The "slump" in rubber proved a set-back in the economic development of the Colony.
A report of the Consul at Dar-es-Salaam states the number of rubber trees planted and ready for tapping were 19,000,000.
The report proceeds: "Owing to the low prices, all the plantations have limited the number of hands employed, and two of the largest suspended tapping entirely. The planters are heavily handicapped by having to pay the costs of recruiting labour in the interior and its transport down to the plantation. The costs often amount to about £2, 10s. per head before work is begun, and the rate of wages is high—about 16s. 6d. per month for a Wanyamwezi tapper. Owing to a slight rise in the price of rubber, tapping has been resumed by some of theplanters, and there is a more hopeful feeling. The small planter has probably a better chance than the large company; his working expenses are less, he can often obtain local labour cheaply or get time-expired hands without paying recruiting fees; and, in addition, he can keep his men under more personal control.
"The outlook for the larger estates is far from reassuring, and it is said that some of them have already begun to cut down the rubber trees to make room for other crops. The Colonial Economic Committee is taking steps to introduce a standard quality of East African rubber, the absence of which is another difficulty which has hampered the planters.
"There is only one large washing and curing factory in the Colony, at Muhesa, though there are several smaller ones in Usambara. Most of the planters wash the rubber themselves, with the result that it has often to be done again in Europe."
The natives collect rubber from the wild forest vines, but rubber balls sent in by Europeans and natives alike are cut through the middle to detect the presence of a core of leaves or other foreign substance.
Cotton and coffee are articles also jointly produced by planters and natives.
As elsewhere in tropical Africa, cotton grew wild and is now extensively cultivated—the value exported in 1912 being £105,000.
The coffee produced by the natives is either collected from the trees which grow wild or by cultivating the indigenous plants. The wild coffee has a small misshapen bean, but is excellently flavoured, the quality of the bean improving with each year of keeping. The value of coffee exported amounts to about £100,000 per annum.
On the highlands oats, barley, and wheat are grown successfully; and other articles of export are hides and skins, coming chiefly from the district round Lake Victoria and from the provinces of Ruanda and Urundi, which abound with millions of head of cattle and other live stock.
The slopes of the highlands are covered with short sweet grass, and are well watered with perennial streams, which might easily be diverted into channels to irrigate the land below.
Though sheep do well in parts, the grass in the main grows too coarse for any small stock, and requires feeding down.
The cattle are still nearly all in the hands of the natives, but the Germans turned the hides to profit, £200,000 worth having been exported in 1912.
The exportation of cattle is prohibited, but traders from Rhodesia have made their way up into German East Africa, where they traded cattle from the natives at prices averaging about 40s., and managed to return with large herds of the quaint "hump-backed" beasts, known as "Madagascar cattle," to southern Rhodesia, where they founda ready market at an average price of about £7, 10s.
Horses do fairly well in parts of the country only, but a small variety of extremely hardy and strong donkey is plentiful; and these are most useful for transport work, being able it seems to live on the memory of a pannikin of maize, and capable of being packed with any weight.
The cultivation of chillies and pea-nuts is exclusively a native industry, and the export of pea-nuts in 1912 amounted to £62,500.
The collection of palm-oil and copra, too, is in native hands, the nuts being collected from the wild palms which grow in their thousands on the coast belts.
The European planters in recent years commenced cocoa-nut palm cultivation, but the million trees planted have not yet come to maturity.
Gum-copal, the resin of an indigenous tree, used for varnishing, and the wax of wild bees is also collected by the natives in the forests, and the export of beeswax in recent years has averaged about £50,000.
This system of collection by natives means the reduction of economic resources, as in collecting wild rubber the vines are destroyed and so are the swarms of bees in the search for wax.
There are other trees capable of commercial exploitation, such as the baobab (cream of tartar tree), cazou, the nuts of which are largely exportedfrom Jamaica, and wattle, the bark of which produces tannin.
The timber possibilities are great, as large forests of cedar exist and a certain amount has been exported.
The geological formation is similar to British East Africa; and although prospecting for minerals is not encouraged, gold in payable quantities has been discovered and worked, and gold to the value of about £30,000 has been exported annually for some years.
Mica of good quality is found in the Uluguru Mountains on the Tanganyika railway about 124 miles from Dar-es-Salaam, and about 100 tons are exported annually.
A promising proposition exists at Magadi in a large lake of carbonate of soda, which a British company has endeavoured to secure. In time this should prove one of the principal industries, as the deposit appears to be unlimited. The inter-native trade does not amount to much, as in this direction the Indian can compete with and outreach even the German.
As a "commercial" Colony for the production of raw materials, the Germans looked upon their East African territory as the jewel of their possessions.
It was intended to give in August, 1914, a demonstration of the economic life of the Colony, and to hold at Dar-es-Salaam an exhibition for the wholecountry, to be connected with the opening of the working of the whole length of the Tanganyika railway.
The exhibition was to have been held under the patronage and graced by the presence of the German Crown Prince, and festivities extending over a fortnight were arranged for. German firms were to have sent a large number of exhibits, and numbers of visitors from Europe were expected. Visitors have certainly since arrived, but not in the guise it was anticipated.
On 8th August, 1914, H.M.S.PegasusandAstraeaappeared before Dar-es-Salaam and proceeded to destroy the powerful wireless station, and in a few hours the town and several liners in the harbour surrendered.
ThePegasuswas subsequently attacked by theKönigsbergwhile the former was at anchor, and being outranged was destroyed.
TheKönigsbergdid not, however, have a long spell of liberty, for she was shortly afterwards discovered by H.M.S.Chathamhiding in shoal water, sheltered from view by dense palms, about six miles up the Rufigi River Opposite Mafia Island, and put out of action.
Meanwhile British forces composed of Sikhs, other Indian troops, and King's African Rifles, whose headquarters are Zanzibar, proceeded from British Central and British East Africa to occupy the German territory.
When the Germans entered the field of Colonial enterprise in 1884, the European Powers chiefly concerned in Africa were Great Britain, France, and Portugal—the latter's connection with the Dark Continent, indeed, dating from the earliest days of its modern history.
Portuguese power had, however, been for some time in process of decay, and her influence was on the wane.
The interests of France were centred in the north and north-west of the continent, while Great Britain was supreme in the south.
The adventure of Leopold, King of the Belgians, on the Congo was still a private venture in the hands of H. M. Stanley, and had not yet borne fruit in the shape of the Congo Free State.
