XVI.
Lords and Commons in Council.

The Ministry were at last in a position to fix the day for the making of history. The Code was drafted, the representatives of the people were all duly elected, the new uniforms had come from a Sydney tailor, and the store on the wharf was piled high with sacks of provisions and cases of strong liquors, upon which the fate of the Ministry mainly depended, since legislators cannot be complaisant on empty stomachs. In this again I was compelled to recognise the master mind of the late Premier. It may be inconvenient to force upon the Ministry the task of catering for the parliamentary table, but so long as one has to reckon with the physiological fact that the road to a man's heart is down his throat, the arrangement gives a Government of epicurean tendencies an immense advantage over the Opposition.

The King's Guards, the band, the College students, and the clerks of the House had all undergone rehearsals: there remained but one important function before the Parliament was ready for the business of the country. Wait-page 248resses had to be selected for the dining-table of the House. Kubu invited me to form one of the committee charged with the delicate duty of selecting a band of twenty from among the competitors. We took our seats at the long table in the hall, and sternly ordered the candidates to be brought before us. A clerk with the instruments of his trade sat beside us, to give an air of formality to the proceedings. "Two things are necessary," I heard it whispered; "they must be comely, and they must be

A beauty show.

intelligent. Who will eat if they be ugly? and stupid women will break the plates. Then from the door that led kitchenwards twenty damsels sidled in and sat down on the long form facing us. Some sucked their fingers in bashfulness; a few looked shyly defiant; the majority giggled. None of them looked as if they would break plates, but several fell short, very far short, of the first requirement. One damsel in particular had been so harshly treated by Nature that I whispered my doubts to my page 249neighbour. "It is true," he answered, "but we can never reject her for such a reason. She would die of shame. The other girls would cast it in their teeth." So they were all taken and divided into watches under the leadership of matrons of experience,—four to the kitchen, and eight to each of the tables destined to accommodate the Lords and Commons. Those who had never waited at table before were ordered to take lessons in the houses of the missionaries; and Joe, the captain of the Kumeti, was appointed head steward and keeper of the spiritroom, because strong liquors were known to disagree with him.

At last the contingent from the distant Niuas arrived, and we became anxious that the opening of Parliament, already delayed three weeks beyond the appointed time, should take place without further delay. Rumour had been busy on the beach. The king, it was said, would not open Parliament until the High Commissioner had left: the Government were afraid to face the Vavau contingent in their present frame of mind. The former rumour determined us to fix the opening ceremony a day or two before H.M.S. Cordelia left. The king made no difficulties; and the last week of preparation was spent in meetings of the Cabinet and Privy Council, in final rehearsal, and in providing with open-handed liberality for the creature comforts of the Opposition.

There was but one hitch in the arrangements. We had prepared the King's Speech with some care. The only allusion to the political events of the recess was a short sentence, "You all know that I have lately dismissed my Premier, and have appointed a Tongan in his stead." The page 250Speech had been copied out and submitted to the king; for several days we heard no more of it. Half afraid that our opponents would contrive to see it and endeavour to have it altered, at the last moment I insisted upon Tukuaho asking for it back. After some delay it was produced—in another handwriting as I expected. The passage about Mr Baker had been so altered as to convey an untrue and improper meaning. The handwriting was Sateki's, but he seems to have been merely the amanuensis. Rather than that it should stand in its present form, I took the Speech to the king. He was evidently expecting a remonstrance,

"The faint tap of the gatu mallets."

and showed in his tone that he was on the defensive. "But why allude to the past?" I asked.

"Was it I who did so?" he said. Then apparently satisfied with having his advantage, he laughed, and readily allowed me to expunge the whole passage.

The great day dawned cloudless and drowsy. The hum of the fleecy breakers on the distant reef, the faint tap of the gatu mallets, vaguely suggested a reverie in a hammock and the unsubstantial folds of the vala; but native garments were to-day forbidden, for Parliaments in civilised page 251lands are not opened in bare legs save in the imagination of Carlyle.

For days past the stores on the beach have done a spirited trade in trousers, coats, and shoes—not the sort of shoes that may be bought by the dozen at any bootmaker's, but majestic fabrics of leather, built expressly for the opening of South Sea Parliaments, upon a special last 14 inches long by 8 or 9 broad. Such shoes as these cannot be lightly used. And so the spiritual guides of the people, when teaching that no self-respecting Tongan should attend church without black coat and trousers, admitted the religious principle that a man might work out his salvation in bare feet, and the shoes were relegated to the meetings of Parliament.

The scene outside is very picturesque. It is high tide, and the sea laps to the very edge of the short grass that carpets the approach to the white Parliament House. The tall spars of the Cordelia tower above the spires of the miniature palace. The College students, dressed in white, are drawn up in two lines, so as to form a lane from the palace to the doors. The band and guard of honour look undeniably smart, both in their bearing and the polish of their accoutrements. It is a strange contrast with the same scene as it is described by Labillardière in 1791, exactly a century ago, when Mumui held his faikava on Sion Hill, now crowned with a church, but then with those twenty-four funny little huts into each of which a Cabinet Minister crawled to sleep off the effects of the Court bowl. Those were dark days before the lotu had illumined the minds of men, and most of the actors in to-day's scene, booted and be-trousered, full of the page 252pride of progress and the odium theologicum, are heartily ashamed of their forefathers. Truly missionary enterprise has worked great changes.

