Samoan MHR's, Etc.,
p. 33 · Read in the full issue
Fiji, P-NG Please Note Samoan MHR's, Etc., Are To Be Paid
A COMMISSION of inquiry is to be set up in Western Samoa to fix the salaries of the new legislative body which will come into being in November next (Euro pean members elected: Samoan members selected by the Matai or heads-of family in accordance with Samoan custom), This new House of Representatives will have no less than 49 members (to govern a population of less than 100,000). There will be 41 Samoan members, three official members and five European members.
Even if each gets only £2OO per year, the cost is not going to be peanuts.
This seems a strange set-up for a Territory which has been com plaining for some time that its ex penditure is rapidly outstripping its income. Members of Legislative bodies in most other Pacific Islands do not get paid at all.
As well as a House of Repre sentatives, Western Samoa will have a Council of Ministers—ll of them altogether—and each of them will get £Stg.9oo per annum.