1 Pound

Western Samoa was a League of Nations mandate under New Zealand administration from 1920, and the Treasury — not a central bank — was the issuing authority throughout this period precisely because no proper banking infrastructure existed on the islands. Bradbury Wilkinson held longstanding contracts across the British imperial and Commonwealth world, and their work on this series is consistent with their output for other administered territories of the period.

The twenty-year span across which P#8 was current reflects not policy stability but sheer remoteness — there was little administrative urgency to update the currency when circulation volumes were small and supply logistics difficult. Notes returned to the Treasury were often simply reissued rather than destroyed.