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50. Plans are at present under way for extensive road development in the outer areas. It is expected that about 145 miles of new roads will be completed in the next eighteen months. For Upolu this will comprise two more roads across the island, and also a road system along the entire length of the south and east coast. A road will also be completed most or possibly all of the way around Savai'i. The Department of Public Works is responsible for such enterprises, and an experienced engineer has been appointed to direct the programme. Where budget allotments in the past have been relatively small, the 1947 to 1948 estimates contemplate road and bridge maintenance costs of £16,000 and new road building costs of £74,000, of which £63,000 is to be spent in the outer districts. As noted earlier, £50,000 is being given as a free subsidy by the New Zealand Government to help these costs. 51. The Postal and Radio Department is responsible for communications and is financially self-sustaining. The estimate for this Department for the year 1947 to 1948 show an anticipated revenue of £25,490 and an expenditure of £37,635, but included in this expenditure is an amount of £19,580 for a broadcasting scheme which New Zealand proposes to meet by means of a subsidy. Postal and radio services are maintained in conformity with the standards of the Post and Telegraph Department of New Zealand, the technical officers required being seconded from that Department. Executive and financial responsibility, however, as in all local services, rests with the Administration. Ten sub-post-offices, under the control of the Postmaster, Apia, and five radio out-stations under the control of the Superintendent, Apia Radio, serve the Islands of Upolu and Savai'i, the out-stations being staffed by trained Samoan operators. A telephone service with 210 connections exists in Apia and its vicinity. There is no newspaper serving the Territory at present, though a small weekly paper formerly existed. A mimeographed daily sheet gives the only public outlet for up-to-date news, apart from private radio. 52. The Administration is at present planning to develop a Territorywide broadcasting service by placing receiving sets (150) in nearly every village in Western Samoa. It is planned in this way to develop closer contact between the authorities and the people. These sets will be of a type that can receive the local Administration broadcast only and not programmes from abroad. 53. The Apia area is served with facilities as regards electric light and power, street lighting, water, refrigeration, engineering, public buildings, &c. New hydro-electric construction is currently in progress,, and will quadruple the present capacity. The Administration has been taking advantage of present high revenues to effect needed improvements in public buildings. For 1947 to 1948 the estimate for maintenance of existing buildings totals £17,500 and for new buildings £53,559. The cost of certain public services such as light and water are largely or wholly recoverable. 54. The Government has in the past helped Samoan villages toimprove their water-supply by building small dams or wells, and bathing and drinking pools, and also by installing pipe-lines and faucets. Latrines have also been built. Villages in some instances have financed their own water systems, the official practice here being to supply expert aid and tools.

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