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the Territory. The Samoan share in the production of cocoa (the second export crop in importance) is less great, but it was estimated in 1945 at 41 per cent, of the total. Bananas —the only other major export crop —have been grown very largely by Samoans in recent years ; the proportion of the total output of bananas coming from European plantations fell from 41 per cent, in 1937 to almost nil in some of the war years, and rose again only to 12 per cent, in 1946. The improvement of road communications has greatly stimulated Samoan enthusiasm for opening up new land for banana-growing. The main impediment to further expansion is to be found in the lack of adequate shipping facilities to the New Zealand market, which is the only one open to Samoan bananas. During the later war years the effects of the limitations were mitigated to some extent by the production of dried bananas. The process of drying is simple, the resulting product is far less bulky than the raw banana, and for a time there was a ready market,, but the gradual return of other dried fruits to the markets has destroyed the prospects of this industry. The quantity of dried bananas exported fell from 83f tons in 1947 to 20 tons in 1948. Production has now ceased. Most of this Samoan production of export crops is carried on through the traditional organization of the people. It is production by family groups under the leadership of their matai. Mostly it is carried on on small and often scattered plots of land and by methods of cultivation which could be much improved. An. increasing number of Samoans, however, are building up larger, better-organized, and better-managed plantations, comparable with those of Europeans. A few Samoans carry on plantation enterprises in partnership with Europeans, and some have in their employment Chinese labourers to perform skilled operations such as pruning. European agricultural enterprises range from small holdings such as those at Aleisa Settlement to the highly organized plantations of the New Zealand Reparation Estates. In between there are a number of plantations of considerable size which employ many labourers and, in times of high prices such as the present, return their owners ample incomes. The New Zealand Reparation Estates control the bulk of the land formerly in the hands of German nationals that came into the possession of the New Zealand Government as reparations at the end of the 1914-18 War. A portion of the land has been disposed of to Samoans, but the remainder —some 75,000 acres —is administered as a single enterprise on behalf of the New Zealand Government. The Estates also hold certain areas on lease. Of the total area administered, a large part (approximately 56,000 acres) is considered unusable. Much consists of deep ravines and precipitous hillsides. A little under 10,000 acres are worked by the Estates directly, and a further area of between 4,500 and 5,000 acres is leased by the Estates to private planters. The Reparation Estates are maintained as an organization entirely separate from the Government of Western Samoa. They are administered by a General Manager, responsible to the Minister of Island Territories. Profits from the Estates are paid into the New Zealand Consolidated Fund, although, in practice, grants are made to the Samoan Government for social and economic development schemes equivalent to the profits made. The Estates are also an important direct contributor by way of taxation to the Samoan Government. The Estates are by far the most important plantation enterprise in the Territory, in respect both of copra and of cocoa. They maintain the one desiccated-coconut factory and pioneered the transient dried-banana industry. They are the only important raisers of cattle, maintaining some 9,000 head. Of these,, about 1,200 are killed annually to provide meat for local consumption ; the hides are exported. Their sawmill at Asau, in Savai'i, is attempting to develop the production of fine-grained timbers for cabinetmaking. In addition, by arrangement with the Samoan Government, they manage the banana export scheme. To maintain this organization the Estates have a staff of over 1,500 permanent employees and many hundreds of casual labourers. The development of a dairy-farm is proceeding and will

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