POSITIONS IN SAMOA

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 253, 20 July 1921, Page 5

POSITIONS IN SAMOA

OFFICIALS WHO ARE DISAPPOINTED LIVING IS VERY EXPENSIVE I i The Samoan Administration has provided positions for some members of the New Zealand Public Service, and there bus been much competition for them. The salaries are supplemented by “tropical allowances" on what appears to be a fairly liberal scale, and the conditions j of life on tho islands, as described by i visitors, have appealed to many New Zealanders. Civil servants who have returned to this country, however, state that while life in Samoa has many at-_ tractions, the appointments under the Administration are not nearly as good as they appear at first sight. Calcula- I tions based upon the expenditure of an ordinary household in this country are ■ apt to prove highly misleading in Samoa. I The chief complaint made by returned officials is that the "tropical allowance," which amounts to about .£2OO a year in the case of a senior officer, is not really enough to cover the extra expenditure (entailed) by Samoan condi- I tions. married man has to bo prepared to send his wife and family back to New Zealand in tho hot months of the year, unless ho leaves them in New Zealand altogether. He finds that if he does not own. a motor-car he must hire ono often, since ho and his wife cannot do much travelling on foot. Entertainment is quite an expensive item. Tho small official community has definite obligations under this heading, one of them being to return the compliment when gifts are made them by the native chiefs 1 .

Living is very dear in. Samoa, owing to the fact that very much of the food. Used by the white community has to be imported. Tinned meats and tinned! milk are staples, for eXhmple, and they cost more than they do in Now Zealand. ■ j Fruit of certain kinds is cheap, but not as cheap as might bo expected. Oranges, • which are imported from as far away as California, oro very dear. Clothing and: household necessities of all kinds coat more than in New Zealand. Savings might be effected under these headings if tho white residents adopted the na- I fivo manner of living, but any move in that direction would be firmly discouraged by the white community, which believes that its prestige must be maintained.