The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1899. WAR IN SAMOA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 14, 18 January 1899, Page 4

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

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1899. WAR IN SAMOA.

For the caosa that lack* assistance, Far the wrong teat neois rssista,s«a, far tie' fatnro in the distaita, And th) p«d that vt san io.

The arrival of the mail steamer Ala-

mecia puts us in early possession of startling news from Samoa, which, when, it becomes known in. America and Europe, as it will be in the course of a few hours, will doubtless cause no little sensation, especially in diplomatic circles. In defiance of the decision of the Supreme Court, whose authority is derived from the three Great Powers holding1 protectorate rights over Samoa, the Chief Mataafa has proclaimed himself King and has asserted his kingship by attacking and defeating his rivals Malietoa and Tamasese, whom the Court recognised as King- and Vice-King- respectively, by slaying a large number of their followers, and laying waste their abodes. The circumstances of the outbreak of hostilities and the course of subsequent events up to the departure of the Alameda for Auckland are fully detailed in another part of this issue. The outbreak can scarcely be said to have been altogether unexpected. Semi-savage chiefs are accustomed to resort to summary methods for gaining their ends. War with them is not a business that requires or receives very much thought before it is engaged in. Tt was natural enough that Mataafa, being apparently the favourite for the throne among the islanders, should have resolved on the course he pursued when he found that his claims had been ignored. But the remarkable thing, and the thing that is likely to cause further trouble quite as much as Mataafa's action, is ihat he should have received the countenance and encouragement, which from all appearances he did receive, from the representative of Germany in" the islands. No doubt one has to exercise a good deal of caution in accepting in its entirety the anti-German view of the German Consul's actions. Yet the facts, as they have been forwarded to us, speak most loudly against him. It does certainly appear that he was largely responsible for Mataafa's opening hostilities. Had he used his influence in conjunction with the representatives of the other Powers to restrain the angry chief we cannot but think the loss of life and destruction of property might have been avoided. It is plain, however, that instead of combining with the British and United States representatives to prevent bloodshed and maintain peace he at least abstained from exercising any influence in that direction.

If there existed any doubt as to the attitude of the German Consul before the outbreak his subsequent conduct goes far to confirm the suspicion that ho was deliberately bent on thwarting the other representatives. Whether he was acting1 under specific instructions from his Government, having been advised beforehand of the part

he should play in case of such a contingency as had occurred, no on,e can say. It is equally, if not more, probable that he has acted to a large degree on his own responsibility. Officers in his position are not infrequently liable to acts of indiscretion when they give the rein to their zeal; and perhaps it seemed to him that he would best serve his country in a predicament like the one that arose by doing as he did. But if that was the case his conception of his duty was an absolutely mistaken one. His duty in such a case was perfectly plain. He was there to act in concert with the representatives of the other Powers in preserving peace. It was to that end that the Islands .were put under the joint protectorate; and the men who have been placed there were there for that object primarily. Peace and the preservation of order were the first considerations. If he thought that Mataafa had been unjustly dealt with by the Supreme Court it was certainly the last thing he should have done, and the worst thing he could have done to countenance the chief in the course he took.

That the Provisional Government in closing- the Court acted entirely at the instigation of the German Consul and President of the Municipality is apparent from the fact that when the captain of H.M.S. Porpoise took steps to reinstate the Chief Justice, Mataafa would do nothing to resist the OrdeT, but withdrew all his followers from Apia, leaving the German Consul and President of the Municipality of oppose the • reinstatement as they pleased. The Consul's protest and subsequent proclamation repudiating the authority of the Chief Justice disclose his hand pretty freely. The wording of his proclamation, in which he states that 'the Provisional Government arose from the violent overthrow of the decision of the Chief Justice, W. L. Chambers, Esq. in the kingship question , which declared the Mataafa party unqualified for taking over the Government' is calcuJated to stir up mischief and ill-feeling among the Samoans, into whose language the proclamation has been translated. The judgment shows that the Chief Justice simply interpreted the Treaty and protocols in strict accordance with legal standards, and the terms of the Act. .

The disqualification under the protocols, read with the Act itself, is directed at Mataafa personally, and to say' that the Chief Justice had disqualified the party, wherein are some high chiefs intitled by their rank to aspire to the future kingship, is a perversion of the fact, calculated to stir Up the Samoans to oppose the Berlin Act. : .

Assuming1 that the German Consul has acted tipon his own initiative, and not under instructions, he has pAiV. the attitude of the German Government in former Samoan embroglios to guide him. 13r. Strubel holds High Consular office at Shanghai, Mr Becker at Madras or Bombay. Even Dr. Knappe, disavowed as he was by Bismarck for his arbitrary action towards British subjects, holds a high position at Shanghai under the German Government, drawing a'large salary. Apparent]}-, therefore, German officials have nothing to lose but much to gain by frequent disturbances in Santba, and it may be that some such thought flitted through the brains of the German officials who were concerned in this last affair.

J The one pleasing feature in connection with a most lamentable occurrence is the drawing together of the British and American representatives on the occasion of a great emergency. The support and protection given to the Chief Justice, who is an American, citizen, by the captain of the British warship will furnish another link in the chain of kinship which binds the two great branches of. the Anglo-Saxon race together, and the eloquent words of the Chief Justice in the letter of thanks which he addressed to Captain Sturdee will find a responsive echo in "the hearts of Englishmen and Americans all the world over. '■'■*' j