SAMOA.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 105, 22 October 1858, Page 3

SAMOA.

{From the Sydney Herald, September 22.) The schooner Taranaki, whicb arrived from the | South Sea Islands last night, brings intelligence of a misunderstanding between the Governor of the Habaai Islands and some French Roman, missionaries, in consequence of a re-, fusal to allow them to land at Lefuka. We have been favored by Captain M'Leod with the following particulars :— The John Wesley arrived at Tonga on the 23rd of August, and brought intelligence that the natives of Feejee were at war—the heathens against those who had embraced Christianity. On the arrival of the Louis and Miriam, at the Habaai Islands, the Governor Josiah would not allow the Catholic missionaries to land, requesting them to remain onboard their ship until he had communicated with King Ge6rge, who was then at Vauvau; but they returned to Tonga, and the Louis and Miriam resumed her voyage to Samoa. Some little time after this, the French frigate Bayonaise arrived at Tonga from Feejee,and M. Chevron acquainted the captam of Jofeiali's treatment to the missionaries; he immediately caused the Governor of Tonga to despatch a canoe to Vauvau for/King George,, and on his arrival ac- ' quainted him he had broken the treaty with France, and drew up the following conditions for him to sign and fulfil,, for an indemnity to the Catholic missionaries for demurrage of their vesseh— ■"i'irst.-—I, King George Toubou, depose Josiah, Governor of the Habaai Islands, for that, on the Bth of July last, he did not allow the Catholic missionaries to land at Lefuka. ** Second.—l hereby agree to convey in my schoonerto Lefuka, free of charge, the reverend fathers, their servants, and baggage, and there to allot them on the beach a piece of ground, of the same'dimensions as that now -occupied by the Wesley an Mission, and to _ .build two nouses of the same dimensions as those now occupied by the Wesleyan missionaries ; the wood, sennit, and materials to ; be equally good ; the whole to be fencedin with reeds, and to be completed within three months. *':T?hird.—By the kind request of the reverend .Father Chevron, the Governor Josiah shall mot be deposed at present; and should he -«xcrt hioistflf io complete these conditions to

the satisfaction of the missionaries, he is to remain Governor of the Habaai Islands." The whole of this tx-ouble arose from Josiah and his advisers taking the Catholic missionaries as such, and not in the national light of Frenchmen. The treaty expressly states that French subjects shall be entitled to the same privileges enjoyed by other foreign residents. As soon as this was expliineil to King George Toubou, he signed the conditions'■without any demur, and the Bayonaise sailed for Tahiti. When the Taranaki left, the Catholic missionaries were in Lefuka, and one of the houses was nearly completed. The chiefs and natives of the Habaai Islands take it "very sore, as the whole tax is laid on them as a warning for the future. King George had hitherto reserved the right of allowing 'foreigneis to reside in his dominions solely to himself, and no chief had power to allot kind to any foreigners.