SAMOAN CHIEF IN PRISON

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 79, 27 December 1928, Page 8

SAMOAN CHIEF IN PRISON

TAMASESE AT AUCKLAND ARRIVAL BY ISLAND STEAMER Dominion Special Service. Auckland, December 26. The prominent Samoan chief, Lealofi Tamasese, who is the acknowledged leader of the Mau, arrived from Samoa by the Tofua to serve a sentence of six months’ imprisonment in Mount Eden gaol for resisting arrest. The police, who arrived in a police van, boarded the vessel soon after her arrival, and conveyed Tamasese to the gaol. Tamasese is a very young chief, and apparently the sentence has fallen very lightly on his shoulders. His face was wreathed in smiles as he walked down the gangway, and his manner was almost jovial. As he passed by to the van he raised his hat to the Hon. O. F. Nelson, who was among the onlookers. No words were exchanged between the two. Tamasese was arrested under dramatic circumstances early on the morning of November 27. The police had been searching for him for days in the bush, where he had taken refuge. He was finally captured and handcuffed, however, and has given no further trouble. The arrest was brought about by the failure of Tamasese to obey an order of the High Court to pay taxes. For this offence he was sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment, this term being made cumulative with the six months. There was evidence of bad feeling among the Mau element, for a few days following the arrest one military policeman received a bad cut on his lip from a stone. There were rumours that an attempt would be made to release Tamasese from gaol, but this did not eventuate. On the voyage to Auckland Tamasese was in charge of Mr. C. A. Berendsen, Secretary of the External Affairs Department, who declined to make any statement concerning the affair. It is understood that when the Tofua called in at Suva the local police would take no responsibility for Tamasese and that he remained aboard the ship. Judge W. H. Woodward, Chief Judge of Samoa, who sentenced Tamasese, also arrived by the Tofua. He stated that Tamasese was not a political prisoner. He was charged with a breach of the law, and was sentenced for that. Explaining why Tamasese was being brought to Auckland to serve his sentence, Judge Woodward said that when prisoners were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment or more in Samoa they may be taken to Auckland to serve the sentence. Tamasese was not the first Samoan prisoner who had undergone this procedure.