PAYING GAOL GUESTS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10007, 1 April 1910, Page 4

PAYING GAOL GUESTS

"When a man serves a sentence in German Samoa," said a recent yisitor to the Islands in the course of a conversation with an Auckland pressman, "he is handed a bill for his 'board' daring his incarceration, and if he does not pay it he must stay in gaol for an indefinite period, or until some kind friend liquidates the obligation. A case of this kind was brought to my attention by a policeman just before I left the port of Apia. It appears that a German had committed some petty infraction of the law, for which he was sentenced to 21 days in the bastille. The morning his 21 days were up he naturally expected to be released. On demanding his liberty he was handed a bill for 21 marks, to cover the cost of his keep for that time. Tha man became furious at what he termed a monstrous injustice. In picturesque Teuton he told the officials what he thought of their eon6)uct, but t ey were obdurate, merely informing him that they were obeying the law, and if they allowed him to go without paying, they would have to pay it. out of their own pockets. Finally a friend came to the rescue of the distressed subject of Wilheim. He says as soon as he gets enough money he will go to a country that does not charge a man for his board and lodging while he is in gaol."