The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1888.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 218, 15 September 1888, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1888.

For the cause that lacks assistance, lot the \yrong* that needi roustance, ': Tor tho future in' tho distance, ' And tho tfood that W can do. ' '

Samoan endurance has given way unde^ the strain of German arrogance, op-; pre3sion, and insult Jj the :16ng^deferred civil war has broken but between ■ the Malietoa and Tamasese factions, and those war-loving-peoplei whom English missionaries have so long .been-■labour, ing to christianise, are now in all pro; bability engaged in the attenipt to exj terminate each ptherj, after Ih^mp^t ap^ proved fashion->of Ghristian -nations. The present; outbreak owes its origin to no' other cause than < the., unwisq

and unbearable treatment of the natives by the German authorities entrusted with the government of the Sampan Islands, and if Germany is acting as the mandatory, of. the pthet-Powers interested in the group, it "is high" tirrie that the mandate was ../(cancelled and the '. control handed over to people who ' have some conceptiori of how to treat Polynesian aborigines. From the first we opposed the action of Germany in Samoa •as being unnecessarily harsh in manner j ; but-we were prepared to welcome their ' rule' as better than the very unsatisfactory, multiple control "which formerly prevailed^ 'Their violent deportation of King Malietoa and his chiefs was part pfi their; inponsiderate treatment, but even that might have been pardtfned had the effect been iptranquillise. the* I natives and lead to a condition Pf peace '.and security for trade.; ;•' ■>. It is highly significant to find that the Malietoa party lhas grown in power and influence,; even; after the assumed "head and front"-of the movement had v been 'transported to the other side ,of theglbbe} andf'the' flockinjg/ of the people to the standard of their, deposed king fe an eloquent testimony not so i much of their loyalty to him as1 of their detestation of German, rule. That they should have revolted under the very guns of Germati- watships^and with the most fearful threats of m taliation doubtless hanging over .'them; shows that the rising is-the rebellion of* a proud-spirited people against the. 1 galling yoke - imposed- upon them, tci. I which would prefer death itself; \ln this view of the case it is to be expected that the -defections .from the German or £amasese party, :wiU continue until virtually the -whole <Sf the Samoan people will be found" arrayed on the side of liberty;- Meanwhile, the .German rulers, backed :by the ,guns of •: the men-o'-war, and supported by the authority of England "and the United StaSeSi may cause .much bloodshed and misery... .'■ . :■■:■:?;. ■'»''.„' i ':■■■/ ■■ The^ativeSamoans will not be the ; only, <ories ■ to; sujSer rby. the outbreak. ■ Ambnjihft'man'y .rash things done by ; the Gerhnns. pn^assuming^he: sway ijn Samoa w^ the abolishing of the agreement under' which the municipality of , Apia tfasft reifiognised: as neutral tefrj- ' tbry^ In' the'bounds of the municipality were comprised 4U Jhe J3i;ores

and residences of Europeans, and in the event of trouble among the natives this territory was to be held inviolable by both sides. Now," howeverr that; the neutrality agreement has ' been abandoned, the natives are; likely to make Apia the very centre of their struggles, and this would appear to, be what ,is happening. The contending force?'are in the immediate neighbourhood of' the town,., and there k only too much reason to fear that the place will be looted, and outrages offered to the European residents. The Germans, if (|iey att; alive to their duty, will confine their operations to landing parties ,of marines and bluejackets from the warships to occupy Apia and protect it from the excited natives. So ;far as we know, there is no British .wardship at Apia, but H.lil.s. Calliope lately; ■left Sydney for. Fiji, and her .commander Avill doubtless at once proceed to Samoa on learning of the disturbed condition of things there. The presence' of an English warship at Apia is greatly to be desired, if only to act as a check upon German arrogance, I which'has already led to something in I the nature of an outrage upon Auckland traders. .; ;■■ ■« ; "\ .'■...

It is a ( noteworthy coincidence that this Sarnban outbreak should have taken place almost simultaneously with the resolve of the German Government to return Malietoa and the deported chiefs to Samoa. These outraged individuals are even now on their way back to the land from which they were so rudely and wrongfully torn, and the action of the Imperial Government, in returning them appears tp be iv the nature of a rebuke;to those vvtoo deported them. Severer- censure vvjll be the lot of those blunderers when it! is known, at Berlin, I London, and Washington | that the rebellion which [ their arbitrary conduct in exiling Milie- , tda was meant to avert, hasi,nevertheless broken 'out. It; the Germans afe Home are not thoroughly disgusted with the bungling of their representatives in Samoa, we feel convinced that the public sentiment in England, America, and Australasia will be unanimous in demanding the cancellation of the agreement which Germany has shown herself unfitted to carry out, and will insist upon a reconstruction of the Samoan Government which will recognise the wishes of the people.