“Era of Hope” for E. Samoa

JESSE H. BUFFUM, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, expresses the opinion that E.

Samoa enters a new era of hope with the arrival of Governor Law rence Judd—fourth governor in two years. Unlike his predecessors, says Buffum, Judd is a man with a considerable knowledge of Pacific Islanders and his life has, in fact, been that of an Islander himself.

Buffum predicts that Judd will place emphasis on greater educa tional facilities, especially the teaching of English which has hampered Samoans in filling posi tions in the outside world, and in placing these better educated Samoans in many local administra tive positions with the object in view of eventual self government.

Judd will also place great em phasis on increasing local food pro duction, in cutting down on im ported foodstuffs, and in the estab lishment of economic crops such as cocoa and coffee, the writer declares.

Another industry that he con siders Governor Judd will foster is the establishment of a fish can nery—the fish to be brought in from areas outside Samoa by American tuna vessels which cur rently operate far from their home ports in Hawaii or the Pacific Coast. (Editorial Note: Mr. Buffum is

putting it right up to Governor Judd, whose predecessors have not exactly been slackers. The estab lishment of economic crops depends on the availability of arable land— there are only 76 square miles of land in the whole group, and much of that is mountainous. There are 13,000 Samoans in Eastern Samoa.

A fish cannery was established in Pago wnen South Seas Marine Products set out to catch tuna in Fiji waters. It was to be canned in Pago in order to overcome import restrictions in the US. But Fiji

tuna refused to be caught and the cannery at Pago has been, up tc the present, a white elephant.) The Secretary of State for the Colonies has received a message from community leaders in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands offering to raise a force of up to 2.00 C volunteers for service in Malaya Her Majesty’s Government regrets however, that it is impossible “on practical and administrative grounds” to accept the offer.