British and French had been actively engaged in operations for the suppression of the slave trade, but the energies of the two countries were at this time being devoted rather to the development of thetrading stations established on the Gold and Slave Coasts on the Gulf of Guinea.
"Spheres of influence" were being leisurely demarcated by France and Great Britain—the latter feeling so secure in her position that she hardly treated seriously, in fact scouted, the notion of being rivalled in her supremacy.
For some considerable time Germany had been making an effort to secure a portion of the trade of the west coast, overcoming the difficulty of introducing her cheap and inferior goods by giving them English and French trademarks, quite in keeping with the best principles of German trade.
Trading stations on the Gulf of Guinea were established by Germans, who immediately, employing the obsequiousness which has enabled the German to tread many an unaccustomed path, began to approach native chiefs for concessions.
Nearly the whole territory, known respectively as the Grain Coast, Gold Coast, Ivory Coast, and Slave Coast, was beneficially occupied by the French and British; but parts had not been formally annexed between the British Colony of the Gold Coast and French Dahomey. The French really had a prior claim, but the natives were continually petitioning the British Government to take them under their protection.
In French Dahomey itself Germans had established many trading stations, and began to pay particular attention to a strip of the Slave Coastbetween Lome Bay and Popo, including Porto Seguro.
Great Britain had not yet awakened to Germany's real intentions, and all her policy was accompanied by procrastination and dilatoriness. The repeated petitions of the natives for British protection were ignored or put aside "for inquiry and consideration," pending which the natives received no reply to their applications.
The lesson taught at Angra Pequena, where the whole of the south-west coast from the Orange River to Portuguese Angola was lost to Great Britain in spite of the strenuous efforts of the Colonial statesmen, was ignored; though it must be conceded that there was an influential section in England strongly opposed to further increasing Great Britain's responsibilities oversea and thus hampering the Colonial and Foreign Offices.
In the month of June, 1884, an emissary of the German Government, Dr Nachtigal, was dispatched to the west coast of Africa, ostensibly as a Trade Commissioner, to inquire into and report upon the progress of German commerce.
Bismarck having decided on his policy of "Trade Colonies" under Imperial protection, pursued it vigorously and with his usual diplomacy.
He immediately acquainted the British Foreign Office with the fact of the mission, but took the opportunity of hoodwinking Lord Granville as to its object—if he did not actually disclaim any intentionof territorial acquisition. Dr Nachtigal proceeded to the French settlements on the Ivory Coast, and interviewed the German traders there in preparation for hiscoup; thence he made for the thirty-two mile strip south of Lome, now known as Togoland, and on the 5th July the German flag was hoisted and the territory declared annexed by Germany.
The natives accepted the position quietly, having been impressed with the greatness of Germany by plentiful gifts of firearms and spirits.
While the coastline of Togoland is only 32 miles in length, the area which the Germans claimed as their "sphere of influence" widens to three or four times that width in the interior.
In accordance with the amazing German native policy, the next step to annexation was terrorism—the mailed fist under the glove of peaceful trade, and the natives were "taught a sharp lesson."
Germany's action in declaring a Protectorate over Togoland met with protests from the British and French Governments, and protracted negotiations ensued and continued for some considerable time; in fact it was not until 1897 that the boundary line between Togoland and French Dahomey was settled by a Franco-German agreement. The western boundary was defined by the Anglo-German agreements of 1890 and 1899.
On the south of the Gulf of Guinea, stretching from Old Calabar to the French Congo, liesKamerun (known also as the Cameroons) off which is the Spanish Island of Fernando Po.
In 1842 the French occupied the Gaboon and gradually brought under subjection the country between the coast and the Congo; while a British mission was established at Victoria in Kamerun in 1858.
The country had for many years been explored and opened up by British explorers and traders, and the British flag had, in fact, been hoisted. The territory had, however, never been formally taken possession of, although the Dualla native kings had for years petitioned the British Government to be taken under their protection. At the end of 1883 our Foreign Office decided to accede to the natives' request, and to establish a Protectorate over Kamerun.
Going about the business, however, in the usual dilatory fashion, it was some six months before instructions were issued to Mr Hewett, British Consul, to proceed to Kamerun and declare the territory annexed, subject to the willingness of the Dualla kings to make concessions.
German traders had strongly established themselves in the territory and had won over a considerable number of the natives by the usual means of bribery and unlimited gin.
Mr Hewett proceeded to Kamerun to find that Dr Nachtigal had forestalled him.
Immediately after having hoisted the German flagover Togoland, Dr Nachtigal at Kamerun commenced negotiations with the Duallas; and when the British Representative arrived the German flag had been floating for several days over the mainland opposite Fernando Po.
Germany's intentions were only now regarded as serious in England, and by Mr Hewett, who immediately left Kamerun and proceeded to make treaties along the coast, thereby being instrumental in securing the delta of the Niger, or that, too, might have been lost to England.
The acquisition of Togoland and Kamerun by Germany was looked on as a triumph of diplomacy for Bismarck, who was reproached, it seems unreasonably and peevishly, by Lord Granville for not having disclosed the real object for which Dr Nachtigal had been sent out. It is remarkable, however, that in view of Germany's action in South West Africa, which was even then the subject of correspondence, the true purpose of the mission was not divined.
Togoland enjoys the distinction of being the smallest and at the same time the most prosperous of the German Colonies. The Colony is 33,700 square miles in extent, with a coastline of only thirty-two miles, reaching from Lome, on theborder of the British Colony of the Gold Coast, to Grand Popo on the boundary of French Dahomey.
The French Colonies of Upper Senegal and Niger are the northern boundary; while it is bounded on the east by French Dahomey and by the British Gold Coast on the west.
The climate is tropical, and like the rest of the Guinea coast the coast-belt is hot, humid and malaria-stricken, such as is generally met with in low-lying forest country or on the coast at sea-level anywhere in the Tropics.
Lying behind the coast-belt are stretches of dense forest containing palms, rubber vines, and considerable quantities of timber of good quality. Arising farther inland are high and extensive plateaux, many of the elevated parts being free from malaria and capable of yielding quantities of natural products. The richness of its natural resources indeed made Togoland almost immediately after annexation financially independent.
There is a German population in Togoland of 1,537, nearly all of whom are officials and soldiers; and of the 131 so-called settlers, the majority are plantation managers and overseers.
The native population amounts to 3,500,000, and they are divided into numerous tribes, embracing many degrees ofkulturfrom raw cannibals to comparatively civilised states.
