32

52. The senior Department heads should sit as -ex officio members. As officers of the Government of Western Samoa they can do much to guide and assist the elected members in the technical aspects of legislation ; and it is sound government to allow a Department head to propose and defend the Bills which if they become law, he will later have to execute. Whether or not they should exercise the right to vote in the Parliament does not seem to be a matter of vital importance, since their vote would, in most cases, not be decisive. 53. The President of the Legislature should be chosen from among its members. The High Commissioner and the representatives of the Samoans (the Fautua) should have the power to initiate legislation,, as suggested above. Other members of the Legislature, either individually or as groups, should also have the powers to initiate legislation with the exception of purely financial Bills. Bills involving financial, expenditures should require the consent of the High Commissioner before being introduced. 54. The legislative organization should include a number of standing working committees of members on appropriate fields of government such as finance, economic development, and social services. For the present, these would normally be presided over by the Department head most concerned. 55. The Finance Committee might require a special organization with official members in the majority. The existence of such a legislative committee on finance would render unnecessary the present Finance Committee, which exists outside the legislative structure. 56. The annual budget should be presented to the Legislature by the High Commissioner in sufficient time for previous study and consideration by its Finance Committee. The Legislature should have power to discuss and make recommendations on the budget. Should it refuse or fail to approve the budget, the High Commissioner should have the power to make such appropriations for expenditure as may be necessary to carry on the Government of the Territory. 57. The suggestion is made in other sections of the report that limited powers of making by-laws be placed in the hands of special local bodies —Samoan village and district councils, possibly a City Council of Apia, and the Aleisa Council as already established. I. FONO OF FAIPULE 58. The question as to whether the Fono of Faipule, with its present composition of forty-one elected members, should be maintained in its present form must be the subject of discussions with the Samoan people. It appears to the Mission, however, that it should continue because of its extremely useful role as a link between the central Government and the traditional districts and sub-districts on which the Faipule constituencies are based.