Western Samoa

Now Under

The Microscope

ITESTERN Samoa has become the It object of an extraordinary mount of research in the political,

;onomic, and geographical fields.

In the political sphere there has, i the last two years, been a close tamination of all the implications I approaching self-government. In )53, Mr. V. D. Stace carried out an jonomic survey for the South acific Commission. About the ime time Dr. Norma R. McArthur, nder a research grant from the ustralian National University, lade a study of population trends id implications. Recently there as been an aerial mapping survey ' the Territory, and now at least ro other projects are getting under ay.

The first is a survey of the sources, population, economy, and intemporary land-use practices, id the implications to the amoans of a transfer from a ibsistence to a modern commercial ionomy.

This project is being carried out r Professor Kenneth B. Cumber nd, MA, DSc. and a team of re archers from Auckland University

College. The project was announced late 1953 and some preliminary work was done last year by Mr.

Leslie Curry, MA, but the main work will begin in August and will be spread over several years, different workers spending periods on the job in rotation. First to arrive in August will be Mr. Bryan H. Farrell, MA. The work will be financed by a grant from the Carnegie social science research fund of the University of New Zealand.

ANOTHER Auckland geographer arrived in March, to carry out a year’s mapping of Samoa’s forests and assessment of their worth. He is Mr. S. S. Cameron.

His work will tie in with Professor Cumberland’s project, but it is a separate project, financed partly by research fellowship fund from Yale University, the Bishop Museum (Honolulu) and the Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.