MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 119, 10 January 1880, Page 2

MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS.

0:i Wednesday last, the Municipal Board gave the public evidence thai they ! Imd i'.ji M>'.';. i«s 1«- during the past week] or iv..., by i.-v-iuug quite n batch of lteyu-1 laLous. . lie first one 0:1 cue list is that referring to public-houses. It provides for a license, to liu issued in the rate uf glO per mouth, to bo paid quarterly. In our opinion lie., heeino is low enough, and ior tho respectability both of our town and the caihi.g of hotel-keeper the wi.. k< yt.ir's license should Dave been reiiil ii; advance. By ibis mans we ■■.■".■■.: have got rid id one or two little li. !ls winch exist in our midst, and the bona-iidu hotel-keeper, we feel certain, would have only been too glad to have eouse::tc 1 to such an arrangement; It is ai the petty-fogging places of infamy drat the natives obtain liquor when they do get it, and we hold that the respectability of tlio town is to be considered before' the dollars in the safe. We do not charge the Board with intentionally coiißideriiK' tho latter before the former, but we know that when people are financing for the public, the ways and means are a grave consideration. But we do consider that the Board has shown a little false modesty in letting the hotel-keepers down so easy. The 2nd "clause provides for the puuisimient of any person selling intoxicating drinks without a license. The 3rd prohibits the sale of intoxicating drinks to Samoans or other Islanders of the Pacific. Ocean. The -it'ii regulates the hours that a public-houso shall he open to the public ' .. *— " * : 'J '1 rvm rtivwnolcSundays. The sth declares that a publican shall be punished for supplying liquor to any person in a state of intoxication. And the Oth provides fir tho punishment of any person supplying a Samoau or any Blander of the I'ac'ific Ocean with intoxicating drinks. Tho whole of these we look upon as very good and very necessary provisions, but we won't say that our opinion will be endorsed by those wdio have been in the habit of adjourning to the "pub." for their cock-tail on a .Sunday morning. U'e feel certain that the hotel-koopors will look upon closing tho houses at 11 p.m. as a boon : but as clocks vary so much, as there is no chance of obtaining the correct time, and as the lino is heavy though no! necessarily too heavy, the police should he insti acted to give each hotel-keeper when necessary a quarter of an hour's notice tu clear'and close his house. Thoro are two other clauses which provides for tho pu lishmont of both natives and lori'er:: ■•: 1 1 Lei ig drunk and disorderly. Tho lines mid penalties in these two instances are Imrdly fair. The Samoan's day is made to bo as valuable to him as the white man's; but that is not so. The average daily wages of a Samoan i-."."> cents, whilst that of a white .'..an ;-, ;, at least. !.... line for a native is high enoi, ;h, bu: we would advise that the number o.' d.i .-, imprisonment lie raised ia p, ■ :r' :. :,~,| ~\,\l v7 tho Outcreased, . ::.■ lumber uf days in proportion iv reduced. The second regulation in order is that concerning lirenrms, which, being short, I we insert in full us follows : XVI.—On ami alter the first day of January l.yv.) the sale of firearms and iiiniiiiiiiitiuii is hereby prohibited without 11 special license from the Municipal Board. Any broach of this regulation shall be punished by a lino not to excel Two Hundred (§200) Dollars, (amione half o| the lino imposed shall bo paid to the informer), or by imprisonment not to exec. .1 Six Months willi or without hard labour, or by both fino and imprisonment not to oxccoil the abovementioned penalties, This article is, perhaps, a littlo too short. Tho amount of license might have been mniliotied, Wo have 110 doubt lint tin', will (initio in duo time. We hope, therefore, that at least during peace, the license' will be merely nominal, for < (here is n very fair trade itone in powder 1 lllil shot during the pigeon season which is now coming on, and if a high license 1 is put on it will not only make those •hoice birds more oxpoittlvu than they ( ii", but, for the »on»on, it may induce 1 "in" person to eanv powder mid -hot l 1

outside the boundary to sell them, d thereby <lo au injury to the ro- pi iiining storekeepers. b; Now we come to the most important c« gulatinu of the whole batch namely the ai Regulation concerning Trades and Pro-1 ssions (or their licenses). In con-1 li ■I! uence of its importance wo insert it in t: ill, viz:— 1 d XVII.—Any person following or oxer- j ising any of the professions, trades or idlings eminierated in the schedule an- ' cxcii to this regulation, whether jointly ' •ith any other profession, trade or calling, r otherwise, shall take out a license and ay a license fee at the rate per year set ' orth in said schedule. All such licenses ® hall on application he issued by the Mulieipal Hoard for three, six, nino or ] welvo months on payment in advance if tin; quarterly fee required in respect 1 if each profession, trade or calling, and 1 n all cases licenses shall date from the 1 irst day of January, April, July or Octo 1 jer, and shall expire on the last day of ' '•larch, J nne, September or December, as 1 he ease may he. X VIII.—Any person exercising, following or engaging in any of the professions, trades or callings enumerated in the scho.lule aforesaid without a license at any lime after the lapse of seven days from the first day of the months of January, April, July and October respectively shall on conviction in a summary manner forfeit a ruin not exceeding One Hundred ($100) Dollars, or in default of payment shall bo imprisoned not to exceed Seventy-five Days. XlX.—There shall ho five classes of licenses in general for stores. SCHEDULE. Class I. All stores whose monthly sales are above Two Thousand (52000) Dollars shall pay for a lirst-class license at the rate of One Hundred (5100) Dollars per annum. Class 11. All stores whose monthly sales are heliAV Two Thousand (£2000) Dollars and above One Thousand (51000) Dollars shall pay for a second class license at (lie rate of Forty-eight (STS) Dollars per annum. Class 111. All stores whose monthly sales are below Ono Thousand (51000) Dollars and above Five Hundred (5500) Dollars shall pay for a third class license at the rate of Thirty-six (§3li) Dollars per annum. Class IV. All stores whose monthly sales are below Five Hundred (§500) Dollars and above Two Hundred and Fifty (5250) Dollars shall pay for a fourth class license at the rate of Twenty-four ($24) Dollars per annum. Class V. AU stores whoso monthly sales are below Two Hundred and Fifty (5250) tiV+h-n,—inF“ Hu- %r rSve/W 1 (s'itss Dollars per annum. Bi'ixivi. Lk'i;xsi:s. .Weir uj I t ircnw, iVr anntnn. Attorney, Barrister nr Solicitor ... sti():Uo Auctioneer or Commission Agent +0:00 Baker 12:00 Banks or Companies carrying on banking business 00:00 Barber 0:00 Billiard table 12:00 Blacksmith (not employed) 12:00 Boarding or Dodging Douse 12:00 Boat builder (not employee) 12:00 Bowling Alley 12:00 Butcher 24:00 Cargo Boat or Lighter applying for hire ! 0:00 Carpenter (not employed) 12:00 Sailmaker „ ‘ ' (i; 0() •Ship-builder „ 24:00 Shoemaker „ 12:00 Surveyor of Dan.! 12:00 Photographer or Artist (not employed) 12:00 Pilot 24:00 I‘iinling I'rcss 12:00 Tailor (not employed) 12:00 Waterman „ fur each boat... 0:00 U XLICKNSKI) TuADUKS. XX —All persons other than licensed butchers selling fresh meat within the Municipality shall pay a tax of One per cent, on their sales. XXI.—AII merchant ships or others selling goods within the waters of the Municipality shall pay for retailing Five per cent, on all sales, and for wholosalohig One per cent, on the sales. Goods sold in loss than the following quantities shall he considered retailing, viz.:— Goods sold by the yard, 100 yards •• n a » pound, 200 pounds n a ). „ dozen, 4 dozens a n n u gross, 1 gross Kerosene and other oils in tins 5 cases Oils in drums, 2 drums Liquids in bulk, 20 gallons All canned and bottled provisions and liqnoi's in bottles shall ho counted ns sold by the (hot. Tea in tins or quarter chests, 5 tins or quarter chests Tea In chests, I chest. XXII.—The amount of such sales •hull ho given under oath by the person >r persons making the sales before the .'onsnl of the nation to which the vessel lelongs, mnl the tax on the same shall ie paid to him. Any trader without a \ ’onsnl here shall make oath to the ililolint of his sales before the local i llagislrate, and shall pay tho tax on the ( aui'i to him. ( XXII I.—Any caption, owner or super- ] nrgu convicted ol violating tho above i ogiilfttion shall he lined not to exceed Two 1 1 Imulrod ($200) Dollars, ,

