THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 517, 15 June 1869, Page 3

THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

FIGHTING BETWEEN THE NATIVES. By the arrival of the schooner Kate Grant at Auckland, on June 3, we learn that serious disturbances have taken place amongst the natives of the Samoa group. The quari'el arose in connection with the appointment of a king for the whole Samoa group. Most of the inhabitants are anxious to have a chief over the whole of the islands, but a dispute was engendered by a jolousy which existed between the different islands, two of which put forward a claim for one of their men to fill the office. The islands of Lavaii, Maneno, and Opula are concerned in the dispute, and about GOOO men altogether arc under arms. The first engagement took place at Apia, on the island of Opula on the Ist of April, when 70 natives, were killed, the heads of all the wounded being cut off at the close of the fight. The flag of the British consul was hauled down and torn in pieces, but no Europeans were molested. The fighting was still going on when the Kate Grant left, and Mr Williams, the consul, had despatched a letter to Sydney by a brig bound for that place, requesting the assistance of a man-of-war. The day before the schooner left, Mr Frith, the missionary stationed at Saluafata, came in to Apia to complain of the conduct of the natives living at that station, who have assumed a most threr.teninir attitude, and have taken up their abode in the chapel, in spile of all remonstrances.