The administration is in the hands of an Imperial Governor, surrounded by a swarm ofofficials and a local council of unofficial members, who are, as a rule, the representatives of merchant houses.
Immediately on acquiring Togoland, the Germans commenced sending trading expeditions into the interior, and extending their "sphere of influence" inland. A central trading station (Bismarcksburg) was established, and a trade centre was created for each tribe. Two hundred and twenty miles of railway have been built in three lines, all starting from Lome—one 80 miles in length to Palime and another 120 miles to Atakpanie.
Lack of proper transport facilities has retarded the development of the Colony, as owing to the lack of transport animals nearly the whole of the carrying of produce is done by natives.
The prosperity of the Colony is entirely due to the exploitation of the natives; in fact the economic life of the country depends upon the natives' industry. Nearly the whole of the agriculture is in the hands of natives, some of whom have plantations of their own. Only 250,000 acres are in the hands of Europeans, and less than a quarter of these are cultivated.
The hardships inflicted on the native, however, are forgotten by the German trader in his excessive eagerness to get as much as he can out of him; and this has resulted in some rubber-collecting districts in depopulation and a consequent falling off in the production.
The principal exports of Togoland are india-rubber, palm-oil and kernels, cotton and cocoa. Tobacco is also being tried with favourable results.
Rubber forms nearly one-half of the total exports, and is nearly all wild rubber collected by natives from the forest vines—an expensive form of production, as the vines are destroyed in the process.
Palm-oil and palm kernels (largely used in the manufacture of nut butter or margarine) forms another important item. The nuts are collected mainly from the palms originally introduced by the Portuguese and now found in forests for many miles from the coast.
In 1911 the export of palm kernels amounted to 13,000 tons, but fell to 7,000 tons in 1913 owing to a scarcity of native labour.
The natives of Togoland are said to have cultivated cotton in almost every part of the country from time immemorial, and an average of about 500 tons is exported annually.
The Germans, realising the importance of this article, did all they could to extend the cultivation of cotton. The cultivation is entirely in the hands of natives, but an agricultural school was started for them by the Government to train them in better methods of growing cotton, and they were supplied with ploughs and other agricultural implements as well as seed, free of cost.
A certain amount of cocoa is grown on native plantations, 335 tons being shipped during 1913. The natives have also taken kindly to a new crop in the shape of maize, the export of which rose from 103 tons in 1911 to 2,500 in 1913.
Although the conformation of the country is very similar to British Nigeria and other parts of the coasts where gold, tin, and other minerals have been discovered and worked, the Germans have not embarked upon the enterprise of having the country prospected for minerals—a probable cause being that prospecting entails expenditure of money, and to the German this is the negative purpose of a Trade Colony!
Besides being a source of wealth in trade, Togoland was in reality of great strategical value, being connected by cable with Germany and with Dualla in the Kamerun; while Kamina was connected by a powerful wireless installation with Dar-es-Salaam in German East Africa and with Windhoek, the capital of German South West Africa.
On 26th August, 1914, Togoland was occupied by the Gold Coast Regiment of the West African Frontier Force, assisted by a French force from Dahomey.
The Germans destroyed the wireless station at Kamina and asked for terms, but eventually surrendered unconditionally.
Kamerun, on the Gulf of Guinea, south of Togoland, and bounded on the north by British Nigeria and on the south by the French Gaboon (Rio Campo), comprises 291,000 square miles, including 100,000 square miles ceded to Germany out of French Equatorial Africa as the price of the Moroccan Settlement, under the Franco-German agreement of 1911.
The physical features are very similar to Togoland, but much of the interior is mountainous—the foothills and fertile slopes being covered with dense vegetation.
There is the usual German population of officials and merchants—1,871 in number; and a native population of 2,500,000.
While not so prosperous as Togoland, Kamerun has nevertheless been developed on the usual German plan of officialism; but the natives have not proved so tractable. It is possible that the Dualla tribes still feel the disappointment at having their petitions for protection by Great Britain ignored; one German writer, indeed, speaks of the Dualla natives as a hindrance to progress.
Kamerun was administered by an Imperial Governor, a Chancellor and two secretaries, with a local council of three merchants. Professor Bönn pointed out that there are ample signs ofthe growing strength of the administration, and gives as an instance that there is a yearly increase in the number of native criminals brought to justice. The ever-increasing returns of the hut tax, too, which in the Kamerun has nearly doubled in the last four years, is pointed to as proof of increased administrative efficiency.
Kamerun stretches into the interior to Lake Tchad, in the direction of which a railway has been built for 400 miles.
The trade of the Colony in 1912 amounted to £1,629,895 imports and £1,102,803 exports, the latter being the usual tropical products.
Cotton is known to have been grown and cultivated round about Lake Tchad for centuries, and agricultural experimental stations have been established in the lake districts. As in Togoland, the agriculture is all in native hands.
Kamerun has been held back by transport difficulties which it was hoped to overcome by building railways, and railway projects were propagated energetically which it was hoped to carry into effect shortly.
The usual means of transport, as in other parts of the coast, is by native carrier; and the villages are therefore grouped within a reasonable distance of the main trade routes, paths which the chiefs and people are responsible for keeping in order.
Palm-oil and copra are, as in the other West African Colonies, the chief articles of export; andpalm kernels are daily coming more and more into use in Europe as a substitute for butter, and for the manufacture of cattle-food, etc. Two-thirds of the copra exported from Kamerun, amounting to £300,000 worth in 1912, went to Germany and one-third to England.
In the Colony itself five oil works have been established, but owing to lack of transport it is calculated that three-fourths of the yield of the oil palm trees is left to rot on the ground unused.
The forests of Kamerun hold an immense quantity of trees bearing timber of excellent quality, and this to the value of £35,000 was exported in 1912.
Round the Kamerun mountains exist large tracts under cultivation of cocoa, of which 4,550 tons, valued at £212,500, were exported in 1912. The natives have been urged to extend this industry, and travelling instructors were appointed by the Government to train them in the best methods of cultivation. More and more fresh as well as dried bananas, too, have been exported from Kamerun, and this trade offers a promising field of enterprise.
Ten per cent of the exports of the Colony go to England, while nearly 15 per cent of the imports are of British origin.
The native policy is in the Kamerun worse, ifpossible, than in Togoland, and the natives have been systematically sweated. While the revenue is principally obtained from customs dues and a generalad valoremduty on imported goods (with preference in favour of Germany of course), a poll tax is levied upon natives, together with a toll upon those using Government roads. There is every reason to believe that the Dualla natives will hail with delight deliverance from the German yoke.
