A.—4

5

some of the villages along the twenty-five miles of coast-line referred to previously, but for the decision of the New Zealand Government to " reserve power to the Administrator to define certain areas in any of the leased properties now forming part of the Crown Estates for use when required by the; Natives cither as village sites or for plantations." Reservations have now been made of small areas of Crown Estate land adjoining some of the villages which are now situated close to swamps, or whose malae (area in front of villages) is being rapidly diminished by the erosion of the sea. On these areas newly modelled villages will be constructed which will be, more sanitary and provide for many other improvements over existing Native villages. Also, limited areas of undeveloped land forming part of the Crown Estates have been reserved for Native plantations. Neither of these reservations materially affects the leasehold value of the estates, while they should add considerably to the health and contentment of the Natives concerned. In all parts of Samoa other than that portion of the northern shore of Upolu previously referred to the Natives have far more land than they will require, or be able, to cultivate for many years to ciime, and in some districts do not take full use; of those lands they now have; unde;r cultivation, either because there are too few Natives to work them or that they can obtain all their needs without doing so. There are great possibilities of further development by private enterprise of uncultivated land for coconut plantations, but Native, land for this purpose could only be, obtained by lease and under such conditions imposed by the; Government that the interests of the Natives would be safeguarded Native Agriculture. Copra. Although the; Natives' produce 75 per cent, of the copra exported, it is calculated that they could easily increase this amount considerably and so enhance their own wealth as well as the revenue of tins territory. That they are beginning to realize the; advantages to themselves from increased production will be seen from the following graph. I predict that the increase will be more marked in the near future :—

Copra-production by Natives, showing average for Three-year Period.

Faipules, The legislation enacted, by the New Zealand Parliament last session whereby the Fono (Council) of Faipules was legally constituted to deal with Native matters lias given satisfaction to the Natives generally, and has inspired the Faipules with confidence that under the, present Constitution no legislation affecting the welfare of the Samoan race will be; introduced without first obtaining the wishes of their people and the advice of their representatives, the Faipules. In the past the Samoans have not taken much interest in the work of the Faipule Fono, but now, through its newly acquired legal standing and the publication of its proceedings in the Native Press, they are gradually realizing its value as a national institution where the opinions of the people can be made known and where their interests will be safeguarded. That this Fono (Council) is an active institution will be realized from the following list, giving a few only of the many matters dealt with during the three sessions held during the past year : (1) Compulsory medical treatment of Natives for certain diseases ; (2) village sanitation ; (3) scheme for increasing production of copra ; (4) education matters, including compulsory education of children, &c. ; (5) scheme for roadmaking; (6) provision of Samoan labour in substitution of Chinese ;