Cars and other vehicles have also been sent as remittances, especially in Samoa, after the change over to driving on the left in 2009, and are distinguished as a separate category in national remittance data. It was generally accepted that remittances were an important part of the benefits of migration for all Pacific islanders. As early as 1962, Pirie and Barrett (1962: 95) predicted that emigration and the resulting remittances would become central to Samoan economic planning, and quite quickly the predicted level of remittances formed a crucial element in the formulation of early national development plans. More than 50 years ago, Pirie observed that Samoans in New Zealand had remitted some US$15 million and that this was of major assistance to Western Samoa in meeting its overseas payments (1960: 596).