The British West African Frontier Force on 25th August, 1914, crossed the Anglo-German frontier from Nigeria, and after considerable opposition and suffering appreciable losses, advanced on Dualla.
H.M.S.CumberlandandDwarfhad, while these events were taking place on land, reconnoitred the mouth of the Kamerun River and the approaches to Dualla, at the same time capturing a number of German merchant liners.
On 24th September French troops from Libreville attacked Ukoko in Corisco Bay, attended by the French warshipSurprise. The French and British forces combined on 27th September in an attack on the towns of Dualla and Bonaberi, following upon a bombardment by the British ships; and the towns surrendered unconditionally to the allied force, after destroying the wireless station.
Although some 1,500 prisoners were taken, alarge portion of the garrisons, some 2,000 (whites) in number, managed to escape to concentrate in the interior. Of the prisoners 500 were handed over to the French and the remainder, owing to the difficulty of feeding them, sent to England.
Of the islands in the southern seas where the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet, and amongst which Australia forms a fifth continent, some are mere vaults in which repose the relics of ill-advised and vainly attempted ventures, whilst others are fruitful gardens wherein flourish the trees whose sturdy growth testifies to the good seed from which they sprang and the skill of the gardeners who planted them.
The Archipelagos lying south of the China Seas were first explored from the west by the Portuguese and Dutch in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the steel glove upon which the mailed fist seems afterwards to have been modelled failed to retain a hold upon the territory which it grasped.
The Portuguese, indeed, abandoned their enterprises in the southern seas in favour of developing their trade between Goa and the east coast of Africa. They excelled as navigators and explorers, but the whole of their history shows that they have never formed any conception of the principles of administration.
GERMAN COLONIES IN THE PACIFIC, 1914.GERMAN COLONIES IN THE PACIFIC, 1914.(Reproduced by permission ofThe Times.)
The Dutch concentrated on Java, Sumatra and Borneo, and ever since have waged war with the natives.
It seems strange that both these nations should have decentralised Colonial interests away from their home countries, in striking contrast to our own country which has pursued a policy binding her oversea dominions closer and closer to the motherland—a policy which has eventuated in the formation of a comity of nations firmly united by the bonds of sentimental tradition and common commercial interest.
The Portuguese made Goa the centre of their East African and Eastern enterprises,[G]and the Dutch placed the Cape of Good Hope (while it was in their possession) under the administration of Batavia in the Island of Java.
The spice trade attracted adventurers of all the pioneering nations. Spain made extensive voyages of discovery and plunder in the South Seas, and their galleons for many years provided the excitement of the chase as well as profit in "double pieces of eight" for British sea rovers; but the Spanish acquired but a tentative hold upon territory, and this was finally released by the Spanish-American War of 1901.
The legacy of Spain to the South Seas was the romantic occupation of searching for wrecks bearing cargoes of doubloons and the abandoned booty of pirates, which they seem to have collected for the specific purpose of burying in brass-clamped chests on uninhabited islands for the benefit of the adventurous spirit who might in future years display sufficient enterprise and determination to find his way through the maze which surrounded the prizes.
The latter part of the seventeenth century saw one of the greatest periods of British activities in venturing trade abroad, albeit it often-times took the form of preying upon the rich cargoes collected by the Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese marauders. This, however, was then the most approved and recognised form of commerce.
Direct trade in Borneo and Sumatra by the British was commenced in about 1685, and "factories" were established to develop the spice trade which was then the richest of the East, a cargo of pepper-corns being regarded as one of the most valuable that could avoid a meddlesome buccaneer and be safely brought to port.
The voyages of Captain Cook, whose name ranks high amongst the pioneers of our Empire, and who discovered and named many of the island groups as well as the east coast of Australia, where hehoisted the British flag, really firmly established British interests in the South Seas, after strenuous struggles with the Dutch who regarded the area as most particularly their "sphere of influence."
Through the last decades of the eighteenth century British influence and prestige grew, and the apathy of the statesmen at home was not allowed by their sons on the spot to interfere with energetic development and settlement which proceeded apace.
Coming rather late in the day, France was, through private British enterprise, forestalled in her principal designs which were centred on New Zealand, and her "protection" was only extended to some small island groups such as New Caledonia, lying between Australia and Fiji, and for which she found use as penal establishments.
The big prizes of the Pacific—Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand—had fallen to the heritage of Great Britain, and development rather concentrated on these magnificent offshoots of British oak.
There were other important groups of islands, however, which, although locally regarded as natural adjuncts of the Australian Settlements, were not definitely taken possession of. The most important of these were New Guinea and the Samoan group.
New Guinea is divided from the Queensland province of Australia by the shoal-dotted TorresStraits, about 90 miles wide; while the Samoan Islands lie east of Fiji.
The Portuguese Magellan was the first discoverer in the sixteenth century of New Guinea (also known as Papua), while the new name appears to have been given to the island by Ortiz de Retez, who laid down certain points.
During the centuries succeeding, New Guinea received frequent visitors representing European nations, amongst them Captain Cook and Tasman, whose name is perpetuated in Tasmania though the island for many years bore the name of his lieutenant, Van Diemen, and was known as "Van Diemen's Land."
New Guinea was also frequently visited by Chinese fishing junks in search of bêche-de-mer, or trepang.
The Dutch from their adjacent settlements in Java and Borneo were supreme in the north of New Guinea without exercising any effective jurisdiction, and relied upon the difficult navigation of New Guinea waters for a continuance of their exclusiveness.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century they (the Dutch) had practically a monopoly of the spice trade, and were extremely jealous of any other nations obtaining a footing in spice islands, where their monopoly might be jeopardised. They obstinately refused all access to New Guinea; but the Dutch barrier was broken downby emissaries of the British East India Company in search of spice islands, and in 1793 New Guinea was annexed by two commanders in the service of the company, and the territory was thereafter regarded as an adjunct of Queensland, although no steps were taken for an administrative occupation.
In 1828 the Dutch erected a fortress to protect the rights they claimed in New Guinea, but this they abandoned in 1835.
While Samoa and numerous other groups of islands were not incorporated in the dominions of the countries whose explorers "discovered" them, and their savage inhabitants were allowed to continue their own administration, a brisk British trade sprang up between Australasia and the islanders.
