79
2. The participants in this economy based on external trade are : the Samoans, who require a certain money income for purchase of consumer goods, and for church offerings and a few other needs ; a few immigrant and local-born European planters ; the New Zealand Reparation Estates, which are owned directly by the New Zealand Government; and the overseas and local trading firms which attend to the marketing of produce and the distribution of consumer goods throughout the Territory. Subsidiary to the planting and trading groups are a fairly large number of wage-earners, consisting mainly of immigrant and local-born Europeans in Apia, but with an increasing number of Samoans also in the town area and in the trading stations of the outer districts. The wage-earning community of public servants and missionaries, both European and Samoan, is also a considerable force in the Territory. 3. The Samoans in general still lean to the side of the traditional subsistence economy to satisfy their basic needs. But they now add a considerable range of purchased consumer goods according to their financial means. Participation of Samoans in the money economy has been greatly increased during the boom times of the war and post-war period. Many Samoan families, especially around Apia, have come to depend heavily on the trade store even for basic foods. This condition may lapse again, however, as happened in the depression period of the early 1930'5, when Samoans were forced back to a great extent upon their old economy. Almost no Samoans have entered business pursuits, because the co-operative family and community system under which nearly all Samoans continue to live does not favour individual enterprise of this kind. This pattern, however, is slowly starting to change, and a few Samoan leaders have recently become interested in trading enterprises. 4. The small number of Europeans from overseas are nearly all employed by the Administration, the Reparation Estates, or the missions. The remainder consist of a few planters, professional and business men, and employees of two big overseas trading firms. The trend has been for their numbers to be reduced, and for their activities to be increasingly taken over by local persons, sometimes their own local-born children. 5. The local-born Europeans, almost all of part-Samoan ancestry, and now increasing rapidly in numbers, are in a less favourable economic situation. Official figures show that 72 are proprietors of businesses, 121 are Government employees, clerks, and other employees with salaries of over £2OO a year, and a few are large-scale planters. But the majority live very precariously from poorly-paid urban occupations such as less-skilled clerks, artisans, and labourers, or else carry on small-scale agriculture where they have inherited European freehold lands. Because of the limited number of job opportunities in Government and business for these local-born Europeans, it appears that they must make their living increasingly from the land. A land-settlement scheme developed by the Administration for such families is discussed later (see " Aleisa Land Settlement "). Many local-born Europeans have been leaving the Territory to take jobs in New Zealand. The small number of successful local Europeans and their salaried staffs represent a most influential economic and political force in the community.
Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.
By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.
Your session has expired.