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idle. The planted areas are, however, definitely assigned to some chief or Matai, who in turn subdivides his land amongst the members of his family. It is this system, which offers no encouragement or incentive for individual enterprise, that is holding back the development of new areas of Native lands in Samoa. The advantages of individual ownership of land are, however, becoming appreciated by the Natives themselves, and the principle has already been adopted by the Faipules, who, after fully discussing the question with their own people, passed a regulation to the following effect: Each taxpayer shall be entitled to 10 acres of land. If he has no land to cultivate for himself, a section shall be assigned to him with a formal lease for his lifetime. He shall pay a rent of Is. per acre per year to the District Council; the money from this source to be used for roads and land development. The lessee shall not have the power to sublease or sell any land assigned to him. He must cultivate his land under certain regulations providing for a specified portion to be planted in coconuts. With a view to giving effect to this regulation the land in several districts is being surveyed and divided into sections, which will be assigned to landless taxpayers as soon as the work is completed. The fact that in a number of districts the Natives have themselves already put the regulation into force and divided the land without survey indicates their appreciation of the benefits to be derived from this new regulation. But it is only by proper surveys of the land to be divided and by the issue of formal leases that future trouble can be avoided, and these surveys can only be completed for two districts during the ensuing year. Native Legislation. The Faipules assembled on two occasions during the year and passed Native regulations on many matters, of which the following are the more important:— (1.) Division of Native lands to provide for individual ownership. (2.) Making of wills. (3.) Succession to titles of chiefs. (4.) Registration of births and deaths. (5.) Burials. (6.) Limitation of days for Native games, such as cricket and football. (7.) Prohibition on contracting debts with traders. (8.) Fa'a Samoa marriages. (9.) Restriction on young men and girls leaving their districts to reside in or near the Town of Apia. (10.) Care of animals. (11.) Duties of District Councils and Village Committees. 111. CENSUS. Details of the census taken on the 31st December last are given in the departmental reports. The greatest care was taken on this occasion to ensure accurate records, and these figures may be accepted with confidence as truly representing the state of the population on the date mentioned. A satisfactory feature of the census is the increase in the Native population; indicating that the Samoans are no longer a declining but a virile and rapidly increasing race. The natural increase last year constitutes a record —viz., 1,176. The following is a summary of the census :— Europeans, of whom only 446 are of pure European blood .. .. 2,498 Samoans .. .. .. .. .. . . .. 36,688 Chinese coolies (890) and Solomon Island labourers (155) .. .. 1,045 Total .. .. .. .. ■■ 40,231 IV. EUROPEAN LANDS. These comprise 143,630 acres (vide graph on page 10), or about 20 per cent, of the total area of these islands. All these lands are held under Court grants, and were alienated prior to British occupation of Samoa in 1914. They comprise the following : —■ (a.) Residential sites, principally in the Municipal area and suburbs of Apia, also one abandoned rubber plantation owned by a private company, and a few small copra and cacao plantations owned by local residents. (b.) Land acquired by missions. (c.) Cultivated land forming part of the New Zealand Reparation Estates. (d.) Uncultivated land belonging to the New Zealand Reparation Estates, comprising about 84 per cent, of the total area of European land. During the past year several Native villages have been removed from unsanitary areas and rebuilt on the land given to the Natives by the New Zealand Government from its Reparation Estates, and in other instances sections of privately owned European land, in or near a village requiring more land for expansion, have been acquired on behalf of the Natives concerned. The area of land suitable for cultivation of cacao, referred to in last year's report as being reserved for locally born European boys, is still lying idle for want of applicants,

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