The Lawgiver at Niue.

In 1901 the Government availed itself of Mr. Smith's knowledge of the Polynesian races and his sympathy and insight in native affairs by despatching him to Niue Island on a special mission to introduce a form of administration somewhat more consonant with British ideas than the then existing one. This proceeding was rendered necessary by the annexation of Niue and many other South Sea Islands to New Zealand under a proclamation made at Auckland on June 11, 1901, by the present King, then H.R.H. the Duke of Cornwall and York. Mr. Smith was an admirable lawgiver; he would have made an ideal administrator for such a place as Samoa, had he lived in this generation, judging by his excellent work at Niue. He modified some of the missionary and native laws, but interfered as little as possible with the patriarchal rule of the chiefs and he won the hearts of the people by his regard for their ancient institutions. The result of his lawgiving for Niue is seen in the consistently peaceable conditions there and the popularity of New Zealand's mild control. Mr. Smith profited by his four months’ stay on Niue to collect data for a book, “Niue-Fekai (or Savage) Island and Its People,” which is to-day the standard work on the island. One of our pictures shows Mr. Smith and Colonel Gudgeon (New Zealand Resident at Rarotonga) at a meeting with the people on the green in Avatele village, with the veteran Niue missionary, the Rev. F. E. Lawes, interpreting the speeches.

To this review of Mr. Smith's distinguished career in the service of the Government, it must be added that his son, Mr. M. Crompton Smith, also saw much of pioneer survey life. In 1883 he was cadet and topographer with Mr. Baber in the first flying survey made of the Urewera Country, a rough expedition in an all but unknown region, in which the survey was complicated by Maori suspicion and obstruction. Mr. Smith was Chief Draughtsman in the Survey Dept. when he retired from the Government Service.

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