LATEST FROM SAMOA POSITION OF AFFAIRS. MATAAFA MASTER OF THE SITUATION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 370, 22 May 1889, Page 5

LATEST FROM SAMOA POSITION OF AFFAIRS. MATAAFA MASTER OF THE SITUATION.

We take the following extracts from a private letter received by a gentleman in Auckland :—": — " The situation is about this— Tamasese and his men are being starved I out, and the Germans are making: desperate efforts to induce them to hold together until the arrival of fresh warships, when they (the Germans) promise to make a fresh attack on Mataafa. It is doubtful if they will succeed, in my opinion. I visited Tamasese's camp, eight miles from here, lasb Sunday, and found him deserted by all but about 300 warriors. They have an impregnable position, and could stand ofl an army as far as actual fighting is concerned, but could be easily starved, as the territory to which they would be confined our in case of siege would be only eight miles long by one wide, and there is no water on it. Provisions are already scarce with them, and they want to quit fighting. They are beginningto realise thao there is nothingto tight for, and that they would be just as well off under one king as under another. Of course Tamasese has his personal ambi tion to gratify, and the Germans are using him as the catspaw to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. His men are outnumbered thousands to hundreds by Mataafa's forces, who only wanta little encouragementtosail inand wipe out thefewGermansleft here,as well as Tamasese. There are but 80 German sailors in Apia now, and they are afraid to move out of their barracks for fear of being linked. "This climate is very warm. About one in every six sailors and officers is down with dysentery or malarial or typhoid fever, and as there are 600 of them, you can see that the hospitals are pretty well crowded. If they don't get some of them away from here pretty soon I am afraid there will be an epidemic. " I don't know ot any other news which you have not received in the Auckland papers already. Peace reigns supreme at present, but there is liable to be war at any time if Mataafa makes up his mind to run Tamasese out. We are not shorb of provisions (such as they are) yet, but will be if the crowd continues to remain here. It is expected that 200 or 300 will get away on the Mariposa, but there is nothing certain here, as the official mails from Lieutenant Wilson seem to have miscarried."