THE SAMOAN TROUBLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2360, 18 May 1899, Page 22

THE SAMOAN TROUBLE.

THE ARMISTICE.

(By Or/R Social Commissioner. )

[Telegraphed -from Auckland.] APIA, May 3. On the 27th April the British forces under Captain Sturdee, with Gaunt's Brigade, marched eastward through the scene •of the battle of Vailele. Fisher, the American armourer, who had hidden the Colt gun during the battle, came with us. He described accurately the position in which he had placed it under a heap of dried palm leaves, beside the road, and there sure enough it was found by young Geo. Reid, our interpreter, after a few minutes' search, just as it had been left, so that the rebels had not captured it after an. Naturally, all were very pleased at recovering it. and none more so than the American armourer who had placed it there. I asked him what part of the States he came from. He Bmiled, and answered, "Devonshire, England," and then he told me that he had a brother in the British army, and that his father had also, fought for Great Britain. A careful study of the battlefield showed that the rebels had taken every advantage of the natural features of the ground. Their. line of fire extended for . fully three-quarters of a mile, and the cocoanut- trees of the plantation, hit on both fides by native bullets, showed the terrible disadvantage our men were under. It appears now that the rebels surmised that -some accident had happened to the. machine gun. They had heard it at the skirmish at Mangianga, and felt the effect of the rapid fire too, lor one of the men killed there had three bullets through his head, all close together. They had also heard the gun crackling during the march from the Vailele homestead, when it fired a few shots after the column left Hufnagael's house. "Fanga ote foa matua rnoa," they call it ("The gun that cackles like a hen "), and this most accurately describes the tuck, txick, tuck, with which it rattles out its hail of bullets. As the rebels had not heard the gun for some time they discussed as to whether they should attack. There was some discussion about whether they should fire on the white men or not, but eventually the matter was settled by one of the young warriors firing his rifle, after which all the others, wlio had come down in large numbers, -promptly joined in the firing. Looking at the ground now after the engagement, I think there is not the least doubt that the only course open to our men was retreat. A charge would have been futile against a hidden foe extending their line over 6uch an area of country. Indeed the chances -are that had a charge been made our force would soon have been completely surrounded and their retreat cut off. This would have been disastrous indeed with the Colt gun out of action and the advantage of position and splendid cover possessed by the enemy. The wonder is that half of our men were not shot down. That this, was not so can only be attributed to the fact that the <ebel6 are.ppoi shots and fired high. THE REBEL FORTIFICATIONS. Since the departure of the rebels I have 43pent some time in the examination of their fortifications. These are marvellous in their strength and completeness, and extend for miles through the bush on either side of Vaea mountains. I have already referred to the Valima fortification?. Those at Lotopa, to the eastward of the mountains, are equallystrong, and if anything more extensive. The first line of forts at Lotopa that Grant and his men came up against in the fight on Sunday, the 23rd, would have been most difficult to capture. The walls were built from 4ft to 6ft thick of stone with here and there logs and earthworks, behind these trenches and rifle pits. This fort extended for fully threequarters of a mile and there were numerous shelter huts where the rebels had been camping, apparently for some considerable time. There was here a plentiful food supply. All the European houses in the vicinity had been looted, and aty the fowls, pigs, and cattle killed. Mr Swan, the chemist in Apia, who had a very pretty plantation anil farm here, had 42 pigs and 200 fowls killed. Weatherboard doors and corrugated iron roofing had been torn from the houses to make shelters in or near the trenches, while all other property of no use to th 6 natives had been smashed or cut about in a spirit of wanton devilry. But even had Gaunt been able to capture this fort there were forts of still greater strength beyond, to which the enemy could have retreated, and there were whole villages of Bhelter huts hidden away in the bush a little further inland, where the rebels and their women and camp-followers lived. There was' "pparently all the time a complete chain of communication between the rebels at Lotopa, on the one side of the mountain, and Valima, on the other, and there can be no doubt that whenever the chequer flag was hoisted at "the German Consulate, which always happened when our forces 'went out, the rebel sentries on Vaea Mountains sent the' news to their

