THE COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF SAMOA 219 



be grown satisfactorily and the exports of the islands increased 

 from their present figure of $260,000 to $300,000 to more than 

 double that sum. 



The imports consist chiefly of cotton goods, clothing, hardware, 

 iron manufactures, arms, ammunition, provisions, coal, mineral 

 oil, malt and spirituous liquors. The proximity of Australasia 

 renders it the chief purchasing market, $260,000 of the $418,000 

 worth of imports in the latest }^ear's reports having come from 

 New South Wales and New Zealand, while Germany comes next 

 with $64,500, the United States with $60,600, Tonga, $12,000, 

 New Britain, $8,600, other South Sea islands, $5,600, and the 

 United Kingdom, $1,500, though doubtless a large share of the 

 imports from Australasia is of British production. The total 

 imports amount to from $350,000 to $400,000 annually. Both 

 the import and export trade are in the hands of the Germans, 

 who have large plantations and the chief trading establishments 

 of the islands. The latest reports from the American consuls, 

 however, indicate a gradual decline of German trade, accruing 

 in about equal proportions to the Australian and American trade. 



Transportation is by steamer lines between Sydney, Auck- 

 land, and San Francisco, their vessels calling at Apia each way 

 every four weeks, and by the Union Steamship Company of New 

 Zealand, which sends two steamers monthly, one from Sydney 

 and one from Auckland. The steamers usually spend from two 

 to five hours at Apia at each trip, dependent upon the amount 

 of freight to be handled and the state of the weather. New Zea- 

 land is reached in five, Sydney in eight, and San Francisco in 

 fifteen, days. Freight rates to and from the Australian colonies 

 are much less than those to and from San Francisco, the rates 

 on flour per ton being $7.50, against $12 from San Francisco, 

 though rates from the islands to San Francisco are recently 

 quoted as very low as compared with those to other purchasing 

 markets for copra. 



The currency of the islands was established b} ? the Berlin treaty 

 as American coinage, but the only coins current are of the mint- 

 age of Great Britain. All accounts, however, are kept in terms 

 of United States currency, the English sovereign ($4.86) being 

 in current business transactions accepted as equivalent to the 

 American half eagle, the English florin (2 shillings, 48 cents) to 

 half a dollar, a shilling to the quarter of a dollar, and the six- 

 pence to a dime. The only case in which values are more rig- 

 idly computed is in foreign exchange, in which the rate is almost 



