"Dollar-Mindedness" In

W. Samoa

DOLLAR-MINDEDNESS amongst West ern Samoans was blamed by New Zealand Parliamentarians recently for lack of banana supplies in the Dominion.

Restricted shipping space was not responsible for poor supplies of island fruit—two ships regularly arrived back in New Zealand with only two-thirds their capacity filled.

In the year ending March, 1941, there had been a record export from W. Samoa to the Dominion of 228,000 cases of bananas; in the last year 53,000 cases had been exported. This fall in supplies was due to the arrival of US Forces in the Territory and the islanders seeking more highly-paid employment constructing •aerodromes and defence works.

In reply to criticism, the Prim* Minis ter (Mr. Fraser) replied that: “If all our vicissitudes arising from the war were limited to bananas, we would be for tunate indeed.”

Flight-Lieutenant (then Flying-Officer) J. W. Bartlett, formerly of the Adminis tration staff in Kavieng and Rabaul, was wounded in air operations in the Medi terranean theatre, on January 23, 1944.