Boom Time in Apia

New Buildings Follow High Produce Prices

From Our Own Correspondent

.Apia, Feb 21

VISITORS to Apia, Samoa’s capital, who knew the old town with Its ramshackle wooden buildings, stores [and churches, lately notice a vast im [ provement in the architectural picture on Apia’s main beach. Gradually the old i eyesores are disappearing and are re placed by modern concrete structures, [business premises, churches, Government [offices and workshops and residences in latest architectural style—improvements for which it is not difficult to find the s cause in Samoa’s cocoa-copra prosperity. , It is new impossible to buy a foot of land on Apia Main Beach and new enter prise is forced to move inland from the beach and look for other sites. The Taufusi Road, which was widened and last year, at a fantastic and much-criticised cost, is now the centre of building activity and a large number of new stores are already completed or in course of construction. It appears clear that the Taufusi Road will develop along the lines of All Nations Street in Suva, and that the Chinese shacks and Samoan fales, of which a few remain in this neighbourhood, will have disappeared in a few years’ time.

At the eastern end of Apia, the Vailima Road, which leads to the former home of Robert Louis Stevenson, now the re sidence of the High Commissioner, and the Hospital Road, both connect Apia with the residential suburb of Motootua,

where in recent years many attractive residences have been built by the Govern ment and by business people.

Land prices here have risen very fast and, where a few years ago you could buy building sites for £lOO to £l5O an acre, present prices are in the neighbourhood of £5OO per acre.

Building activity and business ex pansion is not confined to the capital.

Numerous new trading stores have been opened or are projected on the West Coast Road to Mulifanua, and in Savaii, particularly in those districts where cocoa is grown. Most of the new stores seem

to be doing well in spite of strong com petition; some stores belong to the large trading companies of Apia; many others are run by independent traders.

All building at the present time is, however, greatly impeded by the serious shortage of building materials —galvanised nails, roofing iron and cement—which are practically unobtainable in New Zealand and Australia, and lately even from Eng land and the Continent. The high prices ruling are, however, no deterrent, as the present high rates for Samoan produce seem certain to continue for years to come.