The House was filled long before the appointed hour. Tukuaho had issued invitations to most of the traders. Native ladies of rank, and a few of the chiefs who held no seat, were accommodated below the gangway: men and women of every shade of colour filled the benches in front of them. It is an anxious moment for the newly appointed Sergeant-at-Arms, Kubu's brother, Kalauta, who is charged with the duty of finding room for every one. The "Representatives of the People" (as the Constitution calls them) are packed into the benches on the right side of the House above the gangway; the Nobles on the left behind the Treasury bench, where sit the Cabinet Ministers, headed by Goschen, who, in a naval frock-coat and check trousers, gives a tone of elegance to the whole Ministry. The next front bench has with difficulty been reserved for the suite of the High Commissioner, whose British uniforms are thrown into shade by the magenta satin gowns that clothe the portly forms of the Princesses Charlotte and Anna Jane behind them. On the crimson daïs is the king's gilt chair; and beside it the royal crown, the heaviest in the world, reclines upon its cushion supported by a three-legged table. The crown was bought by the late Premier from some merchants in Sydney, and, but for the verdigris in the flutings, might very well pass for gold.

The suspense is broken at last by the rattle of saluting arms, and the blare of the Tongan National Anthem. Kalauta shouts "Koe Tu'i!" and we all rise as the king page 253strides into the room soberly clad, almost erect for all his ninety years, the one dignified figure in all this motley assembly of his subjects. A sovereign who wields absolute power may well tire of pomp and circumstance after his ninetieth year. He is followed by his aides-de-camp, George Finau, dressed in the uniform of a British

"Koe Tu'i!"

admiral, and Taufaahau in that of a colonel of the Colonial Defence Forces. As the king takes his seat Taufaahau steps forward and unrolls the Speech from the Throne. May I be acquitted of the charge of disrespect to a reigning monarch if I remark that King George Tubou II., when still Taufaahau and aide-de-camp to his great-grand-page 254father, did not read well. The Speech consisted of the usual Ministerial platitudes, congratulations upon "our cordial relations with the other Powers," and promises for the future. The allusion to the past was very brief. He, the king, gave thanks to God that these clouds were happily dispersed, and left it to the Legislature to provide for the future by revising all the laws and regulating finance. Convinced that their efforts in pursuit, of civilisation would not be crowned with complete success until they mastered another language besides their own, and that national prosperity could not be assured unless the population ceased to decrease, he had provided them with a schoolmaster for their minds and a doctor for their bodies. In conclusion, he commended them to God, and trusted that there would be no more dissension between the Churches—the expectation which, in the present temper of the missionaries, is, of all those contained in the Royal Speech, the least likely to be realised. The king interrupted the Speech twice, telling the reader impatiently to speak up.

It had been intended to unveil a picture of the king, but almost before Taufaahau had articulated the closing words, his Majesty rose and strode out as he had come, with the air of a man who has loyally discharged an irksome duty. The band dash recklessly into the triumphal march from Tannhäuser, struggle awhile, and arrive breathless at the end within a bar or two of one another.

The senators streamed away to their quarters at Pangai to disrobe; the guests strolled home to doff their finery. The morning had been devoted to propriety; pleasure was now to have its turn. In half an hour not a black coat page 255was to be seen. Sacrifice had been made on the altar of the god Civilisation: Parliament was now to be opened after the custom of their despised ancestors. Groups formed wherever a tree-top cast a patch of shade. Strings of men, swinging their limbs with the glorious freedom of

Portrait of King George Tubou.

trouserless man, filed up and flung their burdens of pig and yam upon an ever-increasing heap, while a claque of aged men shouted approval. Roast-pig scents the hot air. A grave and melancholy matabule is counting pigs in a monotonous chant, and each successive decimal evokes page 256loud applause. In ten minutes the members of both Houses will be pig-smeared to the elbows. Let them be happy in their own way to-day, for the morrow will bring debates, shoes, and the knife and fork.

At ten o'clock next morning H.M.S. Cordelia steamed through the hazy reef as the great wooden drum announced that the business of the country was to begin. The House had been cleared for action. On the daïs the throne had been replaced by the Speaker's chair; and a long table, at which sat four clerks of the Parliament, filled the place of the visitors' benches. Two sentries of the Guards and four policemen drawn up at the door saluted as we went in. The members of both Houses were in their places—Nobles on the right and Commons on the left of the chair. The Cabinet had a bench to themselves among the Nobles, and below them sat the governors of districts—sixty-eight members in all, counting myself. So long as I continued to hold the portfolio of Fakahinohino I had a seat ex officio as a member of the Upper House.

For twelve minutes not a word is spoken. We are waiting for the Speaker. When the delay has become unbearable a messenger is sent to him; for though Tungi had been in sight when we came in, he suffers so much from asthma that he has to rest to recover breath at every few yards of the road. Some moments later there is a movement behind the daïs-screen. Claud, Sergeant-at-Arms, clatters in and cries, "Koe Sea!" (The Chair!) We all rise. Tungi climbs the daïs panting, but with the deliberate air of a man who knows his business; for he held his office through two at least of Mr Baker's Parliaments, and is not in the least collar-shy like the rest of us. He page 257is, moreover, held in awe by the Commons, for "Tungi ne montre jamais le fond du sac," as one of the French priests said of him. He is followed by Mr W—, the Pontifex Maximus of Tonga, clad in decent black, and wearing an expression of deprecating piety. He is to earn to-day his stipend as Royal Chaplain, an item that has received the anxious attention of the Cabinet, to whom a retrenchment of £100 a-year is of importance. He gives out a hymn, the member for Vavau, who forms the choir, bellows the tune, while the rest follow him two octaves lower pianissimo. The House shades its eyes with its hand, while the prelate wrestles in prayer and discreetly withdraws. There is a pause. Then Mataka, the chief clerk (who, by the way, is still supposed to be undergoing imprisonment for flirting with the fair Lobase) calls the roll. The new members are now to take the oath. The ceremony is imposing

The cleck of the parliament.

until the turn of the two Roman Catholic members arrives. They object to be sworn upon the Protestant Bible, and a clerk runs in haste for a version of the Bible translated into Tongan by the Roman Catholics. He returns with a thick shiny-covered book, which the two members kiss cheerfully. I examined it afterwards, and page 258found it to be a French and English dictionary. The oath taken concained the words, "I swear … that I will to the utmost of my power discharge my duty as a member of the Legislative Assembly" —a phrase that we had cause to remember, since a majority of the Commons held that to discharge their duty as representatives meant opposition to the Government, whether right or wrong, upon every question submitted to them.

