PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
C.O. 885/5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
168
No. 56α.
EXTRACT of REPORT on the CONDITION of the SAMOAN ISLANDS by MR. J. B. THURSTON (British Commissioner).
ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER J. B. THURSTON, C.M.G. (WESTERN PACIFIC), to the RIGHT HON. EDWARD STANHOPE, M.P. (Received December 6, 1886.)
SIR,
High Commissioner's Office, Western Pacific, Suva, Fiji, October 1, 1886.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that, in pursuance with instructions received oy me upon the 16th August, I embarked for Samoa in H.M.S." Miranda" 20th August, and arrived there upon the 24th of that month.
upon the
2. My instructions directed me to:-
(1.) Make a thorough examination into the condition of the Samoan Islands, and of the causes of the late disorders there, with a view of discovering a remedy against their re-occurrence; and
(2.) Devise in concert with the American and German Commissioners, whom I should meet at Samoa, means of promoting the autonomy and peaceful government of the Islands by the native authority.
3. I was further instructed that the present neutral status of the Samoan Islands would be maintained by the joint influence of the three Treaty Powers, that is to say, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States of America, each continuing to exclude from consideration questions of annexation or individual predominance.
4. Upon the points indicated I have made careful inquiry, and have now the honour of transmitting my report for the information of Her Majesty's Government.
The Right Hon. Edward Stanhope,
&c.
&c.
&c.,
Secretary of State for the Colonies.
I have, &c., (Signed)
JOHN B. THURSTON.
169
10. A large extent of the coast of Savaii is formed of high and unapproachable basaltic cliffs, against which the sea breaks heavily.
11. The island of Upolu, which lies 10 miles east of Savaii, is the next in size. contains approximately an area of 169,984 acres, and reaches an altitude of about It 2,500 feet.
The island, in many places rising from the sea in gradually sloping plains or undulating hills with intervening valleys, presents attractions which in a great measure are absent from Savaii.
12. The soil, though highly fertile, is, for the most part, stony; little or no part of it could be cultivated with the plough or similar agricultural implements. Streams are No rivers exist of sufficient size to be accessible to anything larger than
numerous.
boats, and then only at the spot where such rivers enter the sea.
13. There are no perfectly sheltered harbours in Upolu. The so-called harbours of · Apia and Saluafuta upon the north coast are mere anchorages of restricted area, affording, however, convenient shelter from the easterly trade winds.
14. In the hurricane seasons, i.e., the months of December, January, February, and March, these anchorages, being open to the north, are exposed to the full fury of the cyclonic storms, which almost annually traverse this region, and blow most heavily from that direction.
Ships often drive ashore, where they
15. Upon such occasions great losses occur. break upon the coral reef. Sometimes they go down at their anchors.
16. Next, eastward of Upolu, lies the small island of Tutuila, containing an area of about 24,998 acres, and ascending to an altitude of 2,000 feet.
17. Its soil, also, is highly fertile.
18. The Manua islands lie eastward of Tutuila, a distance of 60 miles. They are three in number, and of small area. The largest of them rises, in the form of a cone, to a height of 2,500 feet.
19. These islands are properly classed with the Samoan Group; but, beyond language and origin, the people have little in common with the two large islands, and take no permanent or practical part in their politics.
20. The islets of Manono, Apoluna, Olosiga, and Ofú require no special notice. They are small and unimportant. Their population is included below with the larger islands, with which they are by nature associated.
21. The following is a résumé of the approximate area and population of the islands described :-
EXTRACT of REPORT upon the CONDITION of the SAMOAN ISLANDS.
A REPORT upon the present condition of the Samoan Islands, and upon the chronic state of unrest which forms the leading feature of their local politics, would be incom- plete without a review of the geographical situation of the group and its previous history.
2. For without a proper understanding of the relations which the islands bear to the not distant British Colonies of Australasia, of the commercial value rightly or wrongly attached to them, of their convenience as a port of call by Trans-Pacific mail steamers, and of their alleged strategic value in the event of war between England and any of the other great naval powers, the most potent factors in the production of recent events cannot be adequately appreciated.
3. The group known as Samoa, or the Navigators Islands, lies in a mean latitude of 13° 50′ South; and extends from 170° 30′ to 173° West Longitude.
4. The largest island of the group is Savaii, which attains an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet, and contains an approximate area of 325,440 acres.
5. The island is of the recent volcanic formation observable in many other parts of the Pacific. A large proportion of its surface consists of basalt rock, loose boulders of scoria, and other igneous débris.
6. Such parts of the island are described as unfit for profitable agricultural purposes.
7. The remaining part of the island consists of rich but stony soil.
It is covered with luxuriant forest, and is probably capable of growing such tropical productions as do not require for their perfection a more nearly equatorial temperature.
8. Savaii contains no rivers and but few streams. It possesses no actual harbour
whatever.
9. Anchorage may be found in several roadsteads, but though affording some shelter from easterly winds, they are suitable only for local trading vessels.
Name.
Population.
Square Miles.
Acres.
1.
Savaii
13,000
657
2.
Upolu
16,000
341
(including Manono.)
420,480 218,240
3.
Tutuila
3,500
50
32,000
Total
32,500
1,048
670,720
22. The distance from Auckland, in New Zealand, to Samoa is only 1,600 miles, and
the island of Tutuils, referred to above, lies directly in the track taken by the Trans- Pacific steamers running between the Australasian colonies and San Francisco or Vancouver's Island, via Hawaii.
23. Turning now to the commercial element of the subject under consideration, regarded in connexion with the causes which have lately led up to recent events in Samoa, it is necessary to look back over a period of 30 years.
24. Prior to 1856, it cannot be said that commerce had any well-marked existence
at Samoa, although the islands had been occasionally resorted to by whalers and trading vessels, chiefly from Sydney and Hobart.
25. There were, however, even then, two British resident traders and one American at Apia, doing a certain amount of trade with the Colonies and with ships passing between California and Australia.
26. So far back as the year 1845 a British Consul had been appointed to reside at Samoa. It was also the residence of an American consular officer.
27. About the year 1857 the powerful and well-known firm of Messrs. Godeffroy, of Hamburg, established themselves at Apia, making that place the base of their operations in other parts of the Pacific Ocean.
28. In the month of April 1877 there is reason to suppose that the Consular and Naval Representatives of the German Government were negotiating with the native Dd 2