The necessity for bringing either New Guinea or the Samoan group under direct rule was not an expediency that presented itself as an urgent one to either the Imperial British or Australian Governments as long as fair trading conditions prevailed on harmonious lines and the lives and private property of British traders were safeguarded, until in about 1880 the tips of the tentacles of the German octopus delicately spread out to seek the spots whereon to plant the suckers of trading stations, behind them the unlidded eyes of Imperial Protection watching to gauge the value of the prize and the parrot-beaked maw ready to grasp for the satisfaction of Prussian greed.
A flourishing inter-coastal and island trade had long been established by the United States of America, but until 1898, when they annexed Hawaii and occupied Samoa, the United States adhered to their doctrine of not attempting territorial acquisition outside their own continental borders.
By 1883 the Germans had firmly established themselves commercially, and their influence began to be most markedly denoted in disaffection amongst the natives and in inter-tribal wars—notably in Samoa.
In this year the British New Guinea Colonising Society proposed an expedition to Lord Carnarvon, who was then Colonial Secretary, but the minister declined to lend his support to an enterprise which he considered entailed too much risk.
The enterprise was imagined in collaboration with supporters of Imperial extension in Australasia, and, acting on their own initiative, the Government of Queensland, with the approval of the whole of Australia, annexed a portion of New Guinea to her dominions; but this act was disavowed by the British Government and declared to be "null in point of law and not to be admitted in point of policy."
Queensland most determinedly represented to the Government of Australia and our Imperial minister the danger to her commerce if NewGuinea were to fall into the hands of a foreign Power by annexation.
The prospect did not appear alarming to the home statesmen, nor did further annexation of the South Sea Islands enter into their scheme of practical politics; and, therefore, when the proclamation of a Protectorate over the whole of New Guinea and the adjacent islands (including the New Britain Archipelago, the Solomon, Caroline, Palau, Marshall, and Ladrone Islands) under a High Commissioner was determined on at a conference held by the Australian Colonies at Sydney in 1883 and recommended to the Imperial Government, our Colonial Office met the proposal with discouragement.
In November, 1884, however, the Home Government was persuaded to proclaim in New Guinea a Protectorate over the region lying "between the 141st meridian eastward as far as East Cape, with the adjacent islands as far as Kosman Island."
This brought under the British flag the southern portion of New Guinea, known as Papua, only; but in other parts of the islands there were British settlements originating in Australia which were left under no effective jurisdiction.
In December, 1884, the Germans, having firmly established themselves commercially in the Samoan Islands, began to definitely and formally annex territory; the German flag was hoistedin the northern part of New Guinea and on several of the adjacent islands, and the German "Colony" received the unpromising name of "Kaiser Wilhelm's Land."
The Australian Colonies immediately lodged an indignant protest; but arrogance, overglossed with suavity, carried the day, and a friendly agreement in regard to New Guinea was made between Great Britain and Germany in 1885, whereby the latter assumed administration over the northern portion of the island, to subjection of the jurisdiction of which were later added the Caroline, Palau and Marianne Islands.
"New Britain" undertook the responsibility of the name "Bismarck Archipelago"; and the principal island of the group was renamed New-Pommern, with its capital at Herbertshöhe.
In 1888 British New Guinea was constituted a separate Colony, but the administration was, in 1902, placed in the hands of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Up to 1884 affairs in the islands comprising the kingdom of Samoa had proceeded along the lines of progress, and the three nations chiefly concerned in the Samoan trade (Great Britain, Germany, and the United States of America) were conducting commerce without friction until the Germans felt strong enough to assume an aggressive attitude, not only towards their trade rivals but also the native Samoans whose property they coveted.
The German influence began to be most markedly denoted in disaffection amongst the natives and in inter-tribal wars. It was in 1884, indeed, that the German pretensions to a say in the administrative control of Samoa began to be recognised by Great Britain and the United States as the German faculty for instigating disputes amongst the islanders made desirable the institution of some European control over the native administration.
The affairs of State in Samoa were conducted under the rule of native kings (two) and chiefs, but constant feuds and bickerings disturbed the tranquillity of the islands.
It was really German influence that was the disturbing element, for inter-tribal strife was fomented in order that "repressive measures for the establishment of law and order" on the part of the Imperial Government might elevate German prestige.
Apia, the chief town on the principal island of the Samoan group, Upolu, became the centre of trade of the eastern South Sea Islands, though its chief importance to the outside world exists in its incentive to a distinguished memory. Agreements were made by the Samoan kings at various dates with Great Britain, the United States and Germany. Each of the treaty agreements contained a "most-favoured-nation" clause, and empowered the foreign state to form naval stations and coaling depots at various parts of the island group.
In April, 1885, it was deemed advisable by the British Government to appoint a Commissioner to confer with a nominee of the German Government upon the subject of British and German interests respectively in such parts of the Western Pacific Ocean as might be placed by either Government under its special protection, with a view to recommending the adoption by both Governments of such principles as, in the opinion of the Commissioners, might be applied to better regulate and protect the interests of their respective subjects, each within the other's region of jurisdiction.
The movement was inaugurated by the German Government and was the old game successfully played by Luderitz in South West Africa of applying to the Imperial German Government for its "powerful protection" as soon as commercial interests were well established.
The British Commissioner was Mr Thurston, who seems to have throughout been altogether dominated by the German nominee and to have cheerfully acquiesced in and recommended to our Government the adoption of every suggestion put forward by the German Representative.
The Commission, which dealt exclusively with the position of the three treaty nations in Samoa, submitted that the existing unsettled state of affairs in Samoa under the native kings and chiefs was incompatible with the maintenance of peace and order and destructive of the best interests both ofthe Samoans themselves and of the foreign residents in the islands, and did not see any hope of improvement owing to the long-standing feuds and divisions of the natives.
They recommended, therefore, that a real and immediate improvement in the social and economical conditions of Samoa would be best secured if the administration of the native Government was assumed byoneof the treaty Powers; the sovereignty of the King of Samoa and the independence of the islands continuing to be recognised, and due care being taken by pre-arrangement to secure all rights justly acquired.
As an alternative, another scheme was submitted for reconstructing the native Government upon the general lines of a Crown Colony Government.
It was agreed that the sovereignty of Samoa was to be permanently confirmed upon King Malietoa and his heirs, and that a Council of Chiefs (called the King's Council) should be created to advise and assist the King in the administration of government.
Here the German Commissioner showed the cloven hoof by suggesting that the Council should consist of eight members: four native Samoans and four Europeans, of which latter two were to be nominated by Germany, one by Great Britain, and one by America.
