A TONGAN AFFAIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 147690, 8 September 1911, Page 6

A TONGAN AFFAIR.

OFFICIALS V. PEOPLE.

KILLING A COMPANY.

SHOULD NEW ZEALAND ACT?

There has been trouble in Tonga. The commercial equilibrium has been upset, the Government has been impugned, the law has been set in motion. A large native trading company, the Toga ma a Toga Kautaha, comprising about 4000 shareholders, has been liquidated, ana its creditors have received out of the estate 10s in the £, notwithstanding that the company was solvent. The balance, apparently, has gone in legal expenses, liquidation costs, and so on. The closing of the company was done by the 'longan Government, and naturally the shareholders, the people who suffer most, feel sore. They have the sympathy of a large section of the white and coloured population, who are not shareholders. Dr. C. E. Maguire, who has lived for some years ut Tonga, as senior medical officer, and has virtually been DeputyConsul, explained the position to a reporter yesterday, and from his account it is a most extraordinary one. The Tongan Government consists of native Ministers and two white members, and at its head is the British Consul, Mr. W. Telfer Campbell.

The Kautaha began business in May, 1909, but in August of last year its books were seized by the Government, and the premises entered upon. Then its president, a white man named Cameron, was prosecuted by the Consul for falsifying the books, but he was acquitted. Then _ the Government officials seized the premises, stock, schooner, and other property of the company, and sold them at sacrificial prices. f rom the revenue the shareholders and creditors have received 10s in the ;B, the balance being promised within a month, but left unpaid. The creditors were allowed to understand that the rest of the money had gone in winding up the affairs of the company. A Law Suit. The action of the Government was made the subject of a lawsuit, wherein the officials of the crushed Kautaha proceeded against tj»s Consul and the Auditor-General (Mr. T. V. Roberts) and the Government accountant (Mr. G. B. Humphreys}. The Consul was accused of having been the head and front of the whole proceedings, the other officials of having taken part in the seizure and suppression of the Kautaha. The case resulted in the case against each of the defendants being dismissed, the Commissioner stating that nothing was proved against the Consul, and that the other two had acted under the authority of the Government, and no action could be maintained against- them. Notice to appeal was given. The result the hearing and the judgment was to cause a considerable disturbance in the Cabinet of the island kingdom. The Premier backed up the decision of the Court with a threat to spend all the money available in fighting the appeal. But the officials of the Kautaha were as determined, and two days later applied to Chief Justice Skeen, in the Supreme Court, of Tonga, for the suspension of certain ordinances passed in connection with the winding up of the company. Unconstitutional Ordinances. One section of the ordinance provided that " it shall be unlawful for any Tongan to bring any action at law in any Court against any member of the Tongan Government or against any officer or officers employed by the said Government, or acting by the said Government- on its behalf, for any act done by them, or any of them, in the suppression, winding up, or liquidation" of the Kautaha. It was further provided that this section should have effect as if it had been in force on the date of the passing of the previous ordinance in 1910.

The next section made it unlawful for any native "to organise, suggest, assist in the formation of, act as agent for, finance, control, receive any remuneration from, or be a member of any association of Tongans or Kautaha, formed for the purpose of trading within the kingdom of Tonga." Another section declared it to be unlawful for any native to help any non-native, " who in the past may have been associated with natives of Tonga for the purpose of trading, or in any kautaha." Power for natives to - form associations was made subject to " the consent of His Majesty's Privy Council." Mr. Justice Skeen decided, to the great joy of the natives, that the ordinances were ultra vires, being unconstitutional, and that they must be suspended until next year, when the Legislative Assembly meets. And since then, it is reported, the King of Tonga was pressed, unsuccessfully, to dismiss the Chief Justice.

The Only Hope for Tonga. Dr. Maguiro, commenting upon the affair, described it as a grave political scandal, calling for a complete inquiry. The only hope he could see for the betterment of Tonga (which two years ago was a quiet and contented community), was that New Zealand should interest itself in. the little kingdom, and have the appointing of a Resident Commissioner in its hands. " Tonga is too far from Dowling-street," he said, " to have its;grievances properly ventilated there. It gets little or no sympathy from the High Commission of the Western Pacific."

.THE LEGAL POSITION.

NEW ZEALAND'S INTERESTS.

Interviewed by a Herald reporter last evening, Mr. W. E. Hackett, of the firm of Messrs. Moody, Hackett and Moody, solicitors for the King of Tonga, was asked the reason of his partner Mr. R. N. Moody not returning from Tonga, Mr. Hackett explained that he had that day received correspondence from Mr. Moody which indicated grave reasons for his presence in Tonga for some time to come. The threat of annexation was ever present to the mind of the Tongan natives, who have natural aspirations to work out the destinies of their nation in their own manner.

The British Consul (Mr. Telfer Campbell) had, it was stated, assumed towards the King and the Tongan Government an attitude of dictatorship. During the King's recent prolonged stay in Auckland, and contrary to his express instructions to his Regent, the British Consul's domination of the Cabinet resulted in the passing of certain ordinances, which Mr. Moody had succeeded in having declared illegal by a decision of the Tongan Chief Justice, with the result that the natives may now restart their trading company. "The British Consul has," added Mr. Hackett, "peremptorily ordered the King to suspend the Chief Justice. Upon the advice of Mr. Moody, the King has openly refused to comply with his demand, notwithstanding the renewed threats of bringing warships and hoisting the British flag, thus annexing the country. Conscious of the fact that an unfounded rumour has been circulated as to the uprising of the natives, and knowing that the slightest act of violence would be seized upon as a pretext for the annexation of the country, Mr. Moody has remained on the scene to personally advise the King and his subjects as to their actions until the action of the British Consul and others will be made known to the Imperial authorities." Asked if any such steps had been taken, Mr. Hackett said, "Yes; I have taken what I believe will prove a speedy and effective means for securing an observance of the treaty entered into between Queen Victoria ana the King of Tonga, and which, I hope, will restore the respect and confidence of the Tongan people for British protection and administration of the law." In conclusion, Mr. Haekett stated that Mr. Moody had advised the King of Tonga, suggesting that the British representative in Tonga should be appointed by the New Zealand Parliament, as anything in the nature of friction could then be more quickly investigated, and the Tongan trade with Now Zealand could be better: regulated,- " .