We were anxious not to afford the Vavau contingent an opportunity for making an attack upon the Government until we had had time to win the confidence of the other members, and we therefore proposed that the duty of drafting an Address in reply should be relegated to a Committee of six, selected from the Lords and Commons in equal numbers. As scarcely three members in the House knew what an Address in reply was, it was at once suggested by the nominated members that the Cabinet should stay to help them, while the rest of the House adjourned. With an air of intense relief the members trooped out to smoke sulukas in the shade. The Select Committee conversed in knots, leaving the draft to Tukuaho and myself. My draft was couched in terms of excessive politeness, and read a little flat and colourless, a defect due as much to my ignorance of the higher forms of the language as to my anxiety not to introduce controversial matter. It was handed to Tukuaho as a skeleton to work upon, and it came forth glorified, bristling with expressions of gratitude of which I had never dreamed. It was unanimously adopted by the Committee. The Sergeant-at-Arms recalled the House by shouting to the members from the doorstep. The Address was read. At page 259the words, "We feel confident that God will avert religious strife, for He is the God of peace," I saw a cynical smile curl the lips of Hoho the Romanist, who has a stronger sense of humour than the others who are in the secret of the Mission politics.

The Address had been voted, and we were congratulating ourselves that the Vavau party had decided to reserve their grievances for a more fitting opportunity, when we discovered Manase, the Governor of Vavau, upon his feet, wearing his usual expression of apostolic saintliness, but labouring under some mental excitement. We had not expected an attack from this quarter, for it had doubtless been conveyed to Manase that there was a proposal before the Cabinet to impeach him for disaffection. Instigated by Mr W-, the disappointed schoolmaster, he rushes blindly on his doom. "The Address is good," he says, "with one exception. Why was a schoolmaster appointed without consulting the wishes of Vavau?" Three Cabinet Ministers rise at once. "Is it becoming," asks the Auditor-General, "in a governor appointed by the king to question his Majesty's action?" The House murmurs. The unfortunate Manase would explain; but the House wants no explanation, and he has to sit down, crushed and humbled. Tukuaho whispers to me that it is a good opportunity to reassure the House as to the truth of a rumour that Mr H-, the College master appointed by the Government, is a failautohi and not a faiako. As the words both mean "school-teacher," it seems to my untutored ear to be a distinction without a difference, and I fail to grasp the full significance of the rumour. In the whispered explanation that page 260follows it is borne in upon me that faiako has the restrictive meaning of professor, and that Mr H-'s enemies have put it abroad that he is a mere school master and no professor. I am able to reassure the House on this point with a clear conscience, on the authority of no less a personage than the Minister of Education of New Zealand.

By the time the Address had been despatched to the king by the hands of the chief clerk the wooden drum had begun to beat. Aged Nobles, whose eyes had been getting dim, and whose heads had fallen forwards, started and straightway threw off twenty years of their burden of life. The whole House fixed its gaze upon the clock. It was the dinner-hour, and the Speaker, with an indulgent smile, adjourned the House. A stream of black-coated legislators hobbled to a long white building a few yards away, and besieged the doors as if it were the pit entrance to a theatre. A bolt was drawn, and both Houses surged inwards. There were two long tables, each accommodating forty guests, —the one reserved for the Lords, and the other for the Commons. The ministering damsels were ordered to appear in a white uniform, without lace or other ornaments. They had treated the order with the scorn it deserved. The ox-eyed Sau, breathing propriety with every sigh, was dressed in white satin trimmed with furniture lace, and had a crimson sash tied coquettishly round her waist; the demure Vika—demure only in the presence of her elders—had broken out in bugles of jet and a cincture of native cloth. The trader who supplied her striped vala would be sold out of that pattern on the morrow, for the fashion in Tonga is set by the pretty page 261

One of the elect.

page 262girls. When not languidly handing plates these damsels whispered and giggled in the windows, and hid their blushes on each other's glistening shoulders.

The morning sitting has induced a remarkable appetite. The dinner on the first day numbered some seventeen courses of solid viands, yet scarce a plate goes away with enough upon it to indicate its contents. It is right to say, however, that this scale of entertainment is not maintained throughout the session. As the days went on, course after course fell away as the supplies in the store house diminished. The Lords are allowed a glass of sherry and a glass of beer each, the Cabinet Ministers half a tumbler of rum in addition; the Commons have to content themselves with beer only. At last the Chaplain hammers on the table with his knife-handle and says grace, and the places of the legislators are taken by as many of the Civil servants as can muster trousers and shoes. There follows a fatal half hour, during which the fell effects of such a dinner become apparent. When the bell rings members sink into their places, glare determinedly at the ceiling for a few moments, and lapse into unconsciousness. The Sergeant-at-Arms, having drunk neither ele nor lamu, rises and creeps stealthily towards the Lords. Such of the members as still retain consciousness crane their necks in breathless excitement. He is stalking Havea, Lord of Haapai. Catlike he creeps on, gold-mounted scabbard in hand, poises the weapon over the bowed head, and—Havea starts up with an exclamation that I could translate exactly, though I never heard it before. The House in dulges in a well-bred titter. Meanwhile the clerks are looking round the House, and making frequent entries in page 263a book. It is the book of the Sleeping. I have since heard Hoho, the Roman Catholic member, declare that the insertion of his name was a malicious libel. His lotu, he said, obliged him to pray at noon, and to pray he had to close his eyes. The clerk retorted that if he could not begin his prayers with a hymn, as is the usage of any respectable sect, his name must be recorded in the book. After-experience taught us that the morning was more

