BRITISH RESIDENTS AT RAROTONGA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2326, 29 September 1898, Page 55

BRITISH RESIDENTS AT RAROTONGA.

AUCKLAND, September 23. The following particulars of Lieutenantcolonel Gudgeon's installation as British Resident at Rarotonga have been received by the Ovalau :— " Monday, the 12th, being the day the new Resident was expected to arrive, it was with great surprise people saw on Saturday afternoon the smoko of r, steamer in the western horizon. Very rapidly the steamer approached, and in a short time the H.M.S. Tauranga anchored in the roadstead. As soon as the anchor was dropped a shore boat, containing Taraare, the principal chief, and F. Goodwin, Government interpreter, proceeded alongside, and on the party reaching the deck of the Tauranga the Chief Taraare at once presented the following invitation to Lieutenant-colonel Gudgeon :— " Rarotonga, September 12, 1898. To Lieutenant-colonel W. Gudgeon, British Resident, Greetings. Sir, — Welcome to Rarotonga, and the Cook Islands. We trust your stay in our midst will be pleasant, and a temporary dwelling place is at your disposal until the residency can be got ready for you at Ngatipa. Enough. From (Signed) Makea Ariki." Lieutenant-colonel Gudgeon, in a few kindly words, accepted the address, and staled that the official landing would be made on Monday. Shortly afterwards Mr Moss proceeded on board, when a salute was fired in his honour. On Sunday Lieutenantcolonel Gudgeon, with Captain Hamilton Browne, ond the officers were the guests of Mr Moss at Ngatipa. Early on Monday morning everybody was astir. About 10 o'clock a contingent of the inhabitants from all the settlements on tho islands commenced to arrive, and at 11 o'clock, the hour of installation, there must have been, including Europeans, between 500 and 600 people surrounding the palace. On the front verandah were seated the principal native and European

inhabitants. Up in front of the palace were a file of 50 marines from the warship under the command of an officer. At 11.30 Captain Hamilton Browne, with Lieutenantcolonel Gudgeon, Mr Moss, and Mr F. Goodwin, interpreter, stood on the front steps of the palace. The captain then, in a clear, steady voice, read the proclamation as follows :— " Government House, Wellington, New Zealand, 26th August, 1898. Proclamation : That her Majesty has learned with much displeasure of their refusal to obey her wishes in regard to the enactment of the Federal Court Bill, and of the ingratitude which they have displayed in their treatment of Mr Moss, who has laboured so hard in their interests and has done so much for them. That while Mr Moss will not return, her Majesty expects the officer who succeeds him will receive more of their confidence and supxDort than they accorded to Mr Moss, and that they will in all matters seek his advice and not listen to unauthorised persons who wish only to make mischief for their own ends, and to estrange the people of Cook Islands from her Majesty, and that her Majesty expects that they will at once enact the Federal Court Bill in the form in which it is laid before them by the Resident. God save the Queen." Three cheers were given for her Majesty, followed by a salute of 21 guns from the man of war. After an interval of a few minutes the following message was read from the Governor of New Zealand :— " Government House, Wellington, August 26, 1898. Message by direction and on behalf of her Most Gracious Majesty Queen 'Victoria. I, Uchter John Mark, Earl of Ranfurly, Knight Commander of . the most distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Governor and Commander-in-chief in and over her Majesty's colony of New Zealand and its dependencies, have appointed Lieutenantcolonel Walter Edward Gudgeon to be British Resident in the Cook Islands. Lieutenant-colonel Gudgeon is an officer who has had over 30 years' experience both civil and military among the Maori inhabitants of New Zealand, and I recommend him with confidence to the inhabitants of the Cook Islands, feeling assured that it will be for their advantage to be guided by one who possesses such qualifications for the duties of this office. Her Majesty has also directed that Lieu-tenant-colonel Gudgeon shall receive such an appointment from her Majesty's High Commissioner in the Pacific as will enable .him to perform judicial duties and secure a due observance of the law by those who may be within terms of the special orders and regulations affecting the Cook Islands, and at the same time afford to all such persons that protection and assistance which . these .laws may afford. I rely on the good will of the inhabitants of the Cook Islands, ' both native and foreign, to assist Lieutenant-colonel Gudgeon m performing the various duties imposed upon him, and I am sure that it will be for the benefit of all that her Majesty's instructions regarding these islands should be duly carried out. If this be done, material progress will result, and the wellbeing and happiness of all be assured. — Ranfurly, Governor." This concluded the installation. A correspondent says: — "I must say *he proclamation has been received with very great disfavour. It is addressed to no one and signed by no one. The Federal Court Bill would never have been opposed in the way it was had Mr Moss told Parliament it had come from the Queen."

Miss Hogg, of the Lawrence District High School, is recommended for the position of mistress of the Rae's Junction School. The Greek Melville, found guilty of fraudulent bankruptcy at the Auckland Supreme Court, had the hardihood to get 'married irhile out on bail awaiting his trial.