Us Navy Leaves
pp. 46-47 · Read in the full issue
East Samoa
New Civil Officials With Huge Salaries
Pago Pago, June 10
ONE by one, United States Navy officers are taking leave of this South Pacific base with the traditional ceremony of Sunset Parade on the malae at Pagatoga.
Following the field exercises, the Pita Pita band plays “Tofa ma Feleni” (“Good-bye my Friend”) and when they sing the final chorus one sees many misty eyes and hears the whispered query “Who among us will be the next to go?^ Navy men are deeply sentimental, and after 50 years of administering the most benign rule any people ever have known, it is with profound regret to both the navy and the Samoans that this rule is now to pass into history.
It was on April 17, " 1900, that Com mander B. P. Tilley first raised the American flag over the newly estab lished naval base at Pagatoga. And the celebration in April of this year, which was planned as the fifeieth anniversary jubilee, was saddened by the fact of its being also a final tribute of farewell.
During June and July, most of the navy personnel will be departing as air transportation is available. The Interior Department already is moving in.
The change of government came as a surprise to the Samoans, since the chair man of the Congressional Commission, in November of 1949, made the public statement that no change of government was contemplated at the time; even though a new organic act already had been drafted in the House of Represen
tatives in Washington, and had been submitted to the Samoan fono (council of chiefs).
To date, no official status has been given to the Samoans as to form of gov ernment. They do not know whether it will be territorial or a trusteeship such as has fallen to the lot of other island groups in the Pacific.
However, the matter of their small population in Samoa may preclude a territorial form of government—although the new organic act specifies the right of an elected delegate to sit in Congress without voting privileges. The 1940 census showed a population of only 12,908, but it is estimated that the present census will reveal an increase to approxi mately 18,000 in all six islands —Tatuila, Aunu’u, Swain’s, and the Manu’a group of Ta’u, Ofu and Olosega.
A REPRESENTATIVE of the Interior Department already is in Samoa, and is being tutored by Governor Darden and his staff. The Navy Gover nor expects to be relieved soon.
The new organic act provides that the President of the United States will appoint a governor, at a salary of $16,000 (£9,000 Australian) a year. A lieutenant-governor is to receive $13,000 per year, and a civil judge the same amount —all to be paid by the U.S. government. Free housing goes with these salaries, and free transportation for family and household effects. Also free travel and salary for a holiday every two years.
Minor officials and appointees of the Governor will be paid from Island funds accruing from taxes, assessments on property, internal revenues and license fees and royalties for franchises, privileges and concessions.
An important clause in the new organic act is the promise that the Navy govern ment’s buying of copra will be continued throughout the current year. The loop hole for private buying is left open for subsequent negotiations, such as prevailed when the Navy found it necessary to protect isolated growers from imposition by unscrupulous traders.