"The Sergeant-at-Arms creeps stealthily towards the Lords."

suitable for Committees, and the afternoon for third readings, for during a third reading even the Sergeant-at-Arms would close his eyes. The monotonous reading of the Premier has long ago lulled the most active of the Opposition to sleep. When the voice becomes silent the Speaker thunders out the question, eyelids tremble open, and hands go up. "Those who are against the motion will hold up their hands," but the eyelids have all closed again, and the page 264bill defining the procedure of the courts becomes law. It is high time to adjourn.

The second day brought a storm from an unexpected quarter. This bolt from the blue came from the Commons, who are possessed with a burning zeal for debate, and have not had time to appreciate the limits of their duties. The chief business of the session being to enact a complete code, and to sweep away all former enactments, time is valuable, and the Premier expresses the hope that the House will not waste it in opposing such parts of the code as are transcribed from the Constitution, and are necessary only for completeness. "The king is supreme over all the chiefs and people, but his Ministers are alone responsible for good government." Rises Hoho, representative of a Roman Catholic constituency, lately a leading schoolmaster and a light of intellect and culture, who resigned his school in order to qualify as a representative of the people. Tall, attenuated, and Mephistophelian, he looks more like a Spaniard than a Tongan. With palms turned outwards and uplifted shoulders, he has even, caught the Latin gestures. "Why," he asks, "should the king be supreme, and why should his Ministers be responsible?" He for one can never vote for such a measure. The House snorts impatiently. The Premier points out that the words are transcribed from the Constitution, and that Hoho should reserve his steel. Hoho retorts that he resigned his post as schoolmaster to make himself eligible for election; that he has taken a solemn oath to do his duty to the best of his ability; and that if he did not oppose this measure he would not be doing his duty. At this all the members with page 265a reputation for intelligence start up, slap their chests, and quote the terms of their oath. The Sergeant-at-Arms rages up and down, calling upon all but Wiliame to sit down. William is understood to say that he respects the terms of his oath, but defers to the wisdom of the Nobles. Hoho springs to his feet with a sense of having the whole Catholic hierarchy at his back, and passionately exclaims that if comparisons are to be made between the two sides of the House, he thinks he knows on which side wisdom will be found. There is a solemn hush. Aged noblemen gasp and make a mute appeal to the Speaker, who rises in agitation. "Never in the whole course of his parliamentary experience had such a terrible insult been offered to the chiefs of the land. That a commoner, a vile commoner, who after all was only there to listen to the words of his superiors, should have so dared to throw decency to the winds, was unknown in the history of their country. But, thank heaven, he was there to deal with such cases." Then waving his arm in the direction of the jail he continued, "Without stand the dark cells, within the Sergeant-at Arms. To the cells with the low-born!"

The oration lasted many minutes, during which the low-born sat with bowed head until the storm should pass over him. The Nobles thanked the Speaker with their eyes; there was an awkward pause. The Premier, who had been looking very uncomfortable during this exposition of the liberty of speech about which the Government organ had been singing so joyously of late, filled the breach by reading the next section. But it was evident that another storm was brewing, for when page 266the question was put not one of the Commons would vote. A message was accordingly conveyed to the Speaker from the Treasury bench that he should adjourn the House. As the author of the mischief stalked out a group at the door cried derisively, "Go thou with the priest to France." In the evening poor Tukuaho received an indignant protest from the resident priest, hinting that the consequences would be serious for Tonga if any rumour of this national insult should reach the ears of the Government of the great Republic.

A mild reproof must have been conveyed to Tungi before the morning sitting, for he rises after prayers to apologise to the Commons for the strength of his language over-night. They look pleased. He goes on to remind them of the severe provocation he had received, and as the full magnitude of the insult is borne in upon him, he lets fly again, and gives the Commons a more furious lashing than in the speech for which he rose to apologise. The Ministers cover their faces, and the Commons look sulky. The Premier implores the House to regard the incident as closed, and to believe that they have the fullest liberty of speech-in short, not to mind what his father says. After a long silence Vili Tai, member for Nukualofa, rises. His heart is subdued by fear: in spite of his oath he no longer dares to speak. The Commons sadly shake their heads.

Some unwritten standing orders appear to have survived from Mr Baker's last Parliament three years ago. Kubu is an authority upon these, for he then held the influential post of Sergeant-at-Arms, now occupied by his brother Claude. When the House goes into Committee page 267after the second reading, the Speaker vacates the chair and takes part in the debate as an ordinary member of the Upper House. But the most important of these rules is that, until the House is in Committee, no one but a Cabinet Minister may speak more than once upon a measure. In Committee no restriction is exercised but that very necessary one of preventing more than one member from speaking at a time. The Sergeant-at-Arms is the arbiter between rival claimants to be heard; for the gold-hilted sword is no idle tapper of sleepy heads, —it imperiously indicates the favoured member who may address the House. In Tonga one does not catch the Speaker's eye—one catches the Sergeant's sword.

