THE SAMOA TIMES. "Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I." SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1880.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 119, 10 January 1880, Page 2

THE SAMOA TIMES. "Sworn to no Master, of no Sect am I." SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1880.

Tub day in not so very long gouo bye when British subjects, Loth in the islands ■of the South Pacific, and in the neighbouring colonics \vh„ did business with the islands of the sea, Bought hard that some means should bo taken whereby British subjects might be brought to book for their misdeeds. This, after a time brought about that voluminous volume •of law known as the Western Pacific Order in Coimoil of 1*77. This document gavo the High Commissioner and Ins Deputies unlimited powers. Tliev were in a positiou, under the deportation clause, to ruin any man without the slightest chance of redress. The wordingot many of the clauses are the'very essence of despotism, and not what would no expeutcd to emanate from such a five and hber.il body of men as the British Imvernment has always been looked upon to be. The deportation clause is snlbcient to condemn the whole document r.iiMj i*iiu»[ arbitrary, and if tho Court •decide to deport a person ho may bo ■ ol '' ,oml ev ''" '" I«iv Hm expanses of his owa-deportation. This is all done with•mi a jury, jt has always been the boost, of Lnglishuien thai, for an v grave c.Ji.mi.v, tiuiy wore not at the mercy „f nny H.nglo individual, who being mortal was liable (o have prejudices, but (hat he could always depend upon a certain number oi I'K countrymen to see that he gets ipwtice. lKt«,incoitainca,es,ll,oOHi. nance provides that one or two Assessors shall sit with tlm High CSonfmlndonor or his Deputy. But what a farco this all seems when in the same Order, one reads that -such Assessor or Asssessors shall have no voice in •!,,„ (I( , cision ()f |]|( , ,'""' t - . Wh J» "« Would have thought , Hint such a body of sensible men.-ni,,, «*•», have the nffniw nf such oxtonsivo , <"»'»'"»< iw the Ihitish Empire in' - ""'"* liau.ls.. —coi.l.l have consented t„ ' s.ich a Ciomwellian set nf laws' Had ' the "poor innocent" .Smnoans promul. ' gated such a law as that referring to the ' Assessors, they would have been thoM Jttllgl.ing iifuvt ut all who read K. Tlu t

fact of the matter is that the people in j England, Loth educated and illiterate, *, 1 know little or nothing of the South Seas. Ask them about the inhabitants of Samoa' and in ninety-nine ca.ses out of every hundred von will be told that the natives arc cannibals, and that the whites are

run-away convicts, slavers mid slaveloldors, and in fact the scum of the earth. rids notion of the whole of the islands . . . . ... , 1 f

of the South Seas Ims become so engrat- j ted into (heir minds that it would take a j man with an unusual power of argument. and oratory to eradicate it. Before the annexation of Fiji the English papers' eemed with detracting articles. The:

two thousand whites that it contained were most glaringly set forth as so many Mack-logs and desperadoes, and that ii England annexed the islands she would have to govern them with a rod of iron. This is also the opinion held with regard

to Samoa and all the other islands tnat are spoken of at all. \\ hen Sir Arthur Gordon met the public of Fiji on the day he read his commission and was i ; sworn in, he admitted that lie had cuhio

to imbued with the idea that the majority, at least, of the whites were a bad lot, and that he had accepted a very

difficult office, but that lie was glad to bear testimony that they wore a peace-

loving, law-abiding people. (The fore- | i going may not be the exact words of £»ir . (j

Arthur, but from our recollection of the ' j time, they hour tho meaning.) Chief i Justice Sir William Hackctt, ami, wo f

relieve, Chief Justice John Uorrie, made t Jinilar remarks. Ami we say that Ni- ' noa, ami most of the islands of the ‘ Pacific, like Fiji of ohl, are inhabited by peace-loving, law- abiding people. The cry, of give ns law lias now changed

to wo have too much law and too lit!;". justice. And when such an arbitrary document us the aforesaid Order in Couu- ( cil is made mure so hy the addition of , ;;0 extra clauses, which we puhiUhed in our two last issues, as well as portion-, of numerous laws, in so fur as required, is there any wonder that an Englishman should cry save mo from my country, am!

declare.that he wished'thnt he had uotjbccn hum under the English Hag ? In Samoa there heats i'.s luval hearts tu the tiueoo and Government of England as overheat in the old country itself. But when

they are brought face to fare with a document so un - Englidi ns the Order in Comieil ami its auditions and auienclments, the. name of England almost

becomes obnoxious to them, and they ask the question, with plenty oi' justification, what lias the kngiish Government over done lor u, * l t it take.*;

—l'.: pains to make oo p«VC WF our bettor government 1 treated ns over cluiio t.twi-- rnc cai’ili 1 Knglishwicu and Englishmen's property in the South Sea Islands would have received far more respect at the hands of the aboriginal inhabitants had the English Government taken half as much trouble to obtain justice for its enterprising subjects as it lias to punish them. IVo will venture to say that the archives of the British (.’onsuhit) (ire lit ■- rally overflowing with claims from British subjects against natives. These have been accumulating for years; we have iifa late had numerous British war vessels here, and what stops have been taken to eiiijuire into them ? For the last two years, we can assert without fear of denial, that no steps whatever have lieoen taken. Thu ship of war Inn simply called eu passant; she is on some Special mission and is bound to time in Fiji, Auckland, or Sydney. “Justcalled to sec that everything was quiet, hut as yon do not want my assistance 1 will leave in the morning." Wo can just fancy, hy their actions, that that is the way in which captains of ships-of-war announce their arrival and projected departure to tin- Consul. We hope tliedav is not far distant when (lie British Ourernment will see the mistake they have made in issuing this Order in Council and that they will replace it Ijv something more just and equitable and not disgrace their fellow subjects in thu eyes of the world be causing it to think that such strict usage is necessary to make them honest and orderly. ,

PourE Chert, — On Monday last iu ju lie Pollen Court, before R. S. Swnnston, ar ■Oq t P.M., a Samoan named Wall! was m iiud So for supplying intoxicating liquor 0 a native. Another Samoan named it p,laves! was fined dOc. for being drunk 1 Mid disorderly. ft Acciukst—On Sunday last a very * serious accident happened to a native hoy bv being thrown from his horse. Our I oidy surprise is that wo have !e chronicle many similar occurrences, eon- c sidering the wav in which these young n urchins tear along the hcaeh whenever v thev get mounted upon a horse, and very c often without the slightest thing with ) which to guide the animal save a piece j f of rope around its neck. Tho accident | a of Sunday last wo hope will servo to j i scare them somewhat. It appears that t the lad referred to while tearing along < the heath, fell from his horse and rccei- i veil two nasty wounds on the back of Ins i head, which stunned him so much that' I the sen, which was rolling pretty heavy 1 on the beach at the time, washed him out and he could make no eltort to save him- 1 self. Had it not been that another hoy j happened to Vie close al uaud and brought ; 1 him out of the water he would surer:' j have been drowned. J