SAMOA’S NEEDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 686, 11 June 1929, Page 16

SAMOA’S NEEDS

ECONOMY AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING BUSINESSMAN’S VIEWS The two qualities necessary to make Samoa a success are economy and the commercial training of those trusted with administrative positions, said Mr. TJ. F. McCabe, sharebroker, of Wellington, who returned by the Tofua yesterday after visiting the mandated territory of Western Samoa. Mr. McCabe trenchantly criticised some of the work which has been done in the past. He said that he had met a planter who told him that he could grow good quality cocoa at a cost of £SO a ton and sell it at anything from £9O to £l2O a ton. This proved what could be done if the growing of cocoa were taken up on a large scale. He said that after visiting the plantations it was easy to see that they had originally been established on a solid basis of efficiency, but at present there was a lack of both efficiency and knowledge in the administration of these plantations. New Zealand, he says, will have to wake up to the true position of things or else a continued deficit will be shown. “We British must admit that the Germans left behind them a position which we must all appreciate," continued Mr. McCabe when referring to their organisation. “It is not difficult to appreciate that with economy and commercial training carried to Samoa by qualified men the position would change quickly and to the betterment of the mandated territory and with less loss to the Government of New Zealand,” he remarked. Mr. McCabe said that the duty of the present Adminsitrator is a difficult one. Unfortunately he is faced with a divergence of opinion between his predecessors and those long familiar with Samoa and the conditions prevailing there.