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sent to the British Eesident, and shall not be valid till approved by him. The British Resident shall also fix the date when such law or resolution is to take effect. If the Arikis' House has not approved of the law or resolution passed by the House of the people, it shall not go on to the British Eesident, but be null and void. 8. The House of the people shall meet on the 16th day of October in the present year (1893), and on the 15th day of August in all future years. The House may be called together at any time for a special session by a majority of the Arikis. If the appointed day of the meeting be Sunday, the meeting shall be held on the following day. 9. When the House of the people meets for regular session, one of its members shall be elected chairman for the whole year. 10. The place of meeting for the House of the people shall be the Parliament House in Avarua, subject to consent of the Federal Parliament. 11. The House of the Arikis shall meet in such place and at such times as the three ruling Arikis may direct. 12. The work of the Earotonga Council will be to maintain order and peace, and do all that may be necessary for the good of the whole island. But each Ariki will, as heretofore, rule within her own district. 13. The decision of the majority of the Council shall bind the whole Council. The decision of a majority of the Arikis in the House of Arikis shall also bind the whole. 14. The first elections for members of the people shall take place at such time and in such manner, on or before the 14th October, 1893, as the House of Arikis may direct. 15. The Government. —The Government of Earotonga shall consist of the Arikis. The Ariki who is to convene the Government or sign papers and documents for the Government is the Ariki of Arorangi. 16. If any Ariki desires that the Government should be called together, it shall be called together accordingly within five days of notice of such desire having been given. Dated at Avarua this 22nd September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three. Approved. To come into operation forthwith. Fbederick J. Moss, 22nd September, 1893. British Eesident.

No. 9. Mr. F. J. Moss, to His Excellency the Governor. My Lord,' — British Eesidency, Earotonga, 13th November, 1893. I have the honour to inform your Excellency that I returned to Earotonga on the Ist November, having been away nearly five weeks, instead of the two or three weeks as anticipated. The detention was fortunate, as it enabled me to deal, in all the islands, with the administration of justice, and to place it on a sounder foundation. 2. The system so long in existence, which gave the Judges and police the power of dividing all fees and fines of Court among themselves as their only official pay, after setting aside a proportion for the Arikis and Mataiapos, who were thus involved in its meshes, has been fully referred to by me in previous despatches. I need only say that increased experience has deepened my conviction that there could be no hope of progress with the widespread demoralisation which the system produced. Officials of all kinds become chiefly extorters of money, or of moneys worth, and the people not only suffer grievous oppression, but lose all heart in its resistance. 3. Mangaia —at which 1 first called—is an exceptionally strong illustration. In it the original system has always been most rigidly enforced, and the authority of the police most strenuously upheld. Being delayed there for ten days, the opportunity was favourable, and I am glad to say that I induced the local Council, after a hard struggle, to pass an Act reducing the police to twelve men, paying them and the Judges from the Federal subsidy, and appropriating all future fines and fees of Court to the public revenue. The remainder of' the police thus disbanded number no less than 143. Most of them are men of influence, and all of them are church members, and they will be likely to give some trouble yet before settling in their new position, and accepting as final the loss of power and of the privileges which attend it. That they will ultimately settle down and apply themselves to coffee-planting and other useful pursuits I entertain no doubt; but no possible evil resulting from their disbandment can be so great as the mere existence of this arbitrary and irresponsible body of 155 men in a population of little more than 2,000, which is that of Mangaia— men, women, and children all told. In maintaining the new law the local government will be supported by the body of the people, and they most likely will find able leaders from among the better-disposed and more intelligent of the old police, many of whom perceive and admit readily the mischiefs of the old system. 4. At Mauke, Mitiaro, and Atiu similar reductions in number and similar appropriations of the fines and fees to public revenue were much more easily effected. The action taken by Mangaia was accepted as a precedent, and similar laws were passed in these islands. 5. At Aitutaki the difficulty was nearly as great as in Mangaia, though for different reasons. The system had long been much relaxed by the resident missionary (Mr. Lawrence) at Aitutaki, and the people were not under the terrorism that so strikingly prevaiLed at Mangaia. But their Arikis had quite lost their hold upon the people ; and the struggle for power, and for the police privileges which followed, was creating much bitterness and confusion. A proposition to form the Arikis into a separate House (as recently done in Earotonga) was rejected almost unanimously. They were satisfied with the existing constitution of their Council, and finally agreed to reduce their police to twelve, to pay them from the Federal subsidies, and to appropriate fees and fines to public revenue.