Feeling certain that the Commons, however sulky, will not be able to resist the temptation of the freedom of debate permitted in Committee, I move the election of a Chairman of Committees. Four candidates, whom etiquette requires to be reluctant, are put forward, and Ata, Lord of Hihifo is elected. As I expected, the Commons immediately forget their wounded pride in the excitement of passionate debate. At the conclusion of each speech half a dozen members are discovered standing and talking at once, while the rest of the House calls "Order." Each speaker is trying to impress the Sergeant-at-Arms with his claim to be first heard. That officer strides into the middle of the floor and points his dictatorial sword at the member who has found favour. The others perforce sit down till their turn comes. These standing orders were as useful to the Government as a closure. Often when time was short, and we were sure of the support of a majority, we relentlessly refused page 268to move that the Speaker do vacate the chair, and were deaf to the entreaties of members who had discharged one wordy flood and longed for a Committee of the House to reopen the sluice-gates of their eloquence.

The best speakers in the House were Manase (not the Governor of that name) and Sovea of Vavau. The former was nervous, impulsive, and given to the display of rhetorical fireworks; the latter, a cool keen debater, with a logical mind and an inconvenient habit of asking questions. He had served through the last Parliament, and was credited with knowing all the weak spots in the Government armour. In person he was an insignificant little man, disfigured by bad teeth. He sat by himself at the extreme end of the House, and a compact body of members from Vavau and Haapai, his admirers, separated him from the rest of the Commons. He proved to be a far more dangerous opponent than the generous Manase, whom we soon won over to our cause. The chief grievance of the Vavau contingent was the predominance of Tongatabu chiefs in the Cabinet, and the favour which the present Cabinet were alleged to show to the Wesleyans. Their discontent had been fostered by the traders of Vavau, who, in the hope of effecting a reduction in the Customs tariff, had persuaded them that the Government was really in the hands, not of Tongans, but of C and myself, and that if there were no Customs the prices of all important articles would be lowered. The king had announced that he did not wish any revision of the Constitution to be discussed this session. Their mouths were therefore closed in respect of their principal grievance, and they were page 269compelled to reserve their main attack for the discussion of the tariff. The four Wesleyan members were a trial to us. They seemed to believe that they had a monopoly of intelligence as well as of independence of character. This was probably a natural effect of exile for conscience' sake and the triumph of the cause for which they suffered. The worst of these was Josaia, the head tutor at the Wesleyan College. Teaching had become so much a habit with him, that he spoke only to pour upon the House the stores of his cultured mind. The House was not grateful, and but for the standing order already alluded to, I fear that Josaia would have been held to deserve the fate of Socrates, and for the same reason. Wiliame Maealiuaki was less didactic and more sensible, but he had long been in the hands of the trading community, and had a mission to get the Customs tariff reduced. In other respects he was a supporter of the Government. Vili Tai was cursed with a sensitive conscience, which took him by the throat whenever he was going to vote in accordance with his better judgment, —at least that is what he told us. He has an ominously long upper lip, and looks altogether like a retired Non conformist grocer of truculent respectability. Upon Vili Tai's conscience assaults of reason beat in impotence. We could only beg him earnestly to make a second and more careful diagnosis of his symptoms before finally committing himself to the cause of the Opposition.

The chapter relating to the Executive was passed without serious opposition. "The Premier shall provide accommodation for the members of the Legislative Assembly," &c. Tuuhetoka rises with troubled face. "It page 270is a good law, but this year it was not obeyed. When I came to Haapai on my way hither I wandered hungry up and down the beach, and slept on the cold sands, and —(laughter). There is nothing to laugh at. I was —" He got no further. The Speaker waved his hand, the gold-hilted sword was raised, and he sat down and poured the rest of his story into the sympathetic ear of the member next to him.

Tuknaho must have got through a great deal of work in propitiating the Opposition over the kava-bowl at night, for, on the whole, there was great good sense and intelligence shown throughout the debates of the first few days. The idea of civil procedure was, it is true, rather hard to convey to their understanding, Hitherto all injuries, whether malicious or accidental, were treated as criminal offences. There was also a haziness regarding the definition of larceny; for the Tongan magistrates had been unaccustomed to distinguish between the taking of property dishonestly, and property removed by a person who honestly believes that it lawfully belongs to him. My draft Code, after the Indian Penal Code, upon which it was founded, was interspersed with frequent illustrations of the law in operation, and these illustrations had an unfortunate tendency to evoke personal reminiscences, so that the House wandered away into the bypaths of anecdote, and much precious time was wasted. The errors in translation from my draft were not very numerous, for Tukuaho professed to have asked me the meaning of all the passages that were not absolutely clear to him when he revised my draft. A somewhat remarkable provision was, however, nearly enacted in respect of Quakers or page 271other persons who could not properly be sworn when called as witnesses. I knew of no word that signified "affirmation" as distinguished from oath (fuakava). I endeavoured to explain to Tukuaho that the word required had a meaning akin to oath but fell short of it. After mature thought he declared that talatukii had the exact meaning required. Talatukii was accordingly printed in the draft. An expression of surprise and inquiry crossed the faces of the more intelligent of the Commons, and Sovea rose to inquire from the fakahinohino why Quakers should be permitted to talatukii in a court of law, and who they were to do it to. On more exact inquiry, I learned that the word talatukii means to curse—to use imprecations so deadly and horrible, that the person against whom they were directed usually died from the effect; and this was the conduct prescribed by my Code for Quakers in the witness-box!

