Unbekannt

The new trading post required acreage. Godeffroy, who saw an opportunity in the civil unrest among Sāmoan family groups, ‘exchanged’ weapons for land. These deals were often suspect and not documented very well. He was able to amass large sections of land and became a successful business owner. With more acreage, he expanded his trading infrastructure, requiring more workers to sustain the business. In search of cheap labour, the company set out to gather a workforce from outside. Men, women, and children from neighbouring nations were recruited - bribed, enslaved, abducted, and displaced from their homes, such as Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. This process is termed blackbirding.
But with the constant expansion, J. C. Godeffroy struggled to keep the business afloat, leading to bankruptcy in 1879. The company was taken over by the Deutsche Handels – und Plantagengesellschaft (DH &PG) - German trade and plantation union. Under Theodor Weber’s management, Sāmoa’s highly priced commodities soon became internationally traded goods. As a result, the DH & PG, also referred to as the German firm or German company, grew steadily. Its infrastructure included coconut plantations, copra processing facilities, storage houses and accommodation for their workers and managers in Vailele and Mulifanua. More land was needed, and when Weber scoped acreage in Vaitele, he entered into yet another fraudulent deal. Tamasese Titimaea, one of the kingship title contenders at the time, promised Weber land to which Titimaea was not entitled. When Titimaea was later confronted by the rightful land owners, he asked Weber to reverse the trade but Weber stood his ground.
The DH & PG also owned a shipping fleet, trading offices and shops in Apia. As the company scaled up, facilities extended to hospitals, nurseries, boat builders, wheelwrights and a three-masted schooner, the ‘Sāmoa’. Other trading offices were set up in Tonga, Pago Pago and Papua New Guinea. While most Sāmoans continued to work on their own family plantations, a small number of Sāmoans was employed by the firm, though not enough to manage the increasing workload. Like Godeffroy, the DH & PG therefore brought droves of indentured labourers from Papua New Guinea to Sāmoa, blackbirded and displaced once again. According to various accounts, working conditions were poor and maltreatment of workers was common. Solidarity among plantation workers that may provoke resistance was stopped by treating different groups differently. Socialising with the local European community was discouraged by means of segregated living quarters and strictly assigned working areas. Later, Chinese workers were also employed. Unlike the workers from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Chinese labourers reportedly negotiated their pay – though likely on DH & PG’s terms.
The DH & PG monopolised the trading scene in Sāmoa and controlled trading regulations. This engineered strategy sought to quash rivalling Sāmoan operations. As a result, Sāmoan-owned businesses were heavily impacted. They suffered from increased tax rates and were paid very little in return for their crops that were to be shipped overseas. Yet, Sāmoan plantation owners fought back by establishing their own copra cooperatives that cut out the German middleman. The “Oloa” (goods) movement initiated by tulafale Lauaku Namulau’ulu saw the establishing of the kumpani, a Sāmoan-owned cooperative that sought to stabilise copra prices. This challenged the German system and demonstrated that Sāmoans understood how to operate according to capitalist ideals.
The photograph shows the DH & PG residential quarters for single men in Sogi. The building was demolished in 1912, and the quarters were moved into the casino, which later became the Casino Hotel. The company was liquidated in 1915 just after the First World War commenced.

Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa