They're

short on law and order

From a Pago correspondent

The judiciary, the police and the attorney-general’s department are in a state of near paralysis in American Samoa.

No police chief. No attorney general. No Chief Justice a sad state for this small group of islands, administered directly from Washington, to be in.

The job of police chief has been vacant since Chief Moaa liitele (Larry) Tuufuli was sum marily dismissed about a year ago for administrative reasons.

Captain Tulifua Siva was made acting chief of police, but the job of police chief was never actually filled. When Siva went to the States for a six-week training course late last year, there wasn’t an acting chief of police available in Pago either.

Meanwhile, the police depart ment is seething with uncertainty and discontent. There is a strong faction which wants Tuufuli to be reinstated. Another faction supports either Captain Logo or Captain Leiato for the job of police chief. A third faction sup ports the acting chief Siva.

In a group of islands which has the highest cost of living ratio in the Pacific much higher than in Hawaii police men average $4O per week, and practically no overtime.

In our territory a pound of tomatoes costs 60 to 80 cents; New Zealand beef, $2 to $2.50; eggs, 80 cents a dozen, and so it goes on. In the first six months of this fiscal year we imported 34 per cent, more than in the same period of 1969, while our exports increased only 3.8 per cent. It’s expensive in Pago.

As is to be expected, a wave of burglaries is increasing rapidly.

Bold thieves even broke into the

houses of Chief Justice Donald Crothers and the former attorney general, Tom Thorpe.

Thorpe suddenly resigned his $25,000 a year job in American Samoa last October. At that time he had only served in Pago one year of his two-year contract.

Thorpe has not yet been replaced, and the department is now run by Don Williams, acting attorney general, a highly competent young lawyer from Oregon, who, however, has been plagued with illness.

Recently, Williams had to spend four weeks in hospital re cuperating from a kidney ailment.

During that time not only was there no attorney-general in Pago, but not even an acting attorney general available all the time to make decisions. Often the two young assistant attorney-generals who recently arrived from the US had to go to Williams’ sick bed for advice.

About the middle of last year it was decided to appoint a third American judge in Pago. But this badly-needed reinforcement to the judicial branch never pitched up. Last Christmas Eve, Chief Justice Donald Crothers went to hospital with a heart attack. He has been away to Honolulu re cuperating ever since and no re placement, temporary or other wise, was made.

The public safety department incorporating the police, the fire department, etc. has also been in trouble. Public Safety Commissioner Ray Smythe sud denly resigned last October, about the same time as Thorpe re signed, after onlv serving five months of his two-year contract in Pago.

He was replaced by Barney Issel. the former police chief of the small Oregon town of Cot tage Grove. Issel came to Pago to find that the fire department was in a shocking state. The fire equipment was outdated, and what was available was poorly serviced and therefore not oper ating properly.

The fire of the Fono (Legis lature) last November, which wiped out that ancient building and also the temporary premises of Burns Philp (South Sea) .Ltd., showed again that there is a serious inadeauacy in fire fight ing equipment and trained per sonnel to operate it.

Now the Public Safety Com missioner has brought three fire fighters from Oregon to assist in the training of American Samoan firemen.

American Samoa’s budget for the fiscal year 1972 has been fixed at $20.1 million, an in crease of a third over the $l5 million budget for 1971. More than three-quarters of this amount is generously contributed by the US, in the shape of grants, subsidies, allocations of various kinds.

In view of the territory’s small population 29,000 all told this means that Uncle Sam is chipping in with enough money to allocate $730 for every man, woman and child in American Samoa, So it isn’t a question of lack of funds which has caused all this delay in replacing key per sonnel. The problem lies in the improvidence and procrastination with which certain government departments in Washington and Pago seem to be plagued.