In Titipu, if Mr Gilbert is to be taken seriously, flirting is punishable with death; in Tonga the penalty is penal servitude. "Whether the severity of the punishment or the frailty of human nature is to blame for the prevalence of this crime I know not, but whatever be the cause, the police are so actively engaged in hunting down delinquents that they have neither time nor inclination to attend to burglaries, thefts, or other less interesting offences. Once before I had tried to reform the practice in this respect, by inserting in the instructions to the police an injunction to leave prosecutions of this nature to the injured parties. The Cabinet agreed with me, but, as I have already related, a deputation of policemen, headed by the grey-headed Inspector, subsequently waited upon the page 272Premier to implore him to reflect before committing himself to an innovation that would not only destroy the traditions of the "Force," but would also without doubt call down upon his country the divine wrath. At Tukuaho's desire I had consented to shelve the question until the meeting of Parliament, lest ill-conditioned persons might misrepresent our motives to the king. I was therefore prepared for opposition, but having the support of the Cabinet, I was determined to relieve the police of this part of their duties, and to sacrifice the prison labourers and the revenue in fines with which these prosecutions annually provided the Government. The proposal evoked a passionate debate. Vili Tai opposed the measure in a burst of fiery oratory. He fully believed that it may suit Britain or France to regard flirting as an offence against the individual, but in Tonga, at least, it is a crime against the State. For have not the Tongans solemnly dedicated their country to God? Pointing to the royal arms blazoned above the daïs, he cried, "What other nation has the right to that motto, 'God and Tonga are my inheritance'? If you quote what is done in Bilitania, I will quote you the motto of the nation." There was a murmur of applause. It was in vain to point out that a restriction of the functions of the police is not in itself likely to call down the divine wrath. The reservoir of Tongan eloquence had burst its banks, and cold commonsense could never stem the flood. Another enthusiast fixed a rapt and inspired gaze on the ceiling, and demanded whether the House would dare to break its faith with the Almighty. "It may be true that under our present laws our country is becoming depopulated, page 273but better we should perish from the face of the earth than break our solemn covenant with God." William Maealiuaki, who generally talks sense, reminds the House that thirteen years ago a similar measure was passed, and that within three months an epidemic attacked the people, but when the measure was repealed the sickness abated. He only mentions the fact without drawing any deduction, except that there is room for belief that the Almighty does expect higher things from Tonga than from other countries. A personal element is imported by one of the Nobles, who remarks that the law would be entirely unnecessary if it were not for the professional bachelors, such as Moengangongo, Kubu's brother, and Matealona, and half-a-dozen others who sat among them. These unfortunates, having no defence ready to meet this unprovoked attack, look foolish. A fortnight after the session Moengangongo espoused the ox-eyed waitress Sau, but whether in consequence of this public attack, or the young lady's charming poses in the windows of the dining-room, has not as yet transpired. Forced against our will to play the unwelcome part of "devil's advocate," we at last applied the closure, and the votes were taken. Two of the Ministry, Sateki and Kubu, voted against us. I was about to explain to Kubu that one of the principles of party government was that the members of the Cabinet should act in concert, and that, as he had promised to vote for this measure, his attitude required explanation; but he forestalled me by saying that during the debate his konisienisi (conscience) had met him face to face, and that therefore the terms of his oath compelled him to desert his page 274party. The Government carried the motion by a bare majority of two. That evening Mataka read it to the king, sitting at the old man's feet. When the fateful words were reached Tubou expressed his disapproval, and declined to sign until it had been taken back to the House for further discussion. The news leaked out, and at the next division the Ministers were left alone. A Tongan has no convictions that are not shared by his king.

These debates were useful to us, for they enabled us to sift the dispositions of the members, and to gauge our chances of overcoming opposition in the more important debate on the Customs. As soon as our position seemed sufficiently secure, we determined to skip the intermediate part of the Code, and at once attack the chapter dealing with the tariff. The announcement was made without warning, so that we might hear the views of the members themselves without prompting from the Europeans. I told them that the Customs at present produced a revenue of about £6000 a-year, which we could not afford to do without unless the expenditure was considerably reduced; but that before proceeding further with the Code, we must know the views of the House regarding the continuance of the tute, as they called the collection of Customs dues. If they refused to raise revenue by this means, it would be a waste of time to pass an elaborate Customs law. There was some whispering amongst the Commons, and William rose to ask a question. If the Customs were abolished, what would happen? To this I replied that the revenue must be raised by increased direct taxation, or by a reduction of the expenditure by one-third. Vili Tai wished to know whether it was page 275true, as they had heard, that the tariff was heavier in Tonga than in other countries, and that the most prosperous countries owed their success to there being no Customs at all? I had a list of the ad valorem tariffs showing that Tonga, with a duty of 10 per cent, levied a lighter tax than New Zealand, Canada, Queensland, or even Fiji. Then a member from Vavau rose to put the all-important question whether, in the event of the abolition of the Customs dues, the prices of calico and kerosene would be lowered by the storekeepers, as the white men had promised? At this stage the Speaker joined in the debate. He remembered the prices of such things before there ever was a tariff, and he could assure the House that the prices were not a farthing lower then. He could tell them what the effect would be. The traders' profits would be increased, but the Tongans would not be one whit the better for it. When the question was put, the House was unanimous in voting for a continuance of the duties, provided that the laws relating to Customs were translated so as to be intelligible to them. This proviso enabled us to complete our victory. We asked the House to nominate a committee of pundits to assist the Government in translating the mercantile laws, knowing full well that we should thus convert our adversaries into champions of a bill which they had themselves helped to draft. William, Filimone, and Manase of Vavau were obviously flattered at being singled out as the Government nominees for such a work. For the next fortnight we met nightly at seven o'clock, and adjourned at two in the morning, after submitting each clause of the law to the most careful system of polishing by the entire com-page 276mittee. Every half-hour during the sitting four convicts entered with a full bowl of kava and retired with an empty one, until the air was so charged with tobaccosmoke that they were scarcely discernible. Hearing the disputes over the meaning of every phrase and idiom, I learned more Tongan during that fortnight than during all the rest of the time I spent in the country.