By virtue of their treaty the Germans set up a sort of Germano-Samoan Council for the specialcontrol of the two principal harbours, Apia and Saluafata; but the establishment of similar Anglo-Samoan and Americo-Samoan Councils was hardly an expedient measure if friction were to be avoided.
The principal object of the Commission was, so far as Great Britain was concerned, the suppression of inter-tribal feuds and warfare, to maintain which the Samoans were bartering away their land and all other possessions in order to obtain rifles and ammunition. Dr Krauel, the German Commissioner, in making the recommendation that the administration of the native government should be assumed by one of the treaty Powers, suavely proposed that "having regard to the great preponderance of German commercial interests in Samoa, the task of forming a better administration should be entrusted, in the first instance, to the German Government."
On the alternative proposal, Dr Krauel thought that this commercial preponderance of Germany should meet recognition by the nomination of two German representatives as against one each of the other treaty Powers on the proposed King's Council.
Mr Thurston, the British Commissioner, was sufficiently impressed with the representations of his German colleague to suggest to his Government the adoption of the suggestions, which meant German control over the whole administration.
Before any action was taken upon the recommendationsof the Commission, the Germans took matters into their own hands; and on 31st December, 1885, King Malietoa was driven by a German force from his seat of Government, and the Samoan flag hauled down by German forces from a man-o'-war.
Inquiries elicited the fact that "the object of the German Representative was not to abolish the Samoan Government by force, but only to take reprisals against King Malietoa."
The foundation for the first act of direct aggression on the part of the Germans seems to have arisen in the sale of a portion of Apia to an American, who transferred the deeds to a German—the purchase price being only five hundred dollars. The land was looked on by the Samoans as the centre of the seat of their Government; and very rightly, too, as it covered the whole harbour of Apia.
The King, Malietoa, offered five thousand dollars to the German holder to rescind the sale, but was met with a curt refusal of his offer; following upon which a German proclamation was immediately issued, drawing attention to alleged grievances of Germany,more especially in respect of the violations of treaty agreements, and declaring the intention of the German Government to take, in reparation, "possession of the lands of the village and district of Apia, in which is included Malinuu (the seat of Government) and the harbourof Apia, to hold possession under the supreme control that was under the Government of Malietoa, for the Government of Germany."
The Samoans were informed in the proclamation that it was only the "municipality" that was being taken possession of, and the document concludes with a characteristic Hohenzollern touch: "I beseech you to be at peace and to have confidence in the Government of Germany and myself. Then will Samoa indeed be happy!"
An impartial inquiry into the arbitrary action of the Germans was suggested, but the German Imperial Government temporised the while a movement was set on foot by Germans in Samoa to upset the rule of Malietoa and replace him by one of their own creatures who had been plentifully bribed with the two things dearest to the native—spirits and firearms.
King Malietoa was informed by the British Consul that an inquiry was to be held, and that his kingship could not be jeopardised, the three Powers, Great Britain, Germany, and America, having jointly agreed to recognise and maintain his authority.
To subdue the ardour of the more impetuous amongst his people, Malietoa issued the following proclamation to the Chiefs of Samoa:
"Chiefs,—I call upon you to keep quiet, and not to entertain foolish fears, for the English Consul, W. Powell, has assured me that in a shorttime Samoa will be once more united under the Government of Malietoa, for England does not undertake anything which she does not carry through; and all that England undertakes she does carry through. What Germany does, on the other hand, is merely commenced, and is not concluded. Let us place confidence in these words, which will be fulfilled."
"Chiefs,—I call upon you to keep quiet, and not to entertain foolish fears, for the English Consul, W. Powell, has assured me that in a shorttime Samoa will be once more united under the Government of Malietoa, for England does not undertake anything which she does not carry through; and all that England undertakes she does carry through. What Germany does, on the other hand, is merely commenced, and is not concluded. Let us place confidence in these words, which will be fulfilled."
The German Ambassador in London, in discussing the Samoan question with our own Foreign Minister, the Earl of Iddlesleigh, referred rather bitterly to King Malietoa's proclamation, and Lord Iddlesleigh readily agreed that it was very offensive.
A further joint Commission was held on the affairs of Samoa late in the year 1886, in the early months of which Malietoa had offered to place Samoa under the protection of the United States—which offer was accepted by the American Consul, but his action immediately repudiated by his Government.
No workable form of administration could, however, be agreed upon by the three Powers—the reason being that the Germans were determined to pursue their fixed aim of acquiring the absolute control of Samoa.
The rule of Malietoa, who had been recognised in authority by treaty agreements, was irksome to them; and towards the end of 1887 they demanded satisfaction from Malietoa for alleged robbery andinsults to German subjects, whom they declared had been attacked when returning from celebrating the birthday of the German Emperor.
The required redress not being forthcoming, Malietoa was declared deposed by the Germans, and one Tamasese was set up in his place. The English and American Consuls did not participate in the recognition of Tamasese.
A state of anarchy now prevailed for a time; and inter-tribal combats took place all over the islands, centring about Apia. An insurrection was engineered by the Germans which was headed by Matiafa, who was attacked by Malietoa; and the opportunity having, as the Germans considered, arrived for the action of the mailed fist, Germany declared war on Malietoa.
In March, 1889, relations between the three Powers became extremely strained in regard to Samoa, and warships of all the nations concerned appeared off Apia.
The story of the hurricane that swept the harbour on the 16th March, in the teeth of which the BritishCalliopealone pounded her way out to sea and safety to the ringing cheers of the American sailors, is stirringly told in Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Footnote to History."
TheCalliope, fighting the tempest and making less than a knot an hour, upheld the traditions of British seamanship; while the ribs of the German flagshipAdlerserve the purpose of providing amournful monument to the death of German ambitions in Samoa.
Until Samoan administrative affairs were finally settled, her history consists of no more than a record of squabbles and intrigues.
Every fresh effort only demonstrated more clearly the futility of control by the three Powers, one of which was fixed in her determination to be supreme.
A convention was, indeed, signed at Berlin in 1889 under which the Samoan Islands were declared to be independent neutral territory, Great Britain, Germany, and the United States to have equal rights, and the King Malietoa, who was a strong opponent of German claims, was again recognised as King.
Matiafa, who had been stirred into insurrection for their own purposes by the Germans, now supported Malietoa, who received a vociferous welcome from the Samoans on his return to Apia in his regal capacity.
