SAMOA.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 December 1920, Page 1

SAMOA.

NEW LIGHT ON SOME PRBOLEMS. WELLINGTON, Dee- 10. , Dr J. Allan Thomson, director of the Dominion Museum, and a son of tiie Hon G. AT. Thomson, M.L.C., lifts given expression to' some rather interesting views after a visit to the Samoan Islands now governed by New Zealand. He states that if Samoa is to bode-/ veloped in the way of tropical agriculture, it is certain that outside labour must be relied upon. It is quite impossible for white men to work in the open fields and maintain their vigour. “From my observations in Hawaii and Fiji, 1 do not think that the system of indentured labour will, be able to ex,ist very long, and the question is w lie the r free ingress of Chinese or Indians to Samoa should be allowed. On sentimental grounds the answer would be ‘no.’ The Samoans are a charming ■ race, and one would have no desire to destroy their racial purity. On the other, hand admixture of Chinese blood has been found so beneficial in Burma, Java, the Philippines, and Hawaii, in producing a class superior to . the natives of these countries, that one would expect Chinese Samoans to he superior in initiative powers of work and ambition to the Samoans, tlieniselves. The future pf flip. Siiuioan.s, if they arp. left as a piu;e race, must be a, gradual decline, whereas if soni.e new blood were introduced the Sampans . might play in the future a worthy part in the history of thp pacific. It wp? ; the policy of the Germans and if is the policy of the New Zealand. Government to'prevent, as far as possible, all marriages between Chinese and Sjameans, but I any not sure Ddlf fhm is not”a mistaken policy.” Dr Thomson mentions the fact that the German plantations fell into a very bad state during the military occupation owing to the repatriation of the Chinese labourers, and it is very disheartening to see extensive cocoa plantations in u'hich the growth of creepers and vines has killed out the majority of the cocoa trees. These plantations can be rehabilitated only by replanting. Unfortunately at the present time, owing to tiie high cost of sugar and the impossibility of making chocolate at reasonable prices the market for cocoa has become very bad, and at the present cost of labour it will hardly p<jy to harvest f,ho cocoa which is now ripening. The same applies to. the rubber plantations. Unfortunately a good deal of bastard rubber seems to have been plantod by the Germans, in the early days under a misapprehension. Dr Thomson adds that a great deal of money has been wasted on unnecessary church building by the natives, though he does not suggest that the imss.on : av ies had not done excellent work. Ine New Zealand administration, lie states, is “making good.” The main complaints come from those who eapnot j now get