A.—2.

boats from the German ship " Adler." They were subsequently released on the demand of the captain of the " Boyalist." A further telegram on the 21st February states that the captain of the " Calliope," which ship has replaced the " Boyalist," had informed the German authorities at Samoa that he coulS not acknowledge the establishment of martial law, or the jurisdiction or rights so claimed over British subjects or Courts. The claims so advanced were abandoned. No report has been received with reference to the statement quoted in the second part of the question. With regard to the latter part of the question, Captain Hand reports that a cutter belonging to the German ship " Eber " chased a boat containing unarmed natives, and fired upon them as they were escaping into the bush. Captain Hand, of the " Boyalist," was on the beach at the time, and hailed the German boat to call their attention to his being there, and to his being exposed to their fire. On his remonstrating with the captain of the "Eber," that officer expressed his regret at the occurrence which had taken place contrary to the instructions he had given as to firing, and repeated the same to Captain Hand on the following day on board the " Boyalist." He further sent the officer who had committed the breach of orders to Captain Hand to apologize, and to explain that he had acted contrary to his instructions.

[Extract from the Times, Thursday, 21st March, 1889,] Germany and Great Britain in Samoa. It will be remembered that some surprise was caused in England by a statement made by Prince Bismarck in the course of a speech in the Reichstag on the 27th January, to the effect that the Governments of Great Britain and Germany were going hand-in-hand in connection with the Samoa difficulty. It appears from a blue-book on Samoa just issued that almost immediately after the publication of the speech in the English newspapers Lord Salisbury sent the following despatch to Sir E. Malet, British Ambassador at Berlin: "Foreign Office, 29th January, 1889.—Sir, —In speaking to Count Hatzfeldt to-day I referred to the speech delivered by the Chancellor in the Beichstag on Sunday last. I expressed the satisfaction with which I had read the language applied by the Chancellor to the value which he attached to the good understanding between the two Governments. The only comment which it was at all necessary for me to make other than that of entire sympathy and concurrence applied to a remark of his Highness as to the attitude of the two countries with respect to Samoa. His statement that in regard to that matter the Governments of Great Britain and Germany were hand-in-hand might be open to misconstruction. It was entirely correct to say that our views were in agreement as to the arrangement to be put in force for the government of those islands in the future, but in the conflict which existed at present between the German Government and a certain portion of the inhabitants it could not be said that we were going hand-in-hand with Germany. We were maintaining an attitude entirely neutral, and were in no degree concerned in or responsible for the action which the German Government thought it right to take. Count Hatzfeldt expressed himself entirely in accord with me as to the accuracy of the correction, and said that he had no doubt that when the Chancellor used that expression he was speaking of the more permanent arrangement, with respect to which the views of the two Governments were the same. —I am, &c, Salisbury."

[Extract from the Times, Saturday, 23rd March, 1889.] A Samoan White-book. Berlin, 22nd March. Another -white-book on Samoa has to-night been presented to the Beichstag, though it does not seem to contain much of which the substance is not already known. This white-book extends over the period from the 31st January to the 9th March of this year, and concludes with a rescript from Prince Bismarck dated the 9th instant to Dr. Stiibel, the consular successor at Apia of Dr. Knappe, during whose unfortunate tenure of office the Samoan question assumed such an acute and threatening form. This rescript is nothing more nor less than a reproachful disavowal of all the official acts of Dr. Knappe, and was doubtless intended as much for the eyes of the English and American Governments as for those of Dr. Stiibel. Consul-General Knappe had sent Home a voluminous report of his doings up to the 31st January last. "This" (Dr. Knappe's) "repeated statement," remarks the Chancellor, " that he had been commissioned or empowered by the Imperial Government to declare war, or even martial law, was arbitrary, or due to an error difficult to explain It seems to me that his touchiness in the matter of the respect he claimed, together with the letter of Captain Brandeis of the 13th December last, and the presence at Apia of three German ships-of-war, deprived Herr Knappe of that sangfroid which alone could enable him to retain a clear view of the situation and its possible consequences. In his correspondences, too, with his colleagues, he seems to have writtten in a brusque and excited tone, which sometimes even took the form of threats against the other Consuls You are aware that the demands put forward by Consul Knappe when negotiating with Mataafa, that Germany should take over the administration of the islands, including their representation abroad, were unwarrantable, and that he was telegraphed to from here to withdraw them at once. The further statements in his report that all the Samoans would prefer to see the islands annexed to Germany, but that nevertheless there was little hope that the rebels would give way, are partly contradictory and partly lack practical import, as without the assent of England and America the political status of Samoa cannot be aimed at. It is incomprehensible to me how Herr Knappe should again recur to this idea of annexation, seeing that from his experience in the Foreign Office, as well as his instructions, and our recent correspondence with l|im, he must have known that all thoughts of annexing Samoa are in direct contradiction to the policy pursued by me in accordance with the ideas of the Emperor." Such is the way in which Prince Bismarck disavows his agents, and rehabilitates himself in the confidence of the United States, previous to the Samoan Conference, which wiH set everything to rights again. [Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, nil; printing (1,300 copies), £19 14s.]

By Authority: George Didsbuey, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBB9.

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