on the Way'
pp. 43-47 · Read in the full issue
Record Year Last Year
[?]. Samoa Trade Recession 'Is on the Way'
Prom an Apia Correspondent jst Samoa had a record ig year last year, but this there is bound to be a trade don. annual report of the West imoa Chamber of Commerce, st published in Apia, states report, which is most com isive and informative, con a wealth of information on ispects of the Territory’s nic life, and is of special >t with Samoa being so close ependence. report is a credit to the ber and its president, Mr. E. idale, and secretary N. S. i. report is for the year ended 30, 1960. ort and export figures are for the calendar year of 1959, le report says total trade was 516, with a favourable trade :e for the year of £759,676. 1958 figures were £5,168,604 726,652 respectively, i wholesale and retail busi svas very good, net returns most businesses were very ctory.
"Appreciable Drop"
report says figures for 1960 s weaker because of the re cocoa and copra prices and Jler export of bananas and because of the weather, would be an “appreciable n import and export values”, reen April, 1959, and June, export price of cocoa beans ;d from £275 to £2lO a ton he average export price of dropped from £81.48 to £7O n. )rting on the cost of living, port says that using an index i 0 in 1951, the cost of living o 1,370 in 1959 —an increase per cent. The population in ame period increased from to 105,863 —or 24.67 per cent, ever, with a population esti at 125,000 by 1965, it would essary to increase the export ; by 18 per cent, to maintain resent living standard (ex ? any COL adjustments). Yet
trade for 1960, based on current produce prices and 1959 export quantities, would be likely to be 10 per cent, less than 1959.
Big Salary Expenses
The report notes that the Samoan Government spent a very large per centage of its revenue on salaries —namely 39.38 per cent, in 1959 and 45.46 per cent, in the 1960 budget.
Most of the Government expen diture on “development” has gone into non-productive avenues, and only about 10 per cent, has gone to agriculture.
The report comments on the
Bank of Western Samoa which started operations on April 1, 1959, and issued its first balance sheet covering trading up to December 31, 1959, showing very satisfactory re sults.
The report says the bank con tinues to merit the loyal support and confidence of the business community.
The report states that copra pro duction rose to 16,855 tons, against 9,683 tons in 1958. But it stresses that 40 years ago Samoa produced 16,356 tons of copra and this rep resented 9.1 cwt. per capita against 3.1 cwt. per capita in 1959. (Over)
says a major effort should be e to harvest the maximum pro ion and to encourage replant- Ln old areas. A large proportion rees were close to non-produc y and over-aged. This would >usly and adversely affect the oan economy of the future. ,moa’s cocoa production of 3 4,000 tons in 1959 looked in- Lficant in a world production of >OO tons, but as a flavour cocoa oan cocoa still would continue njoy a good demand in world kets. There was still room for rovement in the quality of the a.
Where The Cocoa Goes
Of the exported quantity, 2,054 tons went to the United Kingdom, 972 tons to the USA, 413 tons to NZ, 219 tons to Australia and 165 tons to Germany.
Samoan bananas exported in 1959—786,423 cases valued at £9o4,2Bl—were 98,132 cases less than those shipped in 1958 which were valued at £1,007,189. Due mainly to the strong winds experienced in January, 1960, which caused considerable damage to banana plantations, it was expected that banana shipments for 1960 would not exceed 600,000 cases.
The Chamber of Commerce re-
port gave detailed statistics of the imports of the Territory in 1959.
These constituted a record with a total valued at £2,560,420. ._’ ’ . Western Samoa had a favourable balance with the UK, NZ, Holland, Germany and American Samoa, but an adverse trade glance with Hongkong India, Africa, Canada, Australia, FI J I and all British Commonwealth countries, and with Indonesia, USA and Ja P an - The report said concern had been expressed at these adverse trade balances by the Government and the Chamber of Commerce and ef forts should be made to review the
programme in the light of revealing figures.
More NZ Trade he recent annual meeting of lamber of Commerce the New d Trade Commissioner, Mr.
Davies, addressed the mem nd urged an improvement in relations between New Zea land Western Samoa, particu ;he increased buying of New id goods. ibers expressed their desire to preference to New Zealand its whenever prices were com e and the quality equal to f goods from other countries. r er, they said, New Zealand eglected to advertise its pro and merchants were not what exactly New Zealand
had to offer. It was suggested that a sample room showing New Zealand products should be estab lished and New Zealand manufac turers should start an advertising campaign to acquaint Samoan im porters with their competitive lines.
Mr. A. M. Macdonald has been elected president of the W. Samoa Chamber of Commerce for the en suing year and Mr. R. A. H. Girvan, vice-president.
A formal inquiry will be held into the stranding of the Burns Philp (SS) Co. Ltd. cutter, Totoya, on Aiwa Reef, in the Lau Group of Fiji on September 17. The Totoya was on the reef for about two weeks.