Shortly after his reinstatement, however, Malietoa wearied of his office and resigned his throne, which was no sinecure, in favour of his friend Matiafa. The latter's election by the people was necessary; but having duly gone through the formula, he assumed the sceptre with Malietoa as "vice-King."
The subordinate position, however, was unsatisfactory to Malietoa, and by concert of the Powershe was reinstated in his former position—a proceeding which Matiafa strongly disapproved of, and he attacked Malietoa with a strong force.
The Powers again intervened conjointly, and Matiafa was subdued and deported.
A further rebellion against Malietoa's rule was suppressed, and the affairs of Samoa began to present some appearance of law and order when Mr Henry Ide, an American, was appointed Chief Justice—a position of great responsibility. He seems, however, to have been over-strenuous in his dispensation of justice, for in less than a year his repressive measures created a state of Civil War.
In November, 1894, the unsatisfactory condition of affairs induced the Government of New Zealand to come forward with a proposal to establish a Protectorate over Samoa, and an expressed desire to undertake the administration of the islands.
The proposal was not entertained by our Home Government; and while it is probable that such an arrangement would have met with the approval of the United States, it is certain that Germany would have strenuously objected.
Further insurrections in 1894 brought about joint intervention by Great Britain and Germany, and the bombardment by ships of the two countries; while the death of Malietoa in 1898 necessitated another naval demonstration.
A serious dispute, which might have had farreaching consequences but for the tact displayed by our Consular Service, arose over the election of a king to succeed Malietoa. The claimants to the throne were Tanu, son of Malietoa, and Matiafa.
In January, 1899, Chief Justice Chambers, an American, in whose hands the final decision lay, decided in favour of Tanu in accordance with the international agreement whereby the throne was secured to Malietoa and his heirs.
The decision, however, met with the strong disapproval of the Germans, who instigated Matiafa to rebel; and a serious outbreak occurred, in the course of which the greater part of Apia was burned.
A force of British marines was landed from H.M.S.Porpoise, on which Mr Chambers and other Europeans took refuge.
A provisional Government was now formed by Dr Raffel, a German, and President of the Municipal Court of Apia; and he proclaimed himself Chief Justice in spite of the protests of the British and American Consuls.
The Consuls appealed to Captain Sturdee of thePorpoiseto assist in the reinstatement of Mr Chambers, and he sent ashore a threat to bombard the town if any resistance were offered to Mr Chambers in resuming his seat as Chief Justice.
Mr Chambers was opposed by the German faction, but Dr Raffel's action did not meet withthe approval of the Government at Berlin, and he was recalled in February, 1899.
In the meantime, Admiral Kantz of the American navy arrived on the United States cruiser,Philadelphia, and a proclamation was issued under which Matiafa's Government was declared to be illegal under the terms of the Berlin Treaty.
A counter-proclamation was immediately issued by the German Consul, Herr Rose, the immediate result of which was that Apia was surrounded by a strong force of rebels, and riots occurred—in the course of which R. L. Stevenson's house was looted.
The British and American warships opened fire and landed forces of bluejackets, who, after some severe fighting and losses, repulsed the rebels.
On the 23rd March, 1899, Tanu was crowned King of the Samoan Islands in the presence of the Foreign Consuls, with the exception of the Representative of the German Government.
Matiafa, with German moral support, continued in rebellion, and several Anglo-American parties of bluejackets and marines were ambuscaded, though the chief rebels' posts were captured.
A state of anarchy now prevailed, and another international Commission was appointed in May, 1899, Mr Bartlett Tripp (President) representing the United States, Mr Eliot Great Britain, and Baron Sternburg Germany.
Mr Chambers' decision was confirmed by the Commission, but Tanu had wearied of his kingship and voluntarily abdicated.
Further fighting now occurred, but an agreement was signed in August, 1899, by the three Powers, under which the kingship was abolished and the Government of Samoa placed in the hands of an Administrator with a Council of the Consuls of Great Britain, Germany, and the United States, assisted by a native assembly and a High Court of Justice.
The German, Dr Solf, Municipal President, was nominated as Administrator, and Mr Osborne, the United States Consul, was appointed to act as Chief Justice in the place of Mr Chambers who had resigned.
Samoa remained under this triple administration until the 1st March, 1900, when by the Anglo-German Convention, embodied in the Samoa Treaty, the principal Samoan Islands were annexed by Germany, the Tonga, Savage, and Solomon Islands came under the rule of Great Britain, while Tutuila and the adjacent islands became the property of the United States.
On the 1st March, 1900, the German flag was hoisted over Apia.
Claims for compensation were presented for the destruction of property during the Matiafa rebellion; and these, having been submitted to the arbitration of the King of Sweden, were, in 1902,adjudged to be payable by Great Britain and the United States of America!
The surrender of Samoa to Germany was a bitter pill to New Zealand, and the Imperialist Premier, the late "Dick" Seddon, expressed himself forcibly on the subject.
In reply to the letter from the Imperial Colonial Secretary announcing British withdrawal from Samoa, Seddon, who had looked to the realisation of the dream of a federation of the Pacific Islands under the hegemony of New Zealand, wrote:
"This surrender of Samoa will in future be a source of anxiety and entail expense on Great Britain and the Colonies in preparing for and providing against eventualities. However, now that it has been done, it is necessary that immediately opportune steps should be taken to put the islands admitted to be British on a satisfactory footing. Some definite action of a forward character is required in the Pacific at the earliest opportune moment, for the surrender of Samoa has disheartened the natives in the islands, disappointed the people of Australasia, and lowered the prestige of Great Britain in this part of the world."
"This surrender of Samoa will in future be a source of anxiety and entail expense on Great Britain and the Colonies in preparing for and providing against eventualities. However, now that it has been done, it is necessary that immediately opportune steps should be taken to put the islands admitted to be British on a satisfactory footing. Some definite action of a forward character is required in the Pacific at the earliest opportune moment, for the surrender of Samoa has disheartened the natives in the islands, disappointed the people of Australasia, and lowered the prestige of Great Britain in this part of the world."
The thought of South Sea Islands conjures up pictures of treasure-trove and pearls, of joy-rides on turtle back, of dusky beauties with scarlethybiscus blooms in their hair, and of fat, naked brown babies rolling on the sun-kissed sands.
Readers of Robert Louis Stevenson will know Samoa and the Samoans as he knew them, and will picture the life on the islands he loved—gentle and entrancing—and breathe the soft atmosphere undisturbed save by the gurgle of rivulets flinging spray, on which small rainbows dance, over lichen-covered boulders flanked by feathery tree ferns.
