APIA IMPRESSIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 101, 1 May 1930, Page 20

APIA IMPRESSIONS.

'"THESE CHARMING PEOPLE." STATUS OF THE MAU. COMIC SIDE OF PRISON LIFE. "Had the late William Schwenck Gilbert been permitted tlie opportunity of visiting Samoa during this year of grace, 1930, he would have found pabulum in plenty for a comic opera that would have amused the whole world. Not only is the setting there, but also an island atmosphere (faintly aromatic with copra), colour, movement and episodes." That is the opinion of Dr. Hughes Steele, of Wellington, who returned from a holiday trip to the group, anl who declares (say 3 the "Dominion") that to anyone with a sense of humour the situations which have arisen since the Mau trouble developed have certainly been Gilbertian. Dr. Steele says there is something amusingly theatrical about the Mau, and that it only holds its parades when a steamer arrives in port, so that it will have an audience, preferably one without understanding, for its performances. As the result of a parade which took place on the day Dr. Steele arrived at Apia there were 72 arrests. Chiefs as Warders. "Of course," said Dr. Steele, "if theywent on arresting the Samoans in batches like this, everybody on the island would be in prison. It was my mentioning something of my difficulty in accounting for the straights the authorities must be put to in imprisoning these people which cast some light on the prison system of the island; "It must be remembered that there are many chiefs in Samoa; about one man to every ten is a chief of some standing, but perhaps one in every hundred is a real hidalgo of many quarterings. A proportion of these are prisoners (Mau prisoners for the most part), and these are made wardens to assist the few genuine officials of the island to control the prisoners. In the day time the prisoners are not placed under any specially harassing control; they seem to go as they list within certain boundaries, but always return at sunset in order to be locked, up by their own chief, who then retires to the toolslied and locks himself up." "Me Te Prisoner Now." Dr. Steele was told of one incident which bears out the contention that "these charming people," as he calls them, are really like grown-up children; very polite and courteous, and, he thought, single-minded. This incident, he thought, displayed the native mind pretty accurately. It was before the big trouble in which Tamasesc was killed. There was an agitation for a big parade, and one of the party came upon a chief, who, though a prisoner, was allowed probably as much liberty as he wished. "You come along; take p&rt big Mau demonstration," urged the tempter. "No —me no come along. Me prisoner." "Prisoner no good —you come along big fine parade of Mau. March pompom!" "No," said the chief. "Mete prisoner. No can do two things at once —be prisoner and inarch with Mau. I te prisoner now!" And away he went and locked himself up for the night. On another occasion a chief of good standing, who had become mixed up with the Mau, and was a prisoner for hi sins, informed the Administrator that there was something going wrong with his family affairs, and begged leave to go forth a.-d put his house in order. Knowing his man, Colonel Allen consented. "How long will you take?" he asked the prisoner-chief. \ "Oh, in 'bout three days, I fix him. "All right, off you go!" Away he went to some more or less remote part of the island, and sure enough he returned at the end of three days, reporting that he had fixed everything, and was once mora prisoner.

Imprisonment Futile? "As I said before," the Samoans are very like children," continued Dr. Steele, "'•but they have a peculiar pshychology which is not always understood. They are extremely pleasant and sunnynatured people to meet, very polite, and even if they do not agree with you they will not perhaps show it, but will grow profoundly obstinate in adhering to their belief. To go to gaol is nothing to the Samoan. To him and his race a spell in gaol carries no stigma; and he 'has gone to gaol (where he receives his three meals a day and a pillow at night) for what he considers a principle. The white man's Government has got nothing out of him; rather has he got something out of the white man's Government. Under such circumstances it seems futile to imprison these people. . . . "While I was in Apia I tried to get to understand the Mau and what lies ■behind it. I questioned intelligent, welleducated Samoans who just could not explain what the Mau was and what it wanted. They laugh and play about and wear flowers in their hair, but honestly I do not believe half of them know anything about the Mau movement, nor can they explain what it stands for. . . You don't notice anything wrong when you're there. They are all very charming and friendly; and as far as I could see were making no fuss. It was just a movement fostered by a few agitators who were under the influence of certain malcontents interested in the trading business of the country."