A.-4

17

Resume of Total Exports.

Question (c) : Conditionr of Trade between New Zealand and Western Samoa. western samoa. This Group consists of four islands —Upolu, Savaii, Apolima, and Manona — but the latter two are of little importance. Prior to 1722, when the islands were visited by a Dutch " three-ship " expedition, little was known of their history. This expedition was followed by two French expeditions, the second under La Perouse in 1787. The first British vessel to visit Samoa was the warship " Pandora " in 1791. The London Missionary Society has the honour of first opening up Samoa to the march of civilization, for we read that in 1830 they founded a mission in one of the islands of the Group. Since then these islands have had a varied career —from the granting of coaling-stations in 1878 to the United States of America and a year later to Great Britain and Germany, on to the three-Power Government from 1889 to 1899, when, by agreement, Samoa was divided between Germany and the United States of America—Germany receiving Upolu, Savaii, Apolima, and Manona ; America receiving Tutuila, Manua, and three smaller islands. By this agreement Great Britain relinquished to Germany all her rights in Samoa, while Germany surrendered all her rights in the Solomon Group to Great Britain. This condition lasted until the military occupation in 1914 by the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. The conquest of the German armies in Europe followed in 1918, and in 1919 mandatory powers over Western Samoa were vested in New Zealand by the Allied Governments. The islands of Western Samoa, about 1,700 miles from New Zealand in a north-easterly direction, and about 13 degrees south of the Equator, lie near " that mysterious line of longitude where a ship suddenly sails out of one day into the day before." Savaii, the largest island in the Group, has a circumference of 150 miles, an area of approximately 450,000 acres, and a population of 11,507. Although larger than Upolu, it is less capable of sustaining such a large population owing to its volcanic nature and to the damage which has been done (even recently) to the surface of the country by broad belts of lava-flows. Upolu, in point of scenic beauty and commercial importance, comes easily first. It has an area of 275,000 acres and a population of 19,129, and has been aptly described as " the pearl of the Pacific." The whole island, rich in fertile valleys and tumbling streams, is covered with dense tropical vegetation from the water's edge to the mountain-tops. Coconut plantations, with their tree-roots lapped by the rising and falling tides, begin where the sea ends, and continue without interruption to heights of about 400 ft., where they gradually blend with the dense tropical undergrowth, which seems to come down from the hillside to meet them. 3—A. 4.

Article. Quantity. Value. Hopra .. ' Coconuts Fruit Fungus Live-stock . . Metal Hides and skins Sundries 8,546 tons 10 cwt. 0 qr. 41b. 8 bags, 1 case 234 cases 67 sacks 37 horses, 15 pigs 7 bundles 12 „ 282 packages 25 cases £ s. d. 166,433 18 0 1 2 6 56 5 6 34 0 0 307 0 0 5 0 0 50 0 0 2,857 9 6 13 0 6 Yams Total 169,757 16 0