This Act may be cited as the Samoa Amendment Act, 1923, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Samoa Act, 1921 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

Section six of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing subsection one, and substituting the following subsection:—

There shall be an officer of the Samoan Public Service, to be called the Secretary to the Administration, who shall be the principal administrative officer of the Samoan Public Service.

The Administrator may from time to time, by Warrant under his hand and the Public Seal of Samoa, appoint such number of Samoans as he thinks fit to be Faipules. No person shall be appointed as a Faipule under this section who is not qualified, in accordance with existing Samoan usage and custom, to occupy the position of Faipule in any Council or body having advisory functions.

The appointment of any person as a Faipule (whether such appointment has been made before or after the commencement of this Act) may be at any time revoked by the Administrator for any cause that he deems sufficient.

All persons for the time being holding appointment as Faipules shall together constitute a Council of Advisers to the Administrator under the name of the Fono of Faipules, and shall meet at such times and places as the Administrator from time to time appoints in that behalf.

The Administrator shall preside at any meeting of the Fono of Faipules at which he is present.

It shall be the function of the Fono of Faipules to consider such matters relative to the welfare of the Samoan people as of their own initiative they think proper or as may be submitted to them by the Administrator, and to express their opinions and make their recommendations to the Administrator.

Section forty-six of the principal Act is hereby amended as from the commencement of that Act by omitting from subsection one the words “to any Act” before the words “of the United Kingdom.”

Section forty-eight of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

With respect to the elective membership of the Legislative Council, the Governor-General may from time to time make, revoke, or amend regulations, not inconsistent with the principal Act as amended by this Act, prescribing—

Nominated members of the Legislative Council shall be appointed by the Governor-General to hold office either during his pleasure or for such fixed period not exceeding five years, and subject to such conditions as to resignation or forfeiture of office, as the Governor-General thinks fit.

It shall be competent for the Legislative Council to provide by Ordinance for the establishment of a system of municipal government in and for the Town of Apia.

Any such Ordinance may define the boundaries of the said town, and those boundaries may from time to time be in like manner altered.

Paragraphs (c) and (d) of section sixty-one of the principal Act shall be read subject to this section, and no Ordinance as aforesaid shall be held to be invalid only because it establishes a body corporate or a form of municipal or local government with rating, taxing, or legislative authority.

Every person found in any gaming-house within the meaning of section one hundred and forty of the principal Act shall be liable to a fine of five pounds unless he proves that he was there for some lawful purpose.

Section one hundred and eighty-five of the principal Act (relative to the offence of furious driving in a public place) is hereby repealed.

Section one hundred and eighty-six of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “one pound,” and substituting the words “five pounds.”

Section two hundred and sixty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding to subsection one the following proviso:—

Section three hundred and thirty-six of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing subsection two, and substituting the following subsection:—

Section three hundred and thirty-seven of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing subsection two, and substituting the following subsection:—

Section three hundred and thirty-eight of the principal Act is hereby amended by repealing subsection two, and substituting the following subsection:—

Every person who carries, conveys, or conceals any intoxicating liquor manufactured in breach of the principal Act, or who has in his possession or under his control any such liquor, or who is the owner, lessee, or occupier of any premises in or about which any such liquor is found, shall be liable to a fine of two hundred pounds or to imprisonment for one year, unless in the case of an accused person charged with being the owner, lessee, or occupier of premises in which any such liquor is found as aforesaid he satisfies the Court that such liquor was not there with his knowledge or consent.

In any prosecution for offering for sale or for having in possession for sale any intoxicating liquor in breach of section three hundred and thirty-eight of the principal Act the burden of proving that any liquor found in the possession of the accused was not in fact offered for sale or in his possession for sale shall be on the accused.