The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-14

III anticipation of the society's nuh-
LEGATION. p"'-
IN former times the commoners in
Tonga were the vassals of the chiefs
ana even at the present day one of
tne common people when riding must
oishlouht On meeting a noble. The
chiefs could assess enforced labor of
lhe people, also take toll of ones catch
oi iSh, yet could not evict conmoner
from his land holding. King George
VINO was born early in the nineteenth
century and died in 1898. was one of
the greatest Polynesian rulers that ever.
N'ed' Proclaimed as George Toubou
In S4o, in 1852 he put down the on
position TO foreign religious teachers.
by MS subjects he was regarded al
most as a god. He was succeeded nv
ms grandson under the title of George
uoou H., who has proved to be a
weak and erratic sovereign.
Mention was made of the visit of an
ambassador of friendship sent to Poly
nesla by Robert Crichton Wyllie, Ha-
Wallan Minister of Foreign Affairs
Examples of large number of words
That had been introduced to the Ton
gan language from the English We're
given. and the essayist described the
composition of the Tongan parliament
Proceedings are all conducted in the
native language and recorded by native
stenographers.
Then the land laws were sketched.
The mobiles held lands entitled "inher-
itances," which could neither be sold
nor alienated. The common people
were also allotted lands. no man being
allowed more than one allotment and
sale or alienation being prohibited.
Lands could be leased to some extent.
There was a sort of perpetuated lease,
like that of New Zealand, in the sys-
tenn
A Tongan might be prosecuted for
idleness and imprisoned. There was a
penalty for allowing lantana to grow.
For selling or giving intoxicating
liquor, to a native there was a fine Of
$3.50, though special liquor permits
were issued to mobiles for an annual
fee of 800. Ten years ago Tonga was
one of the most sober countries in
Polynesia. Kava drinking was nearly
universal.
Tonga had compulsory schooling for
children from five to sixteen years of
age. 1t had no Industrial training and
in Auckland. Tuition was in the Ton
gan language. There was nothing like
the school for chiefs started in Homo
lulu in 1910.
DR.. Alexander briefly but graphical
ly sketched the lurid career Of the
religio-p political adventurer, Rev. Shir-
ley w. Baker, whose vagaries formed
one of the chief sensations in the Pa
a. :--l.x l.: %
most of the ministerial offices of state,
his institution of the Free Wesleyan
state church, etc. In January, 1887,
Baker and family were ambushed, one
of his children being killed and another
wounded. for which many arrests We're
made and four men shot, while the
regular Wesleyan church people were
wrongly accused of the outrage. Sir
John B. Thurston, British High Com
missioner of the Western Pacific, in
June 1890 arrived in British warship
and exercised his authority by COM
polling Baker to resign his public Of
fees and take passage in the same
ship out of the island.
Baker, some years later, returned
but was refused the presidency of the
Free state church. He joined the
Church of England and applied to the
Bishop of Honolulu, whose jurisdiction
extended oyer Tonga, for a license.
Bishop Willis rebuffed him, but the
Bishop of Dunedin N. T., recognized
him. When, after new English treaty
was signed in May, 1901, a marriage in
the royal family performed by Baker
was declared invalid because he was
unlicensed his followers abandoned
him almost to a man. Baker died in
the spring of 1902.
Bishop Willis went to Tonga to take
charge of the Anglican mission there
in 1908. Things went. very bad in the
kingdom in the meantime, King George
II. allowing hooters to control affairs.
Sir Henry Moore Jackson British
High Commissioner. was refused
landing there in 1908 because he had
come from Fiji where measles pre-
vailed. Liquor obtained sway over the
people and lantana over the cocoanut
groves. In October last Mr. i'm Thurn,
the present High Commissioner, ar
rived in a warship and took possession
of the treasury, deporting the corrupt
premier and installing new executive
officers all around. From now then
Tonga will probably be nothing more
than British dependency.
Bishop Willis approved of the shake
up believing it would prolong Tonga S
independence. but some New Zealand
papers thought it a breach of the
treaty. However, DR.. Alexander mad
within a few days past met Mr. Berke-
ley, an English barrister retained by
the Bicknell family here in their Fan
ming Island interests, who informed
him that the High Commissioner act
ed under a British Imperial Order-in-
Council and there was no escape from
the consequences.
King George and his private secre-