The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1894.

Auckland Star, Issue 210, 3 September 1894, Page 2

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

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1894.

for the CRUB9 that lacki! assistance, For iho wrong-that needs resistance, Tor the t'utnro in the digtanco. And the good that /we can it.

The details which we publish to-day of the part taken by the British warship Curacoa, and the German warship Bussard, in aiding King Malietoa to put down the rebellion against his authority, shows that the commanders of the vessels engaged acted as humanely as it was possible for them to do. They used every persuasion, in the first place, to induce the rebels to disperse to their homes, and when this failed, the bombardment was carried on in a manner intended to frighten the natives into submission, without doing any more damage than was absolutely unavoidable. :

While this is perfectly true and modifies the criticism which might otherwise have been applied to_ the interposition o( our naval force in a ouarrel which the natives have done their best to demonstrate was a purely family affair and not directed against the European residents or their interests, the questibri is, we observe, being asked \n England whether the captain ; of , the Curacoa had any right, to interfere at all. The ."Samoa ...Times also 'deals ;*ithj; "this aspect;; of the affair, aridiernarks:-" We cannot

avoid regretting tbat native life has been taken by ..those of our: colour for any Qther reason; than as a: punishment for similar acts on the part of the natives themselves, Every, facjlity migftrhaye been offered to the Royal forces to engage the rebels at adisadvantage without the "men-of-war deJstroying life-r-at least, so j we consider." - ' .

I It appears" that action was taken upon express requisition by King Malietoa.. Feeling powerless to suppress an insurrection that was daily increasing in magnitude, he appealed to the authorities representing the ■Berlin Final Act in relation to Samoa for assistance in restoring peace, in the interests both of the natives and foreign residents.' The matter received careful consideration before the commanders of the two warships decided to exercise the discretional power that is vested in them. ! •

VVe think they came to a wise conclusion. The Berlin agreement resulted in a determination to place Malietoa back on the throne. This act, involving the- banishment of Mataafa and his leading supporters, created a condition involving chronic disaffection against the native Government. Having gone so far; ua humane consideration for the natives themselves made it expedient that the Treaty Powers should afford the king they had .set up such support as would secure [ the country against the horrors of a prolonged war, attended by the brutal j practice of head hunting, which still I disgraces the inter-tribal conflicts of these naturally amiable aborigines. Neglect of crops in Samoa bad already brought about a scarcity of food, and the country was menaced wit!? famine, trade was paralysed, and although each side seemed too much afraid of the other to engage in open battle, serious loss of life was occurring from week to. week through outpost engagements. The action of the warships, by terminating the struggle, was therefore a mercitul one, but it must be followed up by strong measures to prevent a recurrence of the trouble. The natives should, in fact, be .disarmed and an effectual stopb&§^ <°} he traffic ia gunsand.^^"lloll ln future' I The sale^f^ guns t0 natives of 'the .^o^uth Sea Islands is an et€t of cjuelty which the Treaty Powers should combine to suppress. From the New Hebrides we hear of another outbreak of war arising from the unscrupulous action of foreign labour-recruiting vessels. English labour vessels are absolutely prohibited trom selling arms to the natives, and the ordinance is rigidly enforced. But the other great Powers interested have hitherto declined to co-operate in suppressing the trade in arms. If the recent intervention in Samoa be followed by disarmament and joint action to save the South Sea Islanders from being decimated with weapons supplied to them by European traders, the action of the two commanders will bear good fruit indeed. So far as Samoa itself is concerned, we do not see how the Treaty Powers can retreat from the position they have now taken up as the defenders of law and order.