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V. LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. 1. What measures are being taken to guarantee liberty of conscience and religion ? 2. What restrictions have been laid down for the maintenance of public order and morality ? 3. Is there free exercise of religious worship and instruction ? 4. If not, what restrictions are there to limit such exercises ? 5. What are the results of such restrictions ? 1. Missionaries in Samoa pursue their calling without restriction. There is absolute freedom of conscience. 2. In general, the restrictive laws for the maintenance of public order and morality are the same as those of the Dominion of New Zealand. 3. Yes. 4. 5. There are no restrictions. VI. MILITARY CLAUSES. 1. Are there any fortresses or military or naval bases ? 2. What are the forms of Native military organization, and instruction ? 3. Are there any police forces, independent of the military, charged with the defence of the Territory ? AVhat is the respective importance of these two forces, and the amount spent on each ? 4. In what respect is the military organization of the Mandated Territory different from that in force in the neighbouring possessions of the Mandatory Power ? 1, 2. There are none. 3, 4. There is no military organization in the Territory. VII. ECONOMIC EQUALITY. 1. What derogations are there to the principle of economic equality as regards (a) concessions (6) land-tenure, (c) mining rights (in particular prospecting), (d) fiscal regime (direct or indirect taxation), (e) Customs regulations (imports, exports, transit) ? 2. What immigration laws are there ? 1. (a), (b), (c), (d). None. (e.) An import duty of 22| per cent, on non-British goods, as against 15 per cent, on British goods. There are no restrictions as regards country of origin of goods imported. 2. See Samoa Immigration Consolidation Order, 1924. VIII. EDUCATION. 1. What steps are being taken for the elementary education of the Natives of the Territory, (organization and statistics) ? Is this education free to all Natives, and, if not, in what cases is it free ? 2. What steps are being taken to provide for higher education of the Natives, such as medical, veterinary, and technical ? 3. In what languages is instruction given in the different categories of schools ? 4. Are mission schools compelled to submit to certain conditions ? If so, what ? 1. In the past the elementary education of the Natives has been almost entirely in the hands of the missions, and in the interest of the Natives themselves it is intended that it should remain so. The London Mission Society, the Methodist Mission, and the Roman Catholic Mission principally, and to a lesser extent the Church of the Latter-day Saints and Seventh-day Adventists, have for many years past carried on the work of education in the Territory, and the proof of the sterling work accomplished by them is in the fact that few, if any, Samoans are unable to read and write in the vernacular. The organization of the schools is referred to under the heading of " Education Department " earlier in this report. The numbers being educated by the various missions during the past year were—London Missionary Society, 8,000; Methodist Mission, 2,087 ; Roman Catholic Mission, 1,800; Latter-Day Saints Mission, 500 : there are also the Marist Brothers' and Marist Sisters' Schools in Apia, with roll numbers of 305 and 170 respectively. The Administration, in addition to a school for white and half-caste children (roll number 197, made up chiefly of half-caste children), has a school for Native boys and girls in Apia, with a roll number of 274; a school for boys at Vaipouli (Savai'i), with a roll number of 72 ; and an agricultural school at Avele, near Vailima, with a roll number of 43 boys. Education in purely Native schools is free, but a small charge is made a't schools established for whites and half-castes. 2. Medical. —The Education Department arranges for tuition, in English only, for selected Native nurses and Native cadets employed by the Medical Department. The latter Department itself undertakes the organized training of these nurses and cadets. Samoan nurses : Suitable girls, drawn largely through the missionary societies, but not restricted to these sources, are engaged as probationer nurses at the Apia Hospital. They do the work of a probationer nurse in the ward (both European and Samoan) under the supervision of the white sisters. They receive theoretical instruction from the Matron and Superintendent. They attend lectures devoted to general medical principles, to the special diseases prevalent in Samoa, and to the cases of children and infants. At the end of two years they are examined and, if suitable, are sent to out-stations for a further year's service under the District Medical Officer. They are also sent to the mission dispensaries, where they reside. The missionary supervises them, and the service rendered
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