75

51. Under the Native Affairs Department there are 293 part-time Samoan officials whose combined salaries amount to £7,400, or an average of £25 per annum each. These officials, whose duties are light and interfere very little with their normal activities, comprise the following:— 3 Fautua .. -r .. .. at £3OO each. 4 Samoan members of the Legislative Council at £6O each. 41 Faipule .. .. .. at £ 52 each. 3 Associate Judges .. .. . . at £96 each. 14 Fa'amasino (District Judges) .. .. at £24 each. 14 Leoleo (Policemen to District Judges) .. at £ 9 each. 27 Pulufa'atoaga (Plantation Inspectors) .. at £27 each. 200 Pulenu'u (Village Mayors) .. .. at £ls each. 52. In addition to the above classes of employees the Administration regularly employs about 400 casual labourers recruited from local-born Europeans and Samoans. These workmen are mainly employed by the Public Works Department, but there are a few in the Health, Lands and Survey, and Postal and Radio Departments. Their wages range from ss. per day for unskilled labourers up to 225. 6d. per day for foreman carpenters in charge of a number of men. Labourers work a forty-four-hour week and are paid for overtime at the rate of time and a half, with a minimum of Is. per hour. M. Public Finance 53. In general the Territory has been financially self-supporting, though in the ten years from 1921 to 1931 the New Zealand Government contributed annual subsidies averaging about £24,400, or 17 per cent, of the total public income for the period. As of 31 March, 1947, there was no outstanding indebtedness, and the accumulated surplus totalled £417,758. 54. By the Samoa Act, 1921, the public revenues of Western Samoa ■constitute a single fund, known as the Samoan Treasury. The collection, expenditure, and control of these revenues, and the auditing of accounts, are carried out in accordance with regulations made by the GovernorGeneral in Council. At present they are defined by the Samoan Treasury Regulations 1930. Subject to such regulations, and to the •control of the Minister of Island Territories, all moneys in the Treasury may be expended by the Administrator for such public purposes as he sees fit. The Administrator is required to forward to the Minister not later than 31 May each year a detailed statement of the estimated revenue and expenditure for that financial year (1 April to 31 March), and not later than 30 September a supplementary statement of any further expenditure subsequently found necessary. These estimates are first discussed by the Finance Committee and then by the Legislative Council before they go to the Minister for his approval. 55. In the peacetime years before 1939 the annual public revenue -of the Territory, exclusive of subsidies, ranged between £105,000 to £140,000. In the extreme depression year of 1934 to 1935, however, they fell as low as £78,808. By contrast, under the stimulation of the recent war and post-war trade boom, revenues have risen sharply ; for 1946 to 1947 they totalled £334,838. The official estimate of public income for 1947 to 1948, apart from subsidies, is placed at £321,260.