(From Another Correspondent. )

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 99, 25 April 1885, Page 6

(From Another Correspondent. )

Natives Joining the Catnoiie Missions. Vavau, April 3. No doubt you will have received news by Aurora, from Tonga, of the harsh and unnatural treatment the native adherents o! the Wesleyan Church received at the funeral of the King's grandson. I hear from Tonga that a considerable number there have joined the French Catholic Mission ; they are afraid of remaining in their old faith, and they are determined not to join the New Church, and, I may add, they know that any arbitrary measures brought to bear up m thar mission would immediately bring about French interference and protection. England has been publicly described as a grasping country, and the people have been urged to get rid of everything connected wirh England. The crusade against the Wesleyans and everything else supposed to be British is now taking a very serious shape. I' ester day the King had a gathering of all the peop c in Vavau. They were requested to prepare to accompany him to Tonga to be present at the opening of his new church. All were commanded to take with t em weapons of some kind, guns, axes, la ige knives &c., any thing in the shape of a weapon they might be able to collect. I would radio not make any comment upon this, but prefer waiting to see what the meaning of this command may be. One thing lam quite sure of, it cannot be intended to suppress a rebellion. No Tonga chief, in my opinion, would be foolish enough to think of one Immediately after the funeral ceremonies of the Prince we c over, Mr BaVer despatched a small German vessel to Samoa. The natives say a chief went to establish the new faith* amongst a few Wesleyan Tongans their. Most Europeans think the object was to let hi? German friends know I as speedily as possible the course events were taking here. I have just heard that a very^bigh chief has said ehe was sent for arms.

Prevalent Depression. Amidst the warring of the elements- a great storm presently raging— though happily not yet, no r likely to be at this time of the year, of hurricane force, do I sit down to indite this letter, in order that I may keep you "in touch " as to various matters in these Islands. What with the death of the Crown Prince, the per seditions in the religious world, and the utter stagnation of trade, conjoined with the long-continued wet weather, we are in a great state of depres-ion, and this feeling of dejection has not been mitigated by the war news brought to our shores by the JMaile yesterday.

The Death of the Crown Prince. By the Auron, which sailed last Sunday week, you were doubtless advised as to the death of Tubou Malohi, Crown Prince of Tonga, son of the late Tevita Uga, who died, as you "ill remember, a few years back in Auckland, and grandson of the present King George. Wellington Gu Tubou Malohi was a youner man ; he died in hie thirty-first year of great promise, of good education, polished manners, and most kindly feelings. He did credit- and bid fair to do credit -to the teaching and training of bis sole instructor, the Rev. J. E. Principal of Tubou College, and present Chairman of the Wesleyau Church in "Tonga. The Prince was a good musician ; ho was almost equally at home with every instrument, and took great pleasure in the instruction of his own private "brass band " be had a fine voice, improved bv ' cultivation, and did much in bringing his people on in the matter of singing. Without doubt of all Tongans, he spoke the best English, and even was fairly acquainted with, the niceties and the idiomatic

peculiarities of our language. I noted this most particularly a week or so before his death, when in reply to some remark of mine with respect to the weather, he answered "Oh, I do not think it will last long ; it is merely a passing shower." He waa remarkably handy with tools, and, like a ttue Prince, he was not ashamed to use them, or to show his young men how to handle them, and but lately had been engaged in the erection of a new residence for himself, now left uncompleted. In mathematical lore he was not deficient, and I havo often seen him puz/.te s-ome of our smartest carpenters and boat - builders with his questions and problems. When last in his company in Huabai, at a boat- builder's, the conversation tending in that direction, Wellington took up an awl, stuck it threo times into the bench— tho punctures being very much out of a straight line — and called upon any present to find, the centre of a circle such that its circumference should pass through the whole of tho three points. He had to give the solution of the problem himself. The prince was a good shot, could row, ride, or drive, and could swim and dive like a fish-— tho IMnco and myself having ventured together into tho caVo celebrated by Mavinor in Vavau, '« under tho deep blue sea," and concerning which more particulars may bo obtainod from Byron's poem, "The ls'and."

Persecution of the Wesloyan Church. By the Aurora, yon will also doubtless have learnt the terrible persecution the' Wesle^an Church is undergoing. The cruelties towauls many of the poor, inoffensive members oi that Church will baldly obtain credence, and these cruelties are perpetrated simply because the consciences of the=e peoplo will not allow them to leave the Church of their fathers to join tho sham of a church sot up by Messrs Baker and Watkins. Thoso gentlemen say, and would have the natives believe, that the two churches aro the same, and that, thc-eforo, as it is the King's will, they must de-erttho Wcsleyanand come over to the Free Church— at it is in mockery callod When substance and shadow, light and darkness bocomo convertible terms, then, and not till then, w ill the^e churches bo tho same. This is evinced by the spirit of persecution displayed by thoso holding positions of authority inthe Free Church. Women are torn iroai their husbmds, childien, and homes and banished to uninhabited, barren islands to starve or live as they may. Old bedridden women aro drugged trom their house* and illutcd until they consent to go over to the new Church. In one town all the people were called out, and the We*leyans comman led to sit in the full glaro of the sun, the Fiee Church members being placed in the shade. Thero th« Weslcyans ware kept fr mi early morn till late in the afternoon. The chief of tho town, who held with them, was taken away that they might not be encouraged by his pretence, and after his departure they were threatened with all sort? of ill usage; a few fainting, thought that they would have to give in, but to the number of 60 or 70 they stood out, and atterwards came into the SVe^loyan Mission here in Nukualofa, to report their cases to the Row Mr Moulton. These are not mere a-*ertions at random on my part, but aie bore out by affidavits made befote tie gentleman representing the P>mi-h Consul here, but unfoitunately, without his power. Within the ia^t few da\> I have seen do/en* of suet) document-, and in one of them it is stated that the peoplo in Ya\au and Hailni have instructions to arm them«el\es and provide themselves with ammunition, in order that they may bo pie pared to come on .vith tho King at the end of May and put down any remnant of the Wesleyan Church that may remain firm Mr Baker says that he is not answerable for all that i 3 doing or all that has been done ; but I should think that the man who puts tho quickmatch to the combustible is answerable for the conflagration and its consequences. Mr 8,, when called upon to put a stop to these inhuman proceedings, refuses, and shelters himself under the assertion that his functions aro administrative, and not judicial It i<? to be hoped that British power may speedily step in to protect these unfortunate people.