COCOA FROM SAMOA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1298, 17 September 1914, Page 4

COCOA FROM SAMOA.

Samoa, now held by the first New Zealand expeditionary force, has of late years produced considerable quantities of cocoa. The chief product is copra, of which something like 10,000 tons are annually exported, but cocoa and rubber have been largely grown of recent years, A large number of Chinese coolies are at work on the plantations. They are engaged for terms of three years, but are at liberty to reengage for an additional term if they so desire, Labour is also recruited from the Bismarck Archipelago, the Samoans themselves not being keen about plantation work or indenturing themselves to white employers. The chief trading concern of the group is the Deutsche Handels und Plantagen Gesellschaft, commonly spoken of as D.H. and P.G., or the “long-handle firm." This is a Hamburg firm. It maintained a large fleet of vessels, and traded all over the Pacific. It has branches throughout the Tongan Group, also in New Britain, and owns several big plantations, among them the Mulifanna Estate of 5000 acres, about 25 miles west of Apia, mostly under cocoanuts ; and the Vailele Estate of 2312 acres, lying some four miles from Apia ; and several others in Upolu and Savaii,