his jail, it was noticed that the amount was always the same. As the sentences of those confined there were very short, and it was scarcely probable that the jail would always have the same number of occupants, sus picion was naturally aroused, and an investi gation was made. It was found that the judge was in the habit of regularly ar raigning the members of his family, put ting them through trial, sentencing them in batches to his jail, and sending in the bill for their keep, to be paid out of the public fund. A word on the jails of Samoa. The government jail, the Fale Puipui or fenced house, is a shell of cotrugated iron set in a small compound fenced by a corrugated iron wall. The rigors of confinement there are tempered by the customs of the country to such an extent that the Samoan would almost as soon be in jail as not. During the day the prisoners are rented to the municipality of Apia for a shilling a day, and they may be seen dawdling over petty tasks upon the public roads. At night they are supposed to be locked within their sheet-iron com pound and fed on prisoner fare; but the jailers allow the gates to remain open and
admit visitors, particularly those who arrive with baskets of food. If a prisoner is of higher rank than the jailer, the latter may not stop him if he should desire to go out to spend the evening with friends, and it is quite a common thing for one to pass in the streets of Apia, a swaggering party of jail inmates out for an airing. It is said that a chief justice, who rather coddled the natives and used to encourage secret political meetings under the shades of night, had the pleasure one evening of dis cussing politics at one of these gatherings with a man whom only a few days before he had sentenced to confinement. When he discovered this loose condition of affairs in regard to the execution of his sentences, he was far from pleased, but as the matter was involved with the tortuous game of Samoan politics, he thought it wise not to make a public clamor over it. He took steps in the matter privately, however, and there soon appeared on the inner side of the prison gate a public notice, signed by Mulianga as chief turnkey, warning all prisoners that it was forbidden for any of them to pay even ing calls upon the chief justice at his residence.
