FINANCES OF SAMOA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 148, 12 March 1918, Page 6

FINANCES OF SAMOA

REVENUE EXCEEDS ESTIMATES. Tho finances of Samoa are reported by Colonel Logan, tho administrator, to bo in a very healthy condition. The revenue for the present year will greatly exceed that of iho two previous years of the occupation. For the period of ten months ended on January 31 the amount actually collected exceeded tho total estimated revenue for the year ending on March 31. Tho whole of the expenditure of tho territory has been met out of revenue, including payment for several properties purchased by tho German Government before tho war, In addition to ordinary public works, extraordinary works costing £23,000 have been carried out, the amount being found out of revenue. Thus the only ehargo on New Zealand has been tho cost of the military occupation. The increase in revenue is due mainly to Customs duties, which amount to 12} per cent, on the landed cost of goods. Another source of revenue is the personal tax on natives, which amounts to £10,000 or £12,000 a year. One' of the items of extraordinary expenditure was £4000, the cost'of a leper station on the island of Nu' utole. "Tho use of this island for the purpose was given free of cost by the Chief Fiaine and the natives, for as long as tlicro is a leper in Samoa," said Colonel Logan to an Auckland "Herald" reporter. "They refused to sell it, as- it is the land of their ancestors. The only stipulation they made was that the graves of their ancestors should bo fenced in, and that when tho last leper is cured the island should be handed back to them." At present there are 14 or 15 lepers on the island, most of them being Chinese. Prior to tho British occupation the leper station was on the mainland, and it was insecurely fenced.