OUR TONGAN LETTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11537, 23 November 1900, Page 6

OUR TONGAN LETTER.

[FBOU OTTB OWN, cobbespondknt.] Nukualofa, November 16. RETURN OF THE KING AND QUEEN. Aptbb an absence of two months, their Majesties the King and Queen of Tonga returned from Vavau and Haabai on October 12. They both seem greatly to have benefited from their voyage. A REJECTED ADDRESS. About a month since, in anticipation of the expected arrival of His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand, a public meeting was held at the International Hotel, at which an address welcoming His Excellency was submitted and approved, and a deputation appointed to present the same on arrival <f H.B.M.S. Mildura. The following is the text in full, as approved at the meeting, and which was signed by all the principal firms and traders of Nukualofa, with the exception of two Jewish ■firms, the Government employees, and a few others:— "The Right Honourable the Earl of Ranfurly, K.C.M.G., Governor of New Zealand. Your Excellency,—We the undersigned, who, although foreigners to Tonga, have made .the country our home, desire to express the pleasure we feel at your visit, and to heartily welcome you. The Englishmen who are signatories to this address are, and, of course, always will be, enthusiastically loyal. As a body, whatsoever our nationality, we cordially welcome Your Excellency, both for yourself as a visitor and as a representative of Her Majesty the Queen cf England. We have watched with interest the endeavours which are being made to bring about an improved state of government in this group of islands. Our feelings on this subject are naturally acute, and we find great pleasure in having this opportunity of assuring Your Excellency, as Governor of one of the colonies with which we are intimately associated in business, to say nothing of the relationship of many of us, and of its propinquity, that we are, as a body, in complete sympathy with any measures which your Government may think it advisable to take to bring about a closer connection between New Zealand and Tonga.We have the honour to be, Your Excellency, your most obedient and humble servants." (Here followed the signatures of upwards of 50 of the principal merchants, traders, and others, of Tonga.) As before stated, the above was the full text of the address of welcome, as approved of at the public meeting, but when it was submitted by H.B.M. Yice-Consul to His Excellency on his arrival fox Ids approval, before its public presentation, the Governor declined to receive it, or any address, into which politics might be introduced; but stated that he would be pleased to accept any address of welcome from, which all politics were eschewed. A deputation therefore waited upon His Excellency at a quarter to eleven a.m., on board the Mildura, on Tuesday, October 23, and presented an address of welcome, which comprised only the three first paragraphs of the above address. The document was read by Mr. Robert Hanslip, and was, in all courteous and pleasing terms, accepted by the Earl of Ranfurly, who expressed his great pleasure at thus meeting the Europeans of Tonga. The reasons given by the Governor for declining to receive the address as first drafted and submitted to him were—that he was not hero on an official visit, the Mildura having only called in to replenish her coal bunkers, and more particularly, because were he to accept any address touching on politic? he would be trenching on another man's domainnot that of the King of Tonga, but upon that of H 8.M., High Commissioner, the Governor of Fiji. From tho two rejected paragraphs of the address the present condition and temper of the European mind may be fairly gauged and judged. Until quite recently the majority of Europeans would have preferred that Tonga should have been left to govern itself and fly its own flag. Now matters are changed, and of two evils they would ohoso the lesserannexation to New Zealand, although that condition of things would have a great many drawbacks. H.B.M.S. MILDURA. H.B.M. Mildura arrived here on Monday, October 22, at seven a.m., from New Zealand, via Cook Islands and Niue. which Earl Ranfurly had annexed. His Excellency visited the King of Tonga on Tuesday, went in the afternoon of that day to the western end of Tongatabu, and was present later on at the cricket match between the Nukualofa C.C. and a team from the Mildura, which vessel, after coaling, left us for New Zealand early on the Wednesday morning. THE WEATHER. Our weather has been hot and oppressive for a considerable time, but during the past month we have had showers at intervals, and, fortunately for the country, one or two heavy falls of rain. EARTHQUAKES. At Niua Foou, " there have been," to quote the Rev. J. B. Watkin's"extract from a letter from the Free Church minister there, " quite a large number of earthquakes, which commenced on August 15, and continued with more or less severity until the end of the month. The heaviest earthquakes occurred between August 15 and 18, and there was a large wave thrown up in the inland lake. The natives fully expected an eruption on the 18lh, and all left their villages for the highest part of the island. There were occasional shocks throughout September, but up to the first week in October no eruption had taken place." THE BARQUE HELENE.

On Tuesday, the 13th inst., the barque Holene, 668 tons, was sold at publio auction, for the sum of £525, to Captain Girth mark, on behalf of the Norwegian Consul, Melbourne. The total proceeds of the sale amounted to upwards of £800. This barque, it may possibly be remembered, arrived here from Sydney on July 7, and next day, m attempting to reach the quarantine ground, to which she was ordered by the Tongan authorities, she missed stays, and came to grief against the shore reef. Assistance was speedily rendered, but not until she had sustained very heavy damage, which led to her being condemned. Mr. Maximede Lambert, in the absence of Mr. Robert Hanslip, acted as auctioneer. _^___^—.