These papers were maintained by Judge Suatele, one of the Samoan judges. They include correspondence with Samoans, the Imperial Court Judge and the Governor. In 1955 the German Consuls archives were discovered in Apia with the records of the German Colonial Administration. These were removed and transferred to the National Archives of New Zealand for extensive conservation work and microfilming. The decision was made to document the German-Samoan agencies and record series as if they had transferred the records in 1914 - which is why the Executive Council of Western Samoa, although the true transferring agency, is not fully documented.