THE ROMANCE OF LONGA: A FORGOT. TFN COMEDY OF THE PACIFIC.

Otago Witness, Issue 2522, 16 July 1902, Page 77

THE ROMANCE OF LONGA : A FORGOT. TFN COMEDY OF THE PACIFIC.

Tonga is mourning the death of its Queen. The Court. Jife of tiie policeman's i daughter who married a king ha's nob been. • a long one. Hardly three years have passed since George II of Tonga, then a young monarch of 24, offended his people by leading to" the altar the daughter <of his Chie.fi . Constable. It was. not ,the first romance of the island kingdom. Tonga, almost the latest of our Pacific protectorates, which is hardly two years old on the map of the Empire, has been the scene of one of the most amazing comedies of government which the history of nations affords. The story of Mr Shirley Baker, the missionary i who turned politician, has been almost forgotten. A MAN r WHO HULKD A K!XC. Mr Baker was a Wesleyan missionary, | who "ran" a kingdom and 1 tiled a King, ' No missionary ever before acquired such political power as be, who took up the reins of government, established himself at the palace, made laws, imposed taxes, administered justice, and comprised in his own person practically the whole Govern- ! merit of Tonga. It is to the credit of the j Wesleyans that they brought civilisation. jto the Tonga Island*. King George the i First, who died not many years ago, .had j two interesting distinctions : he was the I only King who has ever ruled his people at 95 years old, and he was the only Wcsi leyan King in the world. OFFERED P\I,MEHSTO>f A THRONE. For 70 years King George had stood side by side with the preachers m the chapels; and in the year when London was preparing for the last Coronation King George presided over a missionary meeting of 4000 [ people, who sab six hours listening to the

Gospel preached in the language of the island ! It was King George who, after he had burned his idol-house and been baptised, began the- Christian era in Tonga by offering to resign his throne in favour oi Lord Palmerston ! It was his faith in the English psople which madfe King George a disciple of Mr Shirley Baker. The old King yielded to his influence at once, aiid Sfr Baker had hardly arrived in Tonga as the representative of the Sydney Wesleyans when he became in all but name Prime Minister and Dictator of the Tonga Islands. LORD HIGH EVEHTTmX<; OF TOJTOA. The story reads like a page from the I " Mikado " rather than a chapter of serious lr.^torr. The King, whose faith in the Englishman was not easily shaken, made him Premier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Auditor-gensral, President of the Court of Appeal, "Minister of Lands, Judge of the Land Courfc, Minister of Education, Agentgeneral, and medical attendant to the royal household. ■• Even when Mr Baker coquetted with. Germany and offered the Germans the haibour of Vevau, the King did not pause. The European Powers forbade the gift, but King George allowed the Minister to follow his way. Th_- revenue oi Tonga was £20,000 a year, of winch the King received £12,000. THE INEVITABLE KNX>. When the Governor of the Tongan kingdom had gone, a Tongan Bjfcie Book appeared debouncing the British Vice-Consul and officials and defying the Governor! It was the beginning of the end. The High Commissioner of the Pacific went to Tnnsvi with a man-of-war, invited George the First on to bis ship, and procured for Mr Baker a royal r otice to quit. It was a long gane, in which Mr Baker won many of the moves, but there came a day at last when King George called his people together and told them, through the Crown Prince, that " the eyes of the world were upon them." Under the world's stern gaze the people ni Tonga used strong language to the man who would be king.