The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-02-07
FEAR ANOTHER
LAVA OUTBREAK
UT. Solf OF Samoa Tells OF
His People and
His Land.

tbs Ldfiu.
DR., solf. for the past seven or eigh,
years Governor of German samoa. was
8 through passenger yesterday on the
Aorangi. He IS on his way to Berlin
for conference there with the Colo
NAL Office in regard to samoan mat
ters. He expects to return through
here in June.
While in Honolulu Or. solf was en-
tertained by the Imperial German Con-
sui, William Pfotenhauer. Consul Pfo-
tenhauer had the Governor as his
guest at luncheon at the Pacific Club.
From there they went in an automo-
bile 10 call on Governor Frear.
Governor solf has been in Honolulu
a number Of times and has made many
acquaintance here. He is an exceed
ingly pleasant and interesting man.
and is enthusiasts about samoa and
things Samoan.
savaii is stin active ne said when
asked about the matter yesterday. 1T
has destroyed one of the finest dis
tricts on that island. No lives have
been lost: the natives behaved admira-
bly,. They kept records Of the spread
Of the lava for reference to the gov
eminent. The lava is now running
into the sea, and hence Is doing no
harm. and that is a good thing. But
we are very much afraid that there
viii be another outbreak somewhere
else on the island ard we do not know
what damage that will do The gov
eminent sent a scientist, a specialist
in volcanoes, TO make a report on this,
and ne expressed the opinion that
whenever the present vent became
stopped from any cause, there would
probably be another outbreak.
samoa is prospecting. The introduce
ton of Chinese coolies, which began
about four years ago. has now pro-
ceeded to the extent that we have
eleven or twelve hundred of them
there. The Chinese Government has
established q consular office there. and
this has given great satisfaction. We
are diversffying our industries Cacao
has now become well-estabhshed. We
export a great deal Of it. For the
past two years the growth of rubber
has received a great deal of attention.
1t is still in the experimental stage.
There are two companies. one German
and the other an English company
that are going into rubber planting
very extensively.
..But eopra is still our staple produc-
ton, and is increasing very rapidly.
a law was recently passed forbidding
the making of eopra out of any bat
the fallen nuts. In the past the ma
tlyes have climbed the trees and
picked the nuts. The result has been
that the nuts were largely picked i'm
mature. From this it happened not
only that not as much copra was pro-
duced. but that its quality was not as
good and the price received was there
fore not as large as it would otherwise
have been. 1t is expected that this
new ordinance forbidding the making
Of copra except from fallen nuts will
nearly double the revenue derived from
the industry.
There is a law. and has been for
some years. requiring the natives TO
plant so many new cocoanuts each
year. We are beginning to feel the
benefit of this now. and the copra
crop viii be greatly increased from
this source.
The samoans are very much like
your natives here. My effort has been
to protect them from the banefuI ef-
fects which contact with the whites 50
often iafi1ct.
I shall be through here again in
June. During my absence Dr.
schuitze, the Chief Justice. is the Act
ing Governor.