Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-22
MATAAFA, The PEOPLES IDOL
After Six Years Exile the samoans Give
Him Royal Welcome,
ADVERSE PARTY IS HEAVILY oUTNUNBERED
Attempt IL Made to seat the TupuRn
on the Throne, but Matter is Taken
Into Court and Finally Gull
inmates in Popular Uprising.

san FRANCISCO, Feb, N.-An ocCa.
| sional correspondent OF the Associated
Press now in Apia sends the following ac.
count Of the trouble growing out of the
| election Of king.
For some considerable time after th,
death of Malietoa the vacant kingship gave
little concern to the people of Samoa fol
the office had been shorn of so much Of Its
| Importance during the lifetime of the late
| ruler that during the last few years he wa:
scarcely in evidence at all. Since 1885,
Mataafa had apparently been the popular
ideal and though since 1898 he had been il
exile his fame had suffered nothing in the
eyes OF the Samoans, who eagerly awaited
his return Had Malietoa lived these peo.
pie would probably have risen and over.
thrown him without a single word or sug.
gestion from Mataafa, who probably coult
not have stopped such a movement had he
tried so tired were the people seemingly o
the late king and SO anxious were they tc
do honor to Mataafa, who they considered
had been unjustly eXiled and denied his
| rights No district in all Samoa failed tc
send influential delegations to express tc
Mataafa their Joy at his safe return anC
with each party came liberal supplies Of
needed food and property. During the shor
time that elapsed until the election took
$500 cooked pigs were presented to Mataafa
and his fellow eXiles. On the arrival here
of Mataafa and his fellow exiles they were
| received by the different consuls with con.
siderable ceremony, but they demanded OF
him that he and his friends should remain
on Mulimni, small peninsula on which Is
located the capital Such a restriction after
so long an absence angered the Samoans
whom the powers sought to please by re.
turning their friends.
Several Candidates Appear.
When the subject of the vacant kingshI
began to be discussed though there were
several candidates in the field none had any
considerable following except Mataafa
Early in October H. j. Moors, an American
who has constantly espoused the cause OF
Mataafa and who was closely connected
with the late R. l.. Stevenson in this mat
ter, applied to the chief justice and to the
president that the restrictions placed on this
chief should be somewhat ameliorated-that
instead of being confined to Mulimni he
should only be required to reside there
that during the day time he should be per-
mitted to freely visit Apia and other points
within the Apia municipal boundaries. The
president, DR.. Raffel, replied that he had
not the slightest objection to such an ar
rangement, but that the matter rested with
the consuls entirely.
Chief Justice Chambers said in his reply:
II am much occupied in telling people that
have nothing to do with the Chief Mataafa
he having the same right to aspire to the
kingship as any other Samoan and If the
people elect him as Malietoa's successor in
a rightful manner and according to the laws
and customs of Samoa why shouldn't he
have the office? AS to his movements l can
say nothing-that is a matter absolutely
with the consuls."
Mr.. Moors then applied to the consular
representatives, who granted Mataafa's re-
quest.
Royal Party Chooses n Head.
Shortly after this young Tamasese came
| to Apia and announced himself a candidate
for the kingship, employing local barris-
ter to press his claims. OF course the
| friends and relatives of the late king sought
amongst their following a successor to the
| head of their family, although it was very
well known that the late king was accepted
| many years ago only on the understanding
| that he was to be succeeded by a member
| Of the Tupua family, OF which Mataafa is
the head. Finally Tanu, the 15-year- cid son
| Of Malietoa, was chosen to represent their
party and an attorney named Gurr was EN-
| ployed to back him up.
| In Samoa it is very seldom indeed that
the son succeeds to his fathers titles and
| tie rule OF the tribal lands. These titles
and responsibilities must be awarded to a
| full grown man, who must if possible, be
without a physical blemish. The late
Malietoa himself succeeded his uncle who at
the time of his death had son 10 years OF
age, named Faaata.
| IN bo
representatives CT the late government OF
Malietoa, every important chief in Samoa
was summoned to Mulimni early in October
| for the purpose of deciding on what sort oil
rule snould be established and who should
| be king in case they decided on having a
monarchy. Finding themselves with very
trihing support Tamasese and Tanu at the
| instance OF their lawyers concluded to form
a coalition, putting Tanu forward as the
kinglY candidate with Tamasese to be recog-
nized as regent during Tanu's minority.
Political Scheme is Worked.
! These two candidates were able to delay
matters on Mulimni for weeks, using one
pretext after another in the vain hope that
they would tire out the large party which
came there in the interests of Mataafa and
| they had this advantage, that their own
supporters nearly all came from the neigh
borhood of Apia and their supplies were
| handy, while the others had to draw their
! supplies and even their fire wood from dis
/ tricts in some instances sixty miles away
/ Finally, when delays would no longer suf-
/ hce and finding themselves totally outnum-
bered, the Tanu-Tamasese party withdrew
! frcm Mulimni and on the l4th of November
Mataafa was elected king and Faalata was
chosen as his successor.
! At this point the chief justice declares
that the consuls should have acted and have
recognized Mataafa as the lawful king OF
the islands, as there was then no known op-
position for some four or five days, wien the
| lawyers protested in the supreme court that
the election had not taken place according
to Samoan custom and their candidate was
the lawful successor TO his father, etc
At this time and in fact much earlier ii Il
said that some Of the members OF the Lon
don Mission society undertook a quiet but
/ vigorous campaign against Mataafa because
of the fact that he is Catholic, about 5000
, OF the $4,000 OF these people being of that
faith.
Power Lies with Chief Justice.
Section 6, article iii OF the Berlin Genera
act reads as follows I'm case any ques-
tion shall hereafter arise in Samoa respect,
ing the rightful election or appointment O.
king or OF any other chief claiming author.
ity over the Islands, or respecting III,
validity OF the powers which the king or an,
chief may claim in the exercise OF this Office
| such question shall NOT lead IN Jvar hu