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the sale of land by their forefathers was a mistake made in ignorance, and that with the population increasing rapidly these alienated lands should be given back in the interest of coming generations. 42. The legal position of New Zealand on this question is unassailable. The Estates were originally private German properties acquired from Samoans for compensation in great part before the time of the Land Commission in 1893. To question the validity of the grants of these lands would be to open up to question all land titles recognized by that Commission. 43. The Mission believes that it would be a mistake at this time to transfer the cultivated areas of the Reparations Estates from the present system of management. To do so might risk deterioration of one of the Territory's most important commercial and financial assets. It is in the interests of the new Government and the people as a whole that the Estates operations continue. Where adjacent Samoan communities need land the way should be found for them to expand on to uncultivated areas rather than on to existing cultivations. The large-scale economies now practised by the Estates, the long-term experimental work carried on, the employment of trained experts to introduce new improvements, would become impossible were the Estates to be now broken up into small individual holdings. Furthermore, many Samoans engaged to labour on the Estates are not only receiving a money income, but are learning better methods of husbandry and crop production which may be in turn applied to their own lands. This means the spreading of invaluable agricultural education among Samoan cultivators. 44. The assurance given to the Mission by the New Zealand Government, and repeated by the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. P. Fraser, that the profits from the Estates would be devoted exclusively to development and welfare work in Samoa, provides the Government of Western Samoa with a substantial income for long-term development and welfare work. 45. The fact that large tracts of Estates land are not under cultivation, while there are land-hungry communities in the north Upolu region, deserves the attention of the New Zealand Government. G. PUBLIC HEALTH 46. The resident population enjoys a relatively high standard of health and vigour, as is significantly demonstrated by the vital statistics of the Territory. Certain disease conditions are widely prevalent, notably hookworm, filaria, and yaws, and there is a fair incidence of tuberculosis, typhoid, and pneumonia. But these are