling it to the highest bidder for the year’s crop. Under this system no copra is bought by local storekeepers, and the quality of copra produced is uniformly good. Nearly all the natives continue to live in their ancestral villages scattered around the coastline, and their old “fish-an-taro” economy" is largely intact. For certain essentials like matches and kerosene, and less regularly for luxuries such as canned foods, and when church collections and Government taxes are in the offing, they prepare the copra and take it to the trading store. Eastern Samoa is divided into six judicial districts, each presided over by a native district judge appointed by the Governor. There are 40 native magistrates. The Chief Justice has general supervision over the judiciary. The alienation of native land is prohibited, the lands can be leased for a period not exceeding 40 years, with the approval of the Governor. The consumption of intoxicating liquors by natives or the furnishing thereof to them is prohibited. Western Samoa lies centrally in the Pacific Ocean some fourteen degrees south of the equator, and has a land area of about 1130 square miles. Upolu and Savaii, the two large islands, are mountainous and verdant, with slopes suited to the growing of the standard products of tropical agriculture. There is a wet and a dry season, and the islands though out-, side the hurricane belt proper are subject to bad “blows.” Apart from American Samoa, the immediately neighbouring island groups are all under British control or influence; the Crown colonies of Fiji and the Gilbert and Ellice islands, the Tonga protectorate, and the Cook; Manihiki and Tokelau groups are part of the New

Zealand “sub-empire.” Long before the mother country withdrew from Samoa the New Zealand authorities had made strong efforts to have British sovereignty established there, so that the ousting of Germany represented fulfilment of an old hope. EPIC VOYAGINGS The natives are brown-skinned Polynesians. They are one sub-group of the Vjking-like people who about the beginning of the Christian era pointed their canoes out from Malaysia into the wider Pacific, and in the course of epic voyagings settled the great “triangle” of islands from Hawaii in the north *0 New Zealand in the south and away eastward to Easter Island. When whites arrived there were about 46,000 natives in what is now Western Samoa. By 1881 their numbers had fallen away to about 28*000. The end of the German era saw an increase to about 33,000, and, thanks particularly to intensive health work, in 1936 the census showed a further rise to 52,000. Savaii, the westernmost and largest island, has many rocky mountains. In 1902 one of the mountains on this island erupted, and remained active for some time. On August 2, 1905, the island was again in violent eruption, a new volcano having broken out 12 miles southward of Matautu. Many plantations and much good land were ruined by this outbreak. For six years the volcano was in a state of eruption, the lava pouring unceasingly into the ocean. The streams at times varied from a few feet to miles in width. In August, 1911, lava ceased flowing, and the volcano is now quiescent. Upolu is rich and fertile, though mountainous. On the northern side is Apia Harbour, and along the shorp of the bay is built the town of Apia, which is the centre of political and commercial life in* the group. The western end of the island is dominated by Tofua, an extinct’ volcano 2195 feet in height, and containing a crater. At its north- eastern foot lies the largest cocoanut plantation in the group, near Mulifanau. Manono, about 230 feet high, lies within the barrier off the west end of Upolu. It has no crater, and is mostly composed of coral sand, with occasional outcrops of vesicular basalt. Water is very scarce, the supply being obtained from large reinforced concrete tanks. There are a few springs, but all are brackish.