XXIV.—A printed copy of the throe n deeding regulations shall be furnished f< • the Pilot to the master or super- c rgo of each trading vessel on her p rival in port. _ 0 We will now pass over the special t cence part of it with the single remark 1 tat wo consider the Board ought to have i alined the difference between a boat- 1 nildor and a ship-builder. If a ship- 1 uilder is intended to cover any vessel ’ ,-ith a.dock irrespective of her size, then , - c consider, in the face of the fact that . i here is not more than one decked vessel .ui 11 here in five years, that the license 1 vould have been high enough at !?12 tho ame as boat-building. A\ Idle on the pecinl licenses, for the information of tho mblic having been considerably bored i vith inquiries upon the subject, we, will ,dd that the words (not employed) are lot meant to read as the person being ununployed or out of work. For tho pnrjo.ses of this regulations they mean mehanics or otherwise who are their own nasters, and who arc not working for vages. AVe will now pass on to unlicensed trailers' AVe are afraid that that portion ff it referring to goods sold from ships will cause the Board considerable trouble and probably litigations. Not that we think that there is anything unjust in Iho matter, but on the contrary wo consider that the taxes proposed to be levied are most just and equitable considering that storekeepers here have to pay a business license in additions to the tax upon their property. But we know that the Treaty between tho United States and Samoa especially provides that no American vessel bringing goods to, or taking goods from, Samoa shall be taxed more than one half cent, per ton tonnage dues. This treaty selects, as the only goods upon which restrictions of any kind can be placed, arms and ammunition. AVe know also that the German and English Treaties are based upon the most favoured nation clause, and vessels from either of those countries cas claim tho same rights and privileges as those of tho United States. Knowing this we fail to see how, if any person chooses to object to pay, the Board can legally enforce it till such time as the sanction of the three Treaty Powers has been received upon the matter. This is where and why we anticipate trouble, but we hope the evil may Ire averted, and wo sincerely hope that no trader to this port will he found avaricious enough to object or make any trouble about tho small amount they will have to pay for the privilege of disposing of their wares. The next regulation is oire providing for the punishment of persons furiously riding through the street of Apia. Then follows the llegnlation Concerning Animals, which prohibits any person from tying horses or cattle across the road, ike. under penalty of being fined §2 for each otlcnce. It also provides that the owner of any horse, bull, cow, calf, pig, sheep, or goat found straying - - ■■ - -I—u VV u.this is regalci,:,,,. tr, r ~ n,„ ,i,. si . rv es credit, and wo hope tho police will do their duty by keeping a sharp eye upon such stray animals, particularly pigs. The sixth Regulation provides for the punishment of any person indecently exposing his pel-son in a public place. This is a very necessary regulation, but we consider that for a second offence of this nature tho limit of tho fine is too low. However wo have no doubt that time will mend all these little oversights. The seventh prohibits public, assemblies of Samoans from districts outside the Tnarnasaga territory, within the Afnnieipality without permission from the Board. I he next two regulations are one making it punishable to assist the escape of, or conceal, a prisoner, and also for aiding a sailor to desert from his ship. The other provides for the punishment of any person asaultiug or molesting a member of tho Board. The following Regulation Concerning Taxes wo publish in full. AVe consider that the tax of £1 per head on all those who are not otherwise licensed or taxed is too small in proportion to tho salaries many of them receive, and in comparison with what every other member of the community has to pay. Wo are of opinion that §2 50c. would have boon littlo enough:— XXXIII. A tax of One per cent, shall be levied on tho real value of all houses and lands, except churches and schools, within the town and district of Apia, payable to tho Treasurer quarterly in advance. J XXXIV. —All male persons of the of twenty-one years, except miuistcTs of the Gospel, priests, touchers and representatives ot foreign Governments, not paying taxes or licenses otherwise! shall pay a head (ax of Oao (Jlj Dollar each annually in advance. Tho whole winds up with a Herniation regulating matters connected "with ihe police such as the number, their heal, their uniform, their hours of survive per lay, lAe. 1