The Government was pledged to the Chamber of Commerce to introduce certain reductions in the tariff which provided some rather vexatious duties on articles little used. As soon as the debate was opened Hoho rose. He for one fully approved of the principle of collecting revenue by Customs dues, but he thought it became the Government to be magnanimous, and not to press for duties on the necessaries of life, as, for instance, red wines. (Laughter, and a voice, "Drinking liquor is forbidden.") Hoho stopped, disconcerted, and the Minister of Police pointed an accusatory finger at him. "This man," he said, "is speaking the words of the priests. Who drinks red wine but the priests? And yet he has sworn to follow the dictates of his own conscience." Not only did the House decline to lower the duty on claret, but they showed a stubborn disinclination to listen to any of the Government proposals for reduction. In vain we told them that we were prepared to sacrifice revenue to the extent of £400 a-year. The Europeans had overdone their part in declaiming against the Customs, and the natives, sore at having been made the victims of defective arithmetic, were disinclined to vote for any proposal that might appear to be concession to the agitation. The Government was beaten on a division, and was regarded page 277by Parliament as being in league with the traders, and by the traders as being guilty of the blackest duplicity. The Chamber of Commerce, indeed, with its dying breath demanded from me why the Government, so ignominiously beaten on so vital a point as the import duty on kerosene, had not at once tendered their resignation.

The shipping laws were more intelligible to the House. Many of them, as the owners or masters of small craft, had had a bitter experience of the law regarding coasting licences, and a strong party were in favour of exempting craft owned by Tongans and used only as yachts from the coasting dues paid by steamers and vessels plying for hire. But the majority were against enacting anything that might be cast up against them as one-sided legislation.

Hansard, meanwhile, was growing to unmanageable dimensions. The clerks took down every speech in shorthand, and sat up till daylight night after night transcribing their notes. Not the smallest spoken word passed unrecorded. It was time for a brief holiday, for the sick-list was heavy; and many noblemen who could take the air in native attire could not attend the House until their feet had sufficiently recovered to encounter again the penalties attaching to boots. The Speaker announced a three days' holiday, and added that by special arrangement the Government medical officer would prescribe gratis for all members in need of medical treatment. During the morning a dense crowd of legislators besieged the dispensary. Within was the newly arrived doctor, heated and gesticulating, trying to drive back the mob of senators, who were all striving to describe in page 278dumb-show the peculiar symptoms of stomach-ache from generous living.

The debate upon the land question, scarcely less important than the Customs, opened inauspiciously. Manase, the orator, made a set speech upon the history of the land laws of the country, incidentally alluding to the magnanimity of the king. The House seems to be moved—perhaps by his eloquence. There is a long and ominous silence. Then Niukabu, a noble of Vavau with a grey moustache, rises to order. He has with difficulty contained himself, he says, during the last indecent speech. What does Manase think? Have the lords of Hahavea no feelings? Do they like to be reminded of the past? The three lords of Hahavea glare responsive at the ceiling. I ask Kubu my neighbour what Manase has said to hurt their feelings. He whispers that when the king conquered them in the last war of 1853, contrary to Tongan custom, he restored their lands to them, and to speak of the king's magnanimity recalls unpleasant memories. I mentally resolve not to make even the most distant allusion to Tongan history. In spite, however, of the temporary gloom thrown over us by this incident, our pet land scheme was passed with but slight alteration. In future a taxpayer who refused to pay his taxes was to lose his land.

I was absent from the second reading of the Minor Offences Bill. When I came in the Premier, who is not often moved to express himself strongly, was rating the House in unmeasured terms. He had not believed, he said, that the Legislative Council of Tonga could so far forget its dignity as to indulge in such a disgraceful scene. What would be said of Tonga if such a thing were known page 279outside the walls of that House? What respect for Tonga could any of the civilised nations retain if they heard of this disgrace? The Commons seemed quite overcome with a sense of their guilt. "What has happened?" I whispered to Kubu. "A disgraceful thing." "But what?" "A shameful thing. When Osaiase Puaka [Osaias Hogg] was speaking, some of the Representatives of the People pretended to cough, and shuffled their feet." The House had been lashed by the Speaker before his son took them in hand, and Kubu described his remarks as "very heavy." He spoke to me afterwards about it. "I was glad," he said, "that you were not there to see this shameful thing; if the miscreants had not been so many, I would have committed them all to the dark cells. I suppose if such a thing were to happen in the Parliament of Bilitania, the delinquents would go to prison?" "Ye-e-s," I answered. "But such a thing never has happened?" "Oh, no; though I have heard of it happening in the French Parliament," I said, and thought of the House during one of Mr Conybeare's speeches. But this was before Messrs Carson and Fisher had taken their seats.

