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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 82

III.—Commerce and Shipping

III.—Commerce and Shipping.

In submitting the statistics of shipping and commerce of Samoa, it is necessary to explain that the figures cannot pretend to be more than an approximation. This arises from several causes, the chief being the unreliable character of the German returns and the total want of statistics of the trade done by Messrs. McArthur and Co. at Fasetootai. One thing is perfectly clear, and that is that the trade is not only rapidly expanding, but is capable of being much more widely extended. In 1871 the imports were estimated at £25,000 and the exports at £45,000, whereas last year I calculate the value of imports at £48,263, and the value of exports at £79,456. showing a total of £127,000 as against £70,000, Or an increase of 81 per cent, within thirteen years. The table appended shows the import and export trade of Samoa, and the countries with which it is conducted :—
Imports and Exports in 1884.
From and to Imports. Exports. Total.
England and Colonies £30,982 £32,000 £62,982
Germany 15,409 45,456 60,865
America 1,872 2,000 3,872
Totals £48,263 £79,456 £127,719
Let me give a single instance of how these figures are arrived at. The German Consul's return valued the export of cotton from the German plantations at £28,741; but as I was credibly informed that this represented three times the producing power of the page 29 plantations, I felt justified in dividing the sum by three. Of the English imports, which I have valued at over £30,000, probably £10,000 worth came from Sydney, £10,000 worth from New Zealand, and the rest direct from London. The British Consul's statistics, which only refer, however, to the port of Apia, gave the imports from New Zealand as £2,350 and the exports to that colony as £1,585. The chief articles of export from Samoa and their value, in the year 1884, were as follow :—
Copra £69,076
Cotton 8,480
Shells and Fungus 800
Coffee 500
Fruits 600
Total £79,456
My figures of the value of imports and exports do not include the movements of specie, which must be very considerable; indeed the difference of £30,000 between German imports and exports will to a great extent have been balanced by the introduction of several hundred-weights of that villainous "cast-iron" currency from South America, which here as elsewhere is found a very profitable thing for the German traders to invest in, as, according to a well-established law, it drives good money away, and places English and American traders at the mercy of their commercial rivals. The following table gives the shipping statistics of these islands for the year 1884 :—
Shipping Statistics, 1884.
Nationality. Ships. Tonnags. Remarks.
English and Co. lonial 42 9,073 Of the 42 voyages made by English ships, probably 28 were by New Zealand schooners, which would allow the seven New Zealand vessels engaged in the trade to make four voyages each in the year.
German 17 10,830
American 7 1,831
Totals 66 21,734