THE SAMOAN DIFFICULTY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 10, 3 May 1876, Page 2

THE SAMOAN DIFFICULTY.

THE STAR'S DUSEDIS CO RISESPOXPENT. ] Auckland, May 1.

There was great excitement liere on the arrival of Colonel Steinberger by the mail steamer. He was cheered through the streets by the libert;/men of H.M.S. Barraconta. Steinberger was interviewed by reporters. He says lie was the secret-agent of tho United States ("'overnvnent, to whom he

lias applied to demand redress from the British Government for the indignity and w! o:i«s 3ie Jia? suffered at the hands of Captain Stevens, of tho Barracnutn,. TTa urges that forLv thousand inhabitants of Samoa

are in sackcloth .and ashos praying in their churches for his return. Ho demands that that the c iinmod-rc shall re ciiivi.v him to Samoa, and if the n:d i .'es do not receive him with acclamation then to deal v.-siii him as an adventurer and villain. He complains that the Icing was made drunk on board the Earracouta and then made to sign a paper deposing him. For this act the people dethrone! the king and banished him. Ho states further that the n.«.tivo attack on "the Barracoota's men was solely on account of their Premier being made n pi'isoncr on board tho war ship, and thence tho bloodshed. He alleges that on his arrival at T.evuka he demanded iii.j liberty, but Captain Stevens said he had orders from the American Consul to laud them in Auckland ; that Captain Stevens afterwards had an interview witli the Chief Justice of Fiji, who oxpres-ed his sur-

prise that Captain Stevens should have a foreign political pri-joner on his ship, as fneh ■was against Bri&h law; that Captain Sfcevevs'j hurried 011 and invited liirst t-> g v > ashore, hut oil the colonel's refusal he called a heat's crow and drove h:ni out of the ship hy force. All Ir's effects nml private papers wcic <les'troyed or s<«l-l l;y auction. to thn heacheoihbers under the siina of the i-'-ritish man-o'-waf. For these illcg-d net.-, he will, under the advice, of the United States Covcrnr/ient, follow the B&rraeouta Iff an e and demand redress from the Admiralty. He estimates his* damages at oneinilJicn pound.-;. Or the Peerless he will say nothing heyond that her title is not worth a cent., and that she is liable to seizure 1 y the first American cruiser entering the port.

. iiere tell to you. l?am assured" it isl feetly true.- ..It is, that the' authorities a 1..- p Admiralty have .devised anil partially 1 . cuted a scheme for" immediately conyeM the vessels of our great steamship conijßr into gunboats in the event of war bre;M out in Europe or America. As sooivas ■'*" proclaimed, if so deplorable an event occur, the great ocean steamers at Lo& Liverpt>oJ, Southampton, Glasgow, and [, ports will be suddenly rendered useless j~1 commercial purposes ; but they will at ( be fitted up with guns and sent out to c Oil hostilities against the enemy, the e.xi crews being retained and augmented, if n sary, by sailors from our men-of-war, f\ . three or four officers of the Royal Navy be appointed to assume the command in . ship. In tliis manner economy as M'e efficiency will, it is boasted, be secured. lam rightly informed, this scheme does -or exist merely 011 papc?, or in the brain of partmental officials. - Already naval oil® of experience have actually been employiß survey the large steamers at our seaports, and elaborate reports have ■ sent to the Admiralty with reference to 3 number of guns and men which these sJ are capable of carrying. 111 a word, fl| I scheme is ripe for execution to-morrow, if ij I should be declared bv any power a-s?aH s 1 Great Britain." M