W. Samoa Prepares
p. 29 · Read in the full issue
Faleolc
Facelift
W. Samoa Prepares For Land Planes
F GLOWING conversations of the High Commissioner for Western Samoa (Mr. G. R. Powles) with the New Zealand Government at Wellington, it has been officially announced that a party of New Zea land engineers is to arrive in Samoa shortly to undertake a survey of the airport at Faleolo and estimate the cost of a proposed extension of the airstrip.
In view of a change-over from seaplanes to land planes, which must come in the next few years, the extension of Faleolo is urgently necessary.
The survey means that the New Zealand Government has agreed to the continuation of the present flying-boat service by TEAL con necting Western Samoa with New Zealand via Fiji on the one hand, and with the Cook Islands and Tahiti on the other hand.
There had been some uncertainty regarding this “Coral Route” ser vice; the service is of vital import ance to the Territory.
The last session of the Legislative
Assembly of Western Samoa agreed to bear a share of the? extension of Faleolo airport and of the annual maintenance cost.
Faleolo has been little used since the RNZAF handed over the islands service to TEAL several years ago.
At present the so-called Calibration aircraft (DC3), which makes periodical visits from NZ to service air installations in the Islands, is about the only one which uses it regularly.
In April last year it provided an emergency landing-field for a Pan American Airways Stratoclipper which had got off course due to a defect in the automatic-pilot. (P/M, April, 1956, p. 19). t Western Samoa will in future be divided into eight administrative destricts following a recommenda tion by the Local Government Committee. There will ,be 3 districts on the island of Savai'i and 5 districts on Upolu. The purpose of this is to co-ordinate the various services such as Health, Education, Agriculture. Police, Post Ofiice, etc., and to abolish present district boundaries set by the various departments which do not coincide. It is hoped that the new arrangement will facilitate co operation between departments and speed up administrative work.