SAMOA IN A BAD WAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16748, 1 June 1922, Page 7

SAMOA IN A BAD WAY.

PARLOUS CONDITION OF INDUSTRY.

PLANTATIONS ABANDONED. By Telegraph—Press Association*—Copyright. Australian and I'f.Z. Cable Association. (Received June 1, 9.35 a.m.) * SYDNEY, June 1. A prominent Samoan trader, who i!s visiting Sydney, in an interview, referred to the parlous condition of affairs in the mandated territory. Samoa’s! economic condition, he said, was never so bad. This was principally because of plantation pests and the low prices of products. He saw little hope of improvement because the labour necessary for the plantations was so scarce and dear, and canker had such a grip on the cocoa plants. He feared that no cocoa would be produced within three or four years, and £500,000, which had been sunk in industries was irretrievably lost. Already several thousand acres of rubber plantations had been abandoned because it did not pay to tap trees. PRAISE FOR NEW ZEALAND. While he admitted that there was a good deal of dissatisfaction with the administration, ho thought that the New Zealand Government had done as well as any mandatory* power could have done under the circumstances. The Government had shown great care in the selection of men sent to Samoa. PROHIBITION QUESTION. He took exception to the statement bv the Now Zealand Minister of External Affairs (Mr E. 3>. Lee) that, if the Government withdrew the prohibition ordnance, the dissatisfaction in Samoa would cease. Not all the white inhabitant.} of Samoa were anti-prohibition-ists. Personally he thought that prohibition had been very effective, especially in rescuing young half-castes from I drink. The people of Samoa resented the imputation that prohibition was the chief cause of their complaints.