Trusteeship Council Con'seil. De Tutelle
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United Nations Nations Unies UNRESTRIC'l!ED T/46/Add.;.l 25 September 1947 TRUSTEESHIP CON'SEIL. QRIGINAL: ETIULISH COUNCIL DE TUTELLE. REPORT TO THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL BY THE UNITED- NnTIONS 1ui' SSION TO WESTERN SI,l-10A. ____ ...,.._ ANNEXES TO THE REP CRT .T1/.l16/ic..d.,l \.Page i ''~. ,... ~...... -;- _, , . , .• ,• .•, T,';BLE 'OF CONTEii'I'S I. GENERAL: B;..CKGROOND A. '!'he physical· s~tting . l B. The people . : ♦ ' • 2 ,, I., . Ths hi storical .background •..,. • . • • • • • ,5 D. Research • . • . •. 8 II. POLITIC.AL ;i.DV;,NCEt..EfJT A. The basis of goYer nment • · . ·· 9 B. Executive goverP~nent . •• I 9 C. Legislative syr-tem ... ..· 10 D. T'm: Hon0l:r-:1ble F,'l.ut~a • ' , • ♦ • • • 12 E. The Fono of Fai~ule . .. 12 F. The Department of Nati ve Affair s 14 . G. Di strict and Yill,:i.'ge ad..T.inistr a tioI?, 15 H. The town of Apia . .. '• .. 17 I. Public order 17 J . .' . .. 18 The st ~tut e law and 3amoan custom . .• . 21 T .LI . Personnel • . 22 M. Publ ic Fin'.'.llce . .• . .. 27 / . il. • General economic situation B. Governr.,ent organization • . 40 C. · Land . D. Labour • • 91; • •• • • • • • .44 E. The Al eha. Land Gettlement .. · . .. 47 F. The -New Ze.s.land Reparation E?tat-es. .. 49 G. Corr.m.uni cations and public works 50 T/46/ Add,l ! . Pago ii IV. --SCCL\L--·-- ADV;J~CEI:ENT A. Health . 54 B. Educati-:m . ., . 59 · A.N"i-2X II - JEXI' Cr C.i-LFTF'i tS XII f,ND XIII CF THE CH;~RTER OF . 68 'IRUSTEESJHF ;·,~F.EE(I:l~T F0:1 T: lE TERHITCIRY OF WESTEKN S,.. Lo,:_ • • 73 . .. ,79 t..N!T"i.X_J:'.. - ST::rs::EJJ7 J,::_o:~ BY TE3 i:If_S_I_C_·N_t_lf_·O_N ITS ,'.,ffiHVd, )N WEST?JiiN c;~;· ..o; . cu 4 JeLY 191+7 . F'()IN?2 2.UBLITTED TO 'I'HE ;·~I2:3.ICN BY TES EUROPE;,,N · CITI?EN:1 1 G(X .dTTEE QH 9 JUI.Y 191+.7, rnr.t:JDIN~ ♦ • . .. • • • ' • 90 ANNLX VII - POiJ:TB EE0,JWilJG SF.LF-C:-OVERlI. :E:JT RECO}lMENDED TO TH;; i-;rs::c:ICN EY THE F,\!JTU,\S . hti·.BERS c,F THE 1 I.EGI.:::L., TIVE 1';0r_1NCIL . F;.IFJLE:;. :.GfOCI. • 'l'ED . .. 94 i'.!.NNEX VIII :::T;.. TI:i-::ENT !'•i:.DE Ii'J T!i'E HOUGE CF REFRESEiJTf~TlVES ')F NE~~ ZE.J,:·.rm c,n 27 ... :JGL'ST 191.i.7 l"Y ;.CTING P:1.D(E riW.ISTFR . THB RIGdT HON . , .• N.nCH. CW P0LITic,;,1, ;,nv. J,!C?:; J~l'JT IN LiS'I'El:UJ SHi .o;,. • • T/46/Add.l' Pagel ANNEX · I FACTUAL INFORM.A.TION ON UESTElli\J §AMOA I - GENERAL BACKGRCUND A. The physical s2tting 1. The land area cf Western Samoa is approximately 1130 square miles. .The Territory is _made up of two main islands, Upolu1 on which the capital town Apia is situated, and' Savai ti. Upolu with several outlying islets has a tctal area of about, 430 square miles, and Savai 'i ·has about 700 square miles. For comparison it may be noted that adjacent_ American Samoa has arc area of approximately 75 square miles, and Tonga I mentioned in the petition, appr0ximateiy 270 squa.re mi- les. 2. The islands 7 situated some 14 degrees south of the equator I have a tropicql . cli.Jn...ate, with heaV'J precipitation and occasional seve+e storms. They are of vol-· canic fom.ation, with rugged and mountainous terrain, rising to.an elevation of 3,608 feet in Up0lu a~d 6,094 feet in savaiti. Coral roefs fringe much of the coastline. Volcanic eruptions have covered sections of the i·slands with lava : flows, especially on savai ri, where volcanic activity has occurred as recently as 1905 and 1906. Though the islands are heavily forestC::d 1 scils a.re generally thin and rocky, and cultiv3.tion t-o date has been l:L1iited aJ.Jnost wholly to the coastal , area where the people liv8 1 and to the adjacent _lower slopes.· 3. The economic res0urces of the Territory are confined to agricultural and marine prnducts, together with lirriited but useful forestry resources. No .rlnerals of ccrmT,ercial value are known to exist. Transport and communication are restricted by the fact that apart from several bays on north Upolu the sea approaches are' limited to passage by small _boat. Vessels from 0verseas come only to Apia, where there is· fairly sheltered anchorage inside the reef• T/46/Add.l Page 2 B. --·----The people 4. Tho l~test official estiffi~tes (31 March, 1947) indicated a total population of 71,460. It consisted of 372 full (white) Eurcpeans, 5,134 Eurripeans 11f part--SU!i',OQ.n