A.—4

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4. What are the countries of origin of alcoholic liquors, other than wine and beer, imported, into the Territory ? Whisky — United Kingdom via New Zealand and Australia; brandy—France via Australia. 5. What measures have been taken to assure the prohibition or regulation of the importation, production, and consumption oj dangerous drugs ? See last year's answer. V. LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. Last year's answers apply. VI. MILITARY CLAUSES. Lust year's answers apply. VII. ECONOMIC EQUALITY. Last year's answers apply. VIII. EDUCATION. 1. What steps are being taken for the elementary education of the Natives of the Territory (organization and, statistics) ? Is this education free to all Natives, and, if not, in what cases is it free ? These islands owe the deepest debt of gratitude to the missions, to which almost altogether Ihe work of education litis been left in the past. The London Mission Society, the Methodist, Mission, and the Roman Catholic Mission, principally, and to a lesser extent the Church of Latter-day Saints and Seventh-day Adventists, have for years past carried on the work, and to their efforts must be attributed the fact that few if any Samoans are unable to read and write in the vernacular. The work, however, is carried on by separate entities, and is unco-ordinated and cannot reach as far as they themselves would wish. Our policy is to encourage and supplement their work and to take it further, in the hope that a satisfactory national system of education may be built up. The pastors of the London Missionary Society and the Methodist Missions are not only pastors, but also school-teachers, and it is part of the pastor's duty to carry on a school in his village. So it arises that in every village there is at least one school, and in some two or three. The subjects taught are reading (Samoan), writing, arithmetic, scripture. English, and geography, and also, in some schools, history. There are also the Marist, Brothers' and Marist Sisters' Schools in Apia. In both schools, boys and girls, as the case may be, of all classes are admitted —white, half-caste, Native. The roll number of the Marist Brothers' School is 300, and of that number 140 are pureblooded Natives. The roll number of the Marist Sisters' School is 170, and of that number about fifty are pure-blooded Natives. The Administration has also schools, and these schools are being developed. In Apia, in addition to the school for white and half-caste children (roll number 220—attended for the most part by half-caste children) there is a, school for Native boys and girls, with a roll number of 243. The District School at Vaipouli, on the Island of Savai'i, has opened with a roll number of eighty-four. White, half-caste, and Native children are, admitted. Number being educated by missions at village schools, district, schools, high schools, and colleges : L.M.S. Mission, 7,671 ; Methodist Mission, 2,030 ; Roman Catholic Mission, 1,800 ; Latter-day Saints Mission, 460. All education by the missions is, generally speaking, free, but in the Government schools (for Natives) education is free to till those who have been selected by examination, or by privilege as in the case of the Government School, Laumua, a school built in German times by several villages according to certain agreements which are still respected by I he Administration. A charge is made at the Marist Brothers' School, the Marist Sisters' School, and the Government School (for whites and half-castes). At the Mormon schools no charge in money is made, but help in kind is expected. 2. What steps are being taken to provide for higher education of the Natives, such as medical, veterinary, and technical ? Samoa has not yet reached the stage for higher education, but a beginning has been made at Government School, Ifi Ifi, where secondary classes have been established to prepare candidates for the Public Service Entrance and the Matriculation Examination, New Zealand. It is gratifying to report that one candidate, from the Medical Department, is preparing for the Medical Preliminary Examination, two from the Lands and Survey Department for Surveyor's Examination, and several from I he Education Department for the Teacher's Examination, Medical. —The Education Department arranges for tuition, in English only, for selected half-caste nurses and Native cadets employed by the .Medical Department, which is responsible for the following course of training organized by the medical authorities. Samoan nurses : Suitable girls, drawn largely through the missionary societies, but not •restricted to these sources, are engaged as probationer nurses at the Apia Hospital. They do the work of a probationer nurse in the ward (both European and Samoan) under the supervision of the white sisters. They receive theoretical instruction from the Matron and the Superintendent. The lectures are devoted to genera] medical principles, to the special diseases prevalent in Samoa, and to the cases of children and infants. At the end of two years