A—4

The lowest grade of mission school is that conducted in every village by the local pastor. These schools aim to make their pupils literate in Samoan and to teach them arithmetic. The almost universal literacy which has prevailed in the Territory for a long time past is an indication of their success. Beyond this minimum of formal secular education they do not attempt to go —the more advanced teaching of the pastor is in the field of religion. Like the Department, the missions have also established other more advanced primary schools. These include schools, on the lines of Leifiifi,. maintained by the Marist Brothers, the Marist Sisters, and the London Missionary Society in Apia. The Marist Sisters' school is the only one in the Territory which conducts commercial classes for girls. Two missions have established post-primary schools with a partially academic curriculum. The highest education institutions maintained by the missions are the colleges, which train pastors and catechists. Libraries There are no libraries in the Territory, though school libraries in the major schools are being built up, and the question of public libraries is receiving attention. Radio Broadcasting The Territory has one broadcasting-station, which is operated by the Broadcasting Department of the Government. It uses the call-sign 2AP and transmits on a frequency of 1,420 kc./s., with an aerial input power of 250 watts. The station went on the air for the first time on 31st January, 1948. At the end of the year under review the final stage in the equipment of the station was reached with the arrival in the Territory of the permanent transmitting aerial, a quarter-wave vertical radiator, consisting of an insulated steel tower 173 ft. in height. The normal operating schedule consists of five morning transmissions and five evening transmissions weekly. The morning broadcasts are educational ones conducted by the Education Department from its own studio at Leifiifi. On Sunday the station comes on the air for the transmission of a religious service. The evening programmes on week-days consist of music, talks, news, recorded variety and dramatic features, &c„ There are regular programmes by Samoan choirs, which are very popular with listeners in the villages. In addition to its normal programmes, the station broadcasts important public ceremonies. During the year outside broadcasts included the Flag Raising Ceremony on Ist June, the opening of the first session of the new Legislative Assembly on the following day, the arrival and reception of the Governor-General of New Zealand in July, the arrival in March, 1949, of the new High Commissioner, and other important occasions. Great interest centres upon formal occasions of this kind in Samoa. The broadcasts of these are therefore normally recorded and transmitted again in the evening programmes for those whose work prevented them hearing the original presentation. The complete equipment of the station was provided by a grant from the New Zealand Government, with the primary aim of providing a new source of interest,, information, and entertainment for the people of the Samoan villages. Further to promote this end the New Zealand Government presented 150 radio receivers for free distribution to villages. A further 125 receivers have since been purchased by the Samoan Government. The receivers have been specially designed for Samoan conditions, and in order to prevent the too rapid exhaustion of batteries they are permanently tuned to the frequency of the local station. The sets are serviced by the Radio Department and maintained at the cost of the Samoan Government. No rent or licence fee is payable by villages for these sets. Individual owners of radio receivers are required to obtain a licence, the number of such licences issued during the year being 328.

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