r:.nc.:;stry, 65,695 Samoans, 296 Chinese, of whom all I but si..x were lab0urers, and 63 Melanesian labourers. Of ·the group classed as sc..moe.n ilbnut 6on are really isl.1.nd0rs frcm other central Pacific Islar:ds living te;::rpor2.rily or ::-iermancntly in the Territcry 0 5. The general l,:;7cl of living conditions n.nd health n! ,t.he resi- dent population is r8ason::-,bl;y gc0d. There are no problems cf post~war rcconstr~ction and rchabiljtatinn, such as are at present serious' in many parts of the world. J!o poverty er dcsti tution o:ists, b0cause of the ease of getting a li vcliho0d and the mc:intcnance of fc?.r:ii.ly and cc.::rn.'Tlunity cr,'.'.'pera- tion under the S~t'D!J.n s0cial system. 6. Tha S2moan people 2.re at this tirne one of the most r2.pidly in croasinc p0pub.ticn gr0ups in the ~-,c-rld. According to thi census figures 1 which appear rc::isonably accurate, tho number C'f S,3.J'.';oans has increased from 32,601 i!l J.921 to 52,266 in 1936, ::.nd then to 61,867 Ly 19!+5, the date of tbe Ls.st c cr;sus. Their birth:t.:-:.tc, lir,ked t0 persisting S:-1,.n,orm Fa:nily customs, contimws to be vsry high by western st:mdarcl.s, while the dsath r,3.te has been lcwered th::--o"..lgh he;alth vmrk <lnd c-;th.0r factors to .:1. comp:1ratively low figure, ' At the time o:t the 1945 census, 1+5. 8 percent of the population was under fifteen years of age, an extr~orcinarily high proportion, which opens the we.y to a contfr1uing- rapid incrB::>.se 3,t le.1.cit fer the next generation or two as these children erter the reproductive age levels. If pres,mt tr~nds con tinue witl,~ut sctb2cks such as serious epider.i.ics, the Samo&n population may well doubl~ within twenty yefcrs, bringing the tot3.l to about 150,000. This is cnmpc1r,:i.ble to the situation in American .Samoa, with n present population of ~bout 18,000 sa~0ans now increasing at approxirnately the same rate. ,.., I• The full (tihite) European population has decreased considerably in the la.st two decades. Apart from the c:,fficiul and missionary groups and 8 mployees of the New ze2.land Reparation Estates, there are only about 75 ·.- T/46/Add.l . Page 3 white resident; in the Territo~.r:· Almost no new inm1igration ·has taken place in recent 1ears, and most of these older settl~rs are married to .persons of scni.oa.n encestry. By today over 93 percent of ·the group holding EtJ.i,opcan sta.- •.. .· . \ ., tus are local~born ·part.:...sarr:9-ans. -. This group has ·oeen increasing faster· even ·than the Samoans, and a majority of them are at the pre-:-productive age._. levels, presaging further rapid increase. 8. The categories 11 Samoann and nEuropean11 , w~ich once had·a racial basis, have by now a legal status which does not have strict reference either ' ; . \ ' ' ,- .:._ to type of ancestr<J or to ways of living~ The two· grOups are differen- _ . tiated importantly as regards, their legal rights and limitations, as in ~ \ - . , - political representation; land holding, schooling, and.c<'.lurt procedures. But the Sarnoan group contains, .. in addition to full Samoans 1 a numerous ' though statistically uncounted ele:r..1ent of mixed white· or /1piatic descent 1 and also persons of oth~r island ancestry. stnce 193~, too, a legal pr9~ cedure has existed by which part-Samoans of European status who are of half or more Samoan blood may be grant~d samoanstatus. jA reverse' proce- dure has existed even longer, in fact from German times, bi which persons of Samoan status who are of part~EUropean ancestry may be granted European status. Other part-Samoans hold European status as bei~g the legitirnate descendants in the :male line of EUropean fathers by legal marriages. _Still · ,. others have obtained this status by a lc;,w of 1944 which declared to be Europeans all persons not already considered as Sa.moans, 'and not haying male · ancestors in the male line· with more than three-que.rters ·polynesian blood •. By this law a· large number of persons of Asiatic-sa..~oan ancestry, descen- / _, , I / dants of Chinese fathers·, became Europeans, so that abo~t 15 percent of. the ~ ' . Europeans in the Territory are not of white ance~try at, ·all. 9.· This legal dichotomy between the sa~oan and European residents, so obviously by now an artificial distinctio·r:,, has created serious problems, especially for many-of the.part,;_Samoans, and is an increasing.