Samoa, Upolu, Fanuatapu—the very sound of the names has in it the cadence of the murmur of the surf over coral reefs and silver sands, or the whisper of perfume-laden breezes in tall palms fringing blue lagoons.
That is the more aesthetic conception; but there is a sordid view open to the imagination in blood-spattered, headless corpses, victims of tribal fights, or "the white men on the beach," in turn victims of unbridled passions and "square-face" gin.
The beachcombers of the South Seas have enriched the slang of our language with the expression "on the beach," or "on the pebbly," to denote a hopeless financial condition; but as a class these pyjama-clad, unlaced-booted gentry represent the limit of degradation—the bottom of the depths.
To natives all white men are chiefs, but "surely these are not great chiefs?" asked one of the Samoan islanders, indicating the whites who dream the idle hours away on the sandy beach of Samoa.
Papua, or New Guinea, again, is in the mind immediately associated with fearsome weapons of warfare made of carved wood, with collections of smoke-dried human heads with fantastically tattooed faces, and horrid feasts at which thepièce de résistancewas sirloin of "methody" missionary.
The Samoan Islands are perfect in their beauty, and all the conditions, including the ease with which the bare necessaries of life were produced from natural resources, conduced to adolce far nientesort of existence amongst the natives, by which the whites also became infected.
The Samoan group, which forms the entrepôt of all the islands round where trade is carried on, consists of fourteen islands, of which eight, Savaii, Manono, Apolima, Upolu, Fanuatapu, Manua, Nu'utele, and Nu'ulua, were German—the remainder being British and American.
Savaii is roughly 50 miles long by 10 miles wide, comprising some 650 square miles; while Upolu, 22 miles east of Savaii, comprises about 340 square miles.
All the islands are of volcanic origin, and rise to rugged elevations; while they are surrounded by coral reefs intersected by passages through which the navigation is difficult and dangerous. Savaii, rising to 5,400 feet, possesses an active volcano; Upolu reaches an elevation of 3,200 feet; while Tutuila, separated from Upolu by a channel36 miles in width, is 2,300 feet at its highest point.
On all the islands there is a certain scarcity of fresh water inland, but it is plentiful on the lower slopes and above high-water mark on the seashore.
While the climate is moist, it is never excessively hot; and the fertility of the soil is such that it is almost a drawback, for the extreme productiveness of the soil obviates the necessity for strenuous labour on the part of anyone who occupies a patch of ground whereon to grow cocoa-nuts, yams, etc.
On the Island Upolu, R. L. Stevenson's home, is Apia, the port and centre of Samoan trade. At Apia Stevenson died on the 5th December, 1894. He was much loved by the Samoans, and was by them buried on the top of Vasa Mountain, 1,300 feet above the sea.
Saluafata is the next harbour of importance; but both Apia and Saluafata are open harbours, and during the months of January, February, and March are particularly insecure, owing to the hurricanes which prevail.
The Samoan Islands contain less than 600 white inhabitants, and the native population is a little over 40,000. The natives residing on Upolu amount to 18,000, and on Savaii 13,000; while imported labourers total about 1,500.
The origin of the natives is obscure, but ethnological students have declared them to be closely allied to the Maoris of New Zealand, and to havetheir origin in China; and there seems to be no reason to doubt their judgment.
While cannibalism was prevalent throughout the islands of the South Seas, its practice has always been denied by the Samoans.
By nature the Samoan natives are indolent, and would look upon any uncalled-for exertion as a midsummer madness; while, to the Samoan mind, the idea of growing food such as cocoa-nuts, etc., for the purpose of sending it away and selling it, held about it something barbaric, unhandsome, and absurd. There is for him no conceivable object in growing anything more than is necessary to provide daily food, and consequently he would have no share nor parcel in such a practice.
The question of labour, therefore, has always been a pressing one on the plantations; and to provide this Chinese have been imported under indentures, and by Chinese labour all the work is carried on.
From the time of their first gaining a footing in Samoa, the Germans began to oust the natives from the land; and as the Samoans could not be got to work, plantations were established under German managers who proceeded to extract from it, by means of the cheapest foreign labour procurable, as much as it would yield.
At Apia, which Stevenson describes as the seat of the political sickness of Samoa, a controlling German firm was established who graduallyobtained possession of the most fertile lands, but their titles were at times of the flimsiest.
The same writer describes how a visitor would observe, near an ancient Samoan village which he had been informed was the proper residence of the Samoan kings, a notice-board set up indicating that the historic village was the property of the German firm. These boards, he adds, which were among the commonest features of the landscape, might be rather taken to imply that the claim had been disputed.
If the "sales" of land from the natives to the German firm were questionable, the Samoans beheld in the firm only the occupier oftheirland, and consequently regarded the constant raiding of the German plantations and the stealthy gathering of the cocoa-nuts merely in the light of a very trifling peccadillo, and certainly not as theft.
Such land as the firm was unable to find labour to work was "mortgaged" to natives, who were compelled, under a penalty of imprisonment, to sell their copra to no one except to the mortgagee. The firm, which Stevenson describes as "the true centre of trouble, the head of the boil," of which Samoa languished thus gradually, got into its own hands the practical monopoly of trade.
The trade of the islands of the South Pacific was, as previously stated, always regarded in Europe as a most valuable one; and when in 1711 a monopoly of trade with South America and the Pacific Islandswas granted to the South Sea Company in England, its riches were popularly looked upon as illimitable and the shares of the South Sea Company stood at one time at a premium of 900 per cent.
The bursting of the "South Sea Bubble," however, was the end of monopolies until the era of the German firm, whose agents gained a preponderance even in Fiji.
The principal article of Samoan trade is copra, and the value of land is assessed according to its growth of cocoa-nuts.
The trade was eminently suited for Germans, as the natives readily bartered for cheap and flashy goods "made in Germany."
In the vicinity of Apia uncultivated land is worth from £15 to £25 an acre, and cultivated land planted with cocoa-nuts from £20 to £40; while "bush" land faced a value ranging from 8s. to £2.
In addition to palm-oil and copra, Samoa yields the usual tropical products of cocoa, coffee, tobacco and rubber, as well as vegetable ivory.
From Samoa the export of copra in 1912 amounted to £200,000, and owing to the increased utility found for copra and its steady rise in price during recent years, further planting has energetically proceeded, though somewhat interfered with by the appearance of the rhinoceros beetle.