The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-05

Washington. April 4.-.The report of
W. L. Chambers. United States land
commissioner to Samoa. dated Febru-
airy 3. 1895. was made public today.
Mr.. Chambers was one of three COM
missioners appointed by the treaty
powers Of Great Britain, Germany and
the United States. under the provisions
of the Berlin treaty, to adjust and set
tie all claims by aliens to land in Sa-
moa- The annual meeting of the COM
mittee was held January 4. 1894. at
Apia. The reports include all the title
papers to Samoan lands. and are of
considerable value. An exhibit attach
ed to the report shows that the total
number of claims filed before the COM
mittee was 1892. OF these 1,422 were
German, 1,757 British. 307 American. 326
French. and IS miscellaneous.
The total claims aggregated 1881. 1872
acres. while the island contains $4,000
acres. Only 8 per cent. Of the claims
were confirmed.
A vast bulk of acreage claimed by
Americans was rejected because of the
manffestly inadequate consideration
given for it and because the titles were
defective under several of the provis-
ions of the treaty. About q, 600 acres
were confirmed to Americans. Most of
them belong to a corporation composed
of San Francisco stockholders.
''At the time the investigation took
place. says Mr.. Chambers. this cor
poration was insolvent. and is still re-
ported insolvent. The titles were con-
firmed to certain trustees. None of
the stockholders resided in Samoa, and.
so far as my investigation of the mat
Of had rpGi6-
ed there. nor has the company. not its
trustees an agent in the country. De
Quoting the land confirmed TO this
company. I think it a safe estimate.
that not exceeding 1000 acres were con-
firmed to claimants. Almost all the
land of this San Francisco company is
for SALE and is liable to be sold, if at
all. to England's or Germany's sub
iects rather than to American, Tor
whatever inducements there may be
for English or German investment in
the Samoan islands. I cannot see that
there exists any reason for further
American investments"
Continuing, Mr.. Chambers says ne
heard of only nineteen bona fide Ameri-
can subjects in the country. exclusive
of officials, and does not believe there
are thirty Americans there all told, in
Guiding those who claim citizenship
through naturalization. He says
there are several well to do Amerl-
cans engaged in mercantile purposes,
one of whom is the wealthiest man in
the country. Some of these are mar
ried to native women and probably
will never return to the United States.
81 have been thus explicit in refer
ence TO the property owned by Ameri-
cans as well as to the number of
Americans in the country in order that
the department may know our rela-
tionships to Samoa, as they were de-
veloped in the course of the investiga-
tions into land titles, and because 1
conceive it my duty to let our govern
ment know how insignificant such in
terests really are"
In reference to Pango-Pango Bay,
Mr.. Chambers says that the claims of
the United States government were
examined and confirmed, but that the
claims are by no means so valuable
as the American public seems to think.
What are thought to be the most
valuable parts of the shore of the bay
have never been acquired by the
United States. The harbor is so deep
and the bay so small that not snore
than three or four ships could be
anchored there In case the wind was
blowing either into the mouth Of the
harbor or off shore. He recommends
that IL our rights are considered 20 be
really of value, steps should be taken
to acquire such additional rights as
may make those already held Of use.
He argues, however, that the station
is not likely to be Of further use and
thinks the advisability of making
further investments there should be
fully considered before taking any
further steps in the matter.