headquarters. Notwithstanding their strong f fortifications, however, there can be no doubt that the enemy suffered considerably in the last fight at Lotopa, for when they were retreating at the dictation of the naval authorities outside the 10-mile limit, they 'were seen by some native missionaries to be carrying with them seven or eight of their wounded. They would not, however, give any information regarding their losses nor would they let their wounded in this instance be seen at close quarters. They had taken them for tieatment to the missionary at Malua. 3?HE RETREAT FROM APIA.

After the final letter from the naval authorities, which was in the shape of an ultimatum, the rebels lost no time in retreating. Some say they were not loth to go, others that a large section of them were for holding out until pressed by the priests to go. The probability is that they were getting jhort of ammunition, and were glad of the respite granted by the three Powers at this, the most critical, period of the war. This last assertion is borne out by the reports that have since come in, for the rebels are now scouring the country in search of lead to make bullets. They have plenty of powder, ilso caps, and evidently it is. their practice to refill their old cartridge cases, for on all the battlefields, though I have looked most carefully, I have seen but very few empty cartridge cases. The only exception was at Vailima, where I saw many, and varied, kinds of cases. But their presence on this field was no doubt attributed to the fact thai the enemy beat a hasty retreat after the final shelling. Yet, even here I noticed that the cartridges were thickest along the line of retreat from the first fort beyond the road of Gratitude, and that in the latter fortification, where the rebels' could fire more leisurely, there was hardly an empty cartridge case ** ha nicked ua.

It is a thousand pities that Great Britain and America interfered at this juncture, when the rebellion was just on the point of being settled by the naval authorities, for during this armistice Mataafa will be able to rally his scattering forces and to increase his supply of ammunition. The steps lie is now taking to secure lead for bullets would indicate that commission or no commission he does not intend" to give in without a struggle. The retreating rebels went down the coast westward, as if they were a victorious army, burning Malietoa houses and boasting openly that they had defeErted the* united forces of America and Great Britain. When the commission has decided to punish the leaders of the rebellion, and the time for disarmament arrives, then we may expect further trouble. At present the guns are silent, and the searchlights of the ships are at rest, but many who ought to be competent to judge t-&.y that the gravity of the situation has been accentuated. For the time being, however, ilataafa is very humble.

Two days after the armistice news came into Mulinuu to- the effect that the loyalists and the rebels were within 400 yds of each other, and that the Mataafaites were entrenching themselves a mile within the western boundary of the forbidden territory. The naval authorities at once met in consultation on the flagship, and a peremptory letter was quickly forwarded to Mataafa warning him that if he did not sit once get outside the prescribed^ lines he would be again shelled by the warships. He was also warned that if his warriors continued to burn the houses or destroy the property of the loyalists or of white people the war would be continued. To this Mataafa sent a very humble' reply, "agreeing to all that the Admiral asked, and .-stating that he was desirous of having peace. The same day Captain Sturdee. of the British ship Porpoise, in company with the Rev. Mr Hu'ckett. as interpreter, went as far as the western boundary to see whether or not Mataafa had kept his ""promises. He found all quiet, and that the rebels had vacated the forts -which they were building inside the line. Captain Sturdee went on right through the rebel lines, a very plucky thing to do, and was unmolested. He was hopeful of seeing- Mataafa, but that wily old chief, if he was in the locality, kept out of the way. Meantime some of Aiataafa's principal followers had expressed a desire to come over and acknowledge Tanu as King, and there were daily many volunteers for service in Gaunt's brigade, all of which went to show that the back of the rebellion was broken, and that but for the unfortunate interference of I the Powers at a most inopportune time the whole Samoan question would have . been I settled and peace in the islands assured for many years.