3

A.—4

ANNUAL EEPOET BY THE ADMINISTKATOB FOE THE YEAR 1923-24. I. TRADE. From the point of view of trade the past year has been one; of depression, and the revenue of the Administration has suffered heavily in consequence. The total trade figures were little more than half those of 1.920, which was a record year for trade in Samoa. In making comparisons with 1920 it must be borne iti mind that trade conditions were not then normal, owing to the high market values and to excessive imports that year to the extent of nearly £200,000, from the effects of which Samoa is only just beginning to recover. One interesting feature of last year's trade is that in spite of the depression the exports of copra were almost double those of 1920.

Total Trade Values (Calendar Years).

From the foregoing graph it will be seen that the trade returns have, been falling since 1920, and that last year's trade was the lowest since 1917, but higher than any previous to that date. The reduced volume of trade last year was not due to diminished production by the Natives, whose sole contribution to the trade of the Territory is copra, the Native output of this product for 1923 being 10,000 tons, which quantity has been exceeded only on two previous occasions in the history of Samoa—viz., 1919 and 1922. The principal causes which contributed to the reduced trade during the past year were — (1) Extremely low market, price of our products; (2) damage done to plantations by the heavy rains in March, 1923, causing a considerable reduction in the cacao crop ; (3) excessive imports over exports during the years 1920-21 to the extent of nearly £342,000, causing an accumulation of stocks by merchants and thereby reducing imports for the years 1922-23. At time of writing there are indications of increased trade and prosperity. The Natives are responding to the efforts being made to get them to utilize more fully the resources of their plantations. The visible crops are good, and market values are now higher than for the previous year, and other exports for the past two years have exceeded imports by £100,000. For the above reasons I feel justified in predicting greatly increased production, better economic conditions, and improved trade