Accept Chief’s Authority.

Young Samoans Refusing to Accept Chief’s Authority.

From Our Own Correspondent.

APIA, July 10.

THE old order of things has passed in Samoa. Samoan youth has caught the rebellious spirit of youth all over the world, and the Samoan chief sees, with a sad heart, his old-estab lished paternal authority fade away An interesting occurrence has recently supplied additional proof of this.

In the district of Leulumrega, the chiefs decided to establish a jurisdic tion of their own, and to bring all

offences committed amongst the natives against village and general law before their own court. The young men (commoners or tauleleas) agreed to submit to the jurisdiction of the chiefs. The chiefly court heard all offences committed by Samoans in the district, and pronounced either money

fine or prison sentences with hard labour. A gaol was built, and the prisoners worked on the roads or in the plantations for the common good.

For a few months, all went well. But, gradu ally, the young men became dis satisfied. Inevit ably, all crimin als brought be fore the court and tried by it were tauleleas,

while the chiefs (matais) were at lib erty to do what they liked, and were not brought to book for any of their misdeeds.

Then a flagrant case occurred. A young Samoan girl had been attacked by two men. She complained, and one of the evildoers, a taulelea, was summoned before the court and duly convicted and sentenced to a prison term. But the other, a chief, who had participated in the crime, was never even called up by the court.

This brought things to a head. The tauleleas held a meeting of protest.

They declared that, as the court

apparently dealt out justice of a different kind for chiefs and tauleleas, respectively, they would no longer sub mit to it. And the prisoners in Leu lumrega gaol, in protest, walked out from there in a body and went home.

The rule of the chiefs of Leulumrega had come to an end.

General Hart.