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with Captain Hutton by the German naval officer as before mentioned. I saw the British Consul, Colonel Coetlo*gan, and complained to him of the orders that the Germans had issued, and spoke to him under the impression that he had received the original of the document or letter, as the German officer had previously stated to Captain Hutton. The British Consul assured me, however, in effect, that he had never received such a letter—that he knew nothing of it, and that he had received no notice whatever of the German orders of which I complained. The British Consul also told me to take no, notice of the document which had been handed to Captain Hutton by the German officer, but to go on doing my lawful business. The British Consul left the Consulate along with me, and on our way thence, to the best of my remembrance, or else very shortly afterwards, I noticed a native policeman, under German control, fastening some document to a coeoanuttree in the main road. As I had been some time at the British Consulate, this must have been a little after 8 o'clock. I called the British Consul's attention to what the native policeman was doing, and, having glanced at the document on the tree, I said to the British Consul that it was a Proclamation declaring Samoa to be in a state of war. The Proclamation was in English, and, to the best of my recollection and belief, the following, taken from The Samoa Times newspaper, of the 19th January, 1889, published in Apia, is a true copy of that Proclamation : — " ' PROCLAMATION. " ' By order of the Imperial German Government, I herewith proclaim the state of war for the Samoan Islands. Any assistance to the rebels will be punished by martial Jaw, irrespective of any nationality. The introduction of contraband of war is prohibited. All vessels and boats are liable to be searched by the German authorities. " ' The police of Apia henceforth will act under instructions from the Imperial German Government. The residents of Apia are requested to assist in keeping law and order. " ' Apia, 19th January, 1889.' " ' Dr. Knappe, Imperial German Consul. "The British Consul said that, as this document was in the nature of a public Proclamation, and as the Germans had therefore publicly proclaimed war, he would at once interview the German Consul, and that in the meanwhile we should have to respect the orders that had been issued. I then went off to the ' Richmond,' and when close alongside her I saw one of the armed German boats that had been on guard over her all night go up alongside a lighter, which was leaving the ' Richmond' with the first instalment of general cargo, and take possession of the lighter. I heard the man in charge of this lighter expostulating with the officer in charge of the armed. German boat, and then I saw the latter tow the lighter away and, still maintaining possession of her, take up a position close astern of the 'Richmond.' After some time I saw the owner of the lighter (Mr. H. J. Moors, an American citizen, resident at Samoa) go on board the American man-of-war ' Nipsic,' and then come back with the flag of the United States of America, which he hoisted upon his lighter. When that was done the Germans brought the lighter alongside the ' Richmond ' and made her fast to the 'Richmond.' Another attempt was then made by Moors's man to take the lighter to the shore, but she was again forcibly brought back by the Germans and made fast to the ' Richmond,' the American flag still flying upon the lighter. Mr. Moors, the consignee of the cargo, then gave me notice that under the circumstances he refused to take over the cargo, as lie objected to having his goods searched. All this time (that is to say, from 8 a.m.) the ' Richmond' had been flying the British ensign as well as our house flag. Some time after this we were told that, in consequence of the action of the captain of the American man-of-war ' Nipsio,' Mr. Moors would be allowed to land the goods with which his lighter was 'loaded at his own wharf, provided the lighter was first searched by the Germans, and that the goods need not go to the German wharf. The lighter, however, continued to lie astern of the ' Richmond,' under guard of an armed German boat, until between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon. About this time the German officer in charge of the boat said to me, ' My captain has given instructions that this lighter [indicating Mr. Moors's lighter! may land goods at Moors's wharf.' The lighter was accordingly taken away by Mr. Moors's people. Until this time the traders and consignees, except the German consignees, had declined to take delivery of any goods pending a settlement of the difficulty as to landing goods at their own wharves. The German authorities had previously given permission for the landing of the live-stock at the usual place, and this permission had accordingly been taken advantage of. This permission was strictly confined to live-stock. So far as the general cargo was concerned, the traders and consignees were intimidated by the German naval officers and crews of the guard-boats, and, having also witnessed the forcible detention of Mr. Moors's lighter, most of them refused to take delivery of any goods. They objected, they said, to the goods being searched by, or on behalf, or in the interests of the German mercantile house of Deutsche Handels und Plantagen Gesellschaft der Sudsee Inselrn zu Hamburg, who, they said, might use the information thus obtained for their own purposes, to the business detriment of the traders and consignees. They also objected to the consequent delay and expense. It was entirely from business considerations that they made these objections. I may explain chat the German wharf at the German harbour, where the goods were ordered to be landed, forms part of the private business premises of the above-named German firm ; and I also learned afterwards that arrangements had been made by the German authorities for this German firm's warehouseman, in company with a German officer, to search the goods as they landed. About 9 o'clock on this same morning of Saturday, the 19th January, 1889, I went to the German Consulate at Apia and saw the German Consul, Dr. Knappe. I protested to him against the action of the German authorities in relation to the ' Richmond' and her cargo. I told him, in effect, that the 'Richmond' was a subsidised mail-steamer carrying Her Britannic Majesty's mails, and that therefore we were bound to time in the matter of arriving at our various ports of call ;.that the delay we were being put to was throwing us out of our time ; that it was entailing great expense on us ; that the traders for Whom we had brought goods and the consignees refused to take delivery of any goods because the German authorities insisted that the goods should first be landed at the German wharf and be subjected to search by the German authorities. Also I asked the German Consul for his reasons for subjecting our cargo to this search. The German 2—A. 1.