Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1899-03-16
AN AGREEMENT REACHED.
SamOun Matters In n Enir Way FOL
Permanent Settlement.

EcfiNhNent Sc,ucmcnts
Washington, March l4-After mum.
erous conferences and the exchange Of
note between Secretary Hay, the Brit
,sh ambassador and the German am
oassador, satisfactory understand.
ing has been reached between the
,hree powers Interested IN Samoa as
70 The conditions there,
TO this end, DR.. Wilhelm Solf, who
has been nominated by Germany as
prl sident OF the municipal council at
Apia to succeed DR.. Rairel, will be rec.
ognlzed by the British and United
States authorities. Already this rec.
ognlicn is assured, but II remains for
the consuls at Apin to carry it into
formal effect, in accordance with the
letter Of the treaty Of Berlin, In or.
der that this may pave the way to AN
agreeable and harmonious adjust.
ment. DR.. Solf will go to London and
make himself acquainted with the ou-
thorltles there, and aferward come
TO Washington and become acquainted
with cur officials, so that there may
be mutual understandings, DR.. Soli
will reach Washington the latter part
OF this month, and wlll be presented
by DR.. Won Holleben, the German am
bassador. He will then proceed to Sa-
moa, reaching there in May, His as.
sumption OF the municipal presidency,
with the approval Of the three powers,
Is expected to smooth out matters
among the officials and go long way
toward adjusting the entire matter.
In reaching this conclusion, the Off.
cials OF the three powers have decided
oot to attempt a settlement OF the Sa-
moan kingship for the present. That
Is left open for adjustment when each
OF the three powers has had opportu'
nifty to present full information. In
the meantime, the statu quo Is to be
maintained, The last adviccs indica-
ted that Mataala was exercising de
facto kingship, while Malietoa was on
board the British ship Porpoise, and
had the support of the British and
American authorities. According to
the understanding reached, there will
be no move permanently to establish
one or the other OF these claimants
on the throne. The best wishes Of the
Samoan people will be consulted and
with more agreeable feeling among
the officials Of the three powers, the
kingshlp will be settled by full con-
ference MS soon as all the information
on the subject is obtained.
Tn the conferences leading. up to the
present understanding, it developed
that DR.. Raffel was recalled from his
post at Samoa last November, but he
persisted in staying after his recall,
and his presence appears to have had
much to do in precipitatlng the
trouble.
DR.. Solr, who succeeds him as presl-
dent, Is described as an accomplished
diplomat with service i'm Calcutta,
and more recently as district judge OF
the German colony at Dar-o-Soam, In
South Africa. 1t is post much stint
Lar to that Of Judge Chambers in Sn'
moa.
Berlin, March 14.-The Nord Deut'
sche Allgemene Zeitung says: Count
(now Prince Herbert Bismarck's de-
claration at the Samoa conference in
1889 barring MotOofa's claim to the
throne is not binding; because, al,
though Sir Edward Mallet approved
it on behalf of Great Britain, Mr..
Phelps on behalf Of the United States
said the silence OF the American plen'
ipotentiaries must not be construed az
consent
"Chief Justice Chambers, the ref
cree, only had to determine whether
Mataafa was elected in accordanc
with Samoan laws and customs"
The paper admits that DR.. Raffel,
president OF the municipality of Apia,
was wrong in assuming the functions
of chief Justice in the absence OF Mr.
Chambers, while 1T asserts that the
latter was not empowered to exercise
over Herr Grevesmuhl.