The imports, amounting in 1912 to £750,000, consist chiefly of food-stuffs, liquid and tinned, machinery and iron ware, building materials, clothing, leathern goods, and sundries. The wants of the natives are few, however, and little trade is done with them in textiles, the clothing of men and women alike being usually composed of strips of cloth with plaited grass girdles and a profusion of shell ornaments. On 15th August, 1914, the advanced detachment of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which was ordered to seize Samoa, left Wellington at dawn and was met at sea by three of His Britannic Majesty's cruisers in New Zealand waters--the _Psyche_, the _Pyramus_, and the _Philomel_. As it was known that the German armoured cruisers _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_ were at large in the Pacific, it was decided not to go direct to Samoa, but to shape a course for New Caledonia (French). Cruising off New Caledonia the British ships were joined by the French cruiser _Montcalm_ and by the Australian cruisers _Australia_ and _Melbourne_. The contingent received a wonderfully enthusiastic reception from the French in New Caledonia, and under the command of Admiral Sir G. E. Patey the allied fleet steamed for Samoa. In the early dawn of 30th August the first glimpse was obtained of Upolu--the scene of wars and rebellions and international schemings, and the scene also of that devastating hurricane which wrecked six ships of war and ten other vessels and sent 142 officers and men of the German and American navies to their last sleep. The rusting ribs and plates of the _Adler_, the German flagship, pitched high inside the reef, stared at them as a reminder of that memorable event. The _Psyche_ went on ahead, and after the harbour had been swept for mines, she steamed in under a flag of truce and delivered a message from Rear-Admiral Sir George Patey demanding surrender. The Germans, who had been expecting their own fleet in, were surprised at the suddenness with which an overwhelming force had descended upon them, and decided to offer no resistance to a landing. In a remarkably brief space of time the covering party was on shore, and shortly afterwards Apia was swarming with British bluejackets and troops. Guards were placed all about the Government buildings and a staff installed in the Government offices. The custom-house was seized and an armed party was dispatched along a bush road to seize the wireless station, the tall, latticed iron mast of which could be seen rising above the trees some three or four miles inland on the lower slopes of the hills. Meantime the German flag that had flown over the island for fourteen years was hauled down, the Germans present doffing their hats and standing bareheaded and silent on the veranda of the Supreme Court as they watched the soldier in khaki from New Zealand unceremoniously pulling it down, detaching it from the rope, and carrying it inside the building.