A gloom fell over the House during the debate on the land laws. For some days Havea, a lord of Haapai, had been absent from his seat. At last it is whispered that his illness is unnameable—that leprosy, the scourge of the Pacific, has seized upon him. It makes one thoughtful to remember that until a week ago we were sitting and eating with a leper; but the consternation in the faces of my colleagues is due to other causes. For by Tongan etiquette it is more than questionable taste to speak of the illness of a chief; it is forbidden in polite society to mention page 280leprosy at all; but to describe a chief as a leper is too gross an offence to be conceivable. But the thing has to be done somehow, and the Premier nobly fills the breach. They had all heard, he said, about their dear friend and colleague, and they all mourned when they heard. He felt sure that he expressed the sentiments of them all when he said that Havea's friends were pining for him at home, and therefore it was but right that they should cheerfully sacrifice their own wishes and relieve the longing of his friends by allowing him to return to them. At the same time it was right to say that the doctor had pronounced the report about Havea to be not entirely true—in short, that the proximity of Havea was not likely to render it advisable that his companions should return to their friends. But Tuuhetoka was less guarded, being of a coarser fibre than his chief. "I am in favour," he said, "of gratifying the longing of Havea's friends to see his face. Nay, more: to the westward are delightful little islands, which I know Havea is longing to visit, where his every wish may be gratified, and where—well—where the wind would blow so nicely from us to him that Havea would be more than happy." I improved the opportunity by urging the necessity of isolating infected persons to check the alarming increase in the disease. The Commons watched me with the uneasy interest felt by the crowd at a dangerous tight-rope performance without a net underneath. I soon floundered helplessly, and before I was aware of it I uttered the fatal word leprosy (kilia). The House shuddered, and I was covered with shame. To effect a diversion, I described the labours of Father Damien at Molokai. At the adjournment Jesuit Hoho button-page 281holed me, and said, "I come to thank you for your words about the priest Tamiene. I shall report your words to my priest and the bishop, who will be much gratified."

There was a fierce battle over the Taxes Bill. It was in vain for us to explain that the abolition of interest on arrears was a large concession, and that the land-tax of 9 dollars was no higher than the old poll-tax, since the education rate had been abolished. It was in vain that we promised that as soon as the country was out of debt we would consider a proposal of reduction. The majority had expected in a vague way that Parliament would reduce the individual taxes from £2 to £1 a man; and, had the country been out of debt, we should have been ready enough to recognise that their request was reasonable,—for direct taxation, vexatious to a Tongan as to a white man, is only defensible when it is light. But the Government knew that any reduction would mean a deficit in their Budget, unless Parliament would consent to abolish some half of the offices of the cumbrous Civil Service, and they declared their intention of resigning in a body if they were beaten. Then the aged Niukabu rose sobbing, and cried aloud, imploring the Premier not to act fakapapalagi (in white man's fashion). "We are all Tongans, not white men, therefore pity us and reduce our taxes." But the Ministry were obdurate, and Niukabu's sobs were drowned by those who dreaded a change of Ministry worse than taxes.

I had now been eleven months in Tonga, the greater part of my Code had become law, and the remainder was certain to be passed without alteration: the Ministry had the confidence of Parliament, and there was a sufficient page 282balance in the Treasury to meet all immediate liabilities, after paying off two instalments of the debt to Civil servants for arrears of pay. My work was done: there remained only the printing of the Code, and this I was to superintend in Auckland. For the last five weeks I had been working the House at high pressure, for they were not accustomed to sit for six successive days in the week. It was time to leave them to finish the session after their own fashion. The last days before the arrival of the steamer were spent in leave-taking. The Privy Council met in order that I might take a formal leave of the king. I was spared any speech-making. The old man said a few words full of quiet dignity and regret that pleased me more than any elaborate and effusive thanks would have done. Later in the day a formal letter of thanks, signed in his tremulous handwriting, was brought to me. On the day of the steamer's arrival a message was conveyed to me that my presence in the House was not desired. During the course of the morning Nuku, now converted into an ardent supporter of the present Ministry, by his threatened impeachment, and by a term of imprisonment for a civil offence, appeared in correct parliamentary attire, and presented me with an address of thanks. He added a message that the House was waiting to receive me. I went first to say farewell to the king, for whom I, in common with every one who knew him well, felt a strong respect and affection. There was in this good-bye an added sadness, in that we both knew that we should never meet again. "May God guard you!" he said, as we shook hands. "Who knows whether we shall meet again, tama? but I think not, for my time is near."

As I passed the gates he was still standing in the sun looking after me. I never saw him again, for eighteen months later he was carried to the Malaekula, full of days and honour, wanting but four years to complete a century of life.

In the House every member was in his place. As soon as I had taken my seat Tungi left the chair and came to the table. He had, he said, been deputed by the House to tender to me the thanks of the chiefs and people of Tonga, and to ask me to accept from them a memento of my sojourn among them. At the end of his speech he put a heavy bag into my hands. In my reply I explained that the rules of my service forbade me to accept any present from them, and that for doing no more than was required of him no man was entitled to reward. Instead of so valuable a present, I begged them to give me something of little value to remind me of them when I was far away, —whose value should lie in the associations that clung to it instead of in its intrinsic worth; for I should prize such a present even more highly, in that it would not carry with it the discharge of an obligation. I afterwards found that, despite my representations, they had asked the High Commissioner to present me on their behalf with a beautiful service of plate, a gift that I shall always prize the more that it was sent after I had left them, and any temporary heat of enthusiasm had had time to flame out, leaving a steady warmth of feeling behind it.

As I spoke of the vicissitudes of life that throw men into close companionship for a common work, and then separates them, perhaps for ever, I saw that they as well page 284as I were overcome with emotion. It was hard to part with men who had been such staunch comrades in a hard fight, knowing that in the ordinary course of the world I should never see them again.

The king's band had meanwhile assembled outside the House, struck up a march as we came out, and I found myself the centre of a procession led by the band, and followed by all the members of Parliament. The third whistle had long sounded, and the steamer began to cast off as I said my last good-bye. The propeller churned the sleepy water into foam, we glided seawards, and in a few moments the faces became indistinct, and faded into a confusion of waving draperies,—fainter and fainter, till the low shore grew grey and woolly, merged into a cloud-bank, and disappeared, We were alone in the Pacific, bound for the great world, and all the brief turmoil of Tonga and its turgid politics slid into a pleasant memory as unreal as the clouds that hung over the spot on the horizon where it had vanished.