IN SAMOA

Hokitika Guardian, 19 February 1932, Page 8

IN SAMOA

HIGHER TARIFF DUTIES,

TRADE OF GROUP AFFECTED

APIA, Feb. 6.

Owing the the local price paid for copra, ‘being so low, the spending power if the natives 'has been greatly curtailed, and, with salary cuts being the order of the day in the Administration and business houses, a very lean Christmas trade wa s looked for. The actual results throughout the group were much hotter than was Expected. An increase in Customs duties, which became effective on January Ist, was rather a bombshell to trade It was known that new sources of revenue were being looked for bv the AdminisTatio' l . and that tlv» import duties were likely to be increased, but not to

■tub MU extent, harbour dues, also, have been raised considerably. These, changes trough about a- revival of the Chamber of Commerce, which has been defunct for the past ,our years, and one of the first duties of 'the newly-elected Council of .’the Chamber was to meet the Administration with a /view to having the new import duties removed or reduced, and also to have the expm't duty on copra, which is now 30s per ton, reduced. The result of two interviews is that no remission will be made.

Meantime the cocoa crops are com mg on well, though it is feared that heavy raids have caused black pods 'to some extent, which means a considerable loss

to the planters. * Tkp r e was {fenent 1 satisfaction, especially among 'the Samoans, when the copra merchants announced an advance of one quarter per cent in the buying price of copra. The natives and others had long shown their feelings by leav-

ing most of their crop on the ground to rot, while the export trade of the

territory rapidly fell away’, but scarcely had The good news been broadcast before i't was followed by a. disconcerting announcement that- retail prices had been raised. -Upon the natives expostulatin'' they were told by the traders That the increase was necessitated by the new duties, and so the Government were to blame and not themselves.

.Some critics pointed out that the increases were out of a'l proportion to the pAvap'-o of dntv and -furthermore that they did not affect the particular goods i . question, as it was old stock. This raised th n question of The Government s responsibility to see that the natives receive a fair deal, a responsibility m-s’.= i"v'o"iiised when they set up a Board of Trade to review retail prices. The critics■ also expressed ’the opinion that merchants were not considering thp’ir best interests in ‘thus dealing with the natives.