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Consul answered that he believed that quantities of contraband of war were concealed on board the.kßichmond.' I asked him, ' What contraband of war ?' He replied,' Ammunition.' I inquired what reasons he had for his belief. He told me that the fact had been reported to him by the Premier of Samoa —that is to say, by Mr. Brandeis, a German, who acts as Premier for Tamasese, one of the two rival kings of Samoa. The German Consul also told me it was stated that on the previous voyage of the 'Richmond' there had been landed from her 27,000 rounds of ammunition, in twenty-seven kegs purporting to contain beef; that these cartridges were concealed in tin cylinders containing a thousand cartridges each; and that he had seen some of these cylinders, and had had them in his possession. I asked him how he could connect these cylinders with the ' Richmond's ' cargo. He answered that it was simply general report, and that it was known all along the beach that the cylinders had come from the ' Richmond;' but, at the same time, he expressed his belief that they had been brought entirely without any knowledge or sanction on the part of us the owners of the vessel; that he believed the ammunition had been transhipped to us as freight from Australia without our knowing it really was ammunition ; but, nevertheless, he was convinced that the thing had been done. 1 then asked the German Consul to try and arrange matters so that we might have our cargo discharged, and get away ; and, to facilitate matters and to enable us to take our departure, I consented to land all our goods we had brought on freight at the German wharf at our own expense, intending that the traders should then come and take delivery of them. As already stated, very little of the cargo belonged to consignees ;on the contrary, nearly the whole of it had been shipped by ourselves, and belonged to our own firm of Donald and Edenborough, and was taken down by us to Samoa to fulfil orders given us by the local traders. It was part of our engagement with the traders to deliver the goods over to them in perfect order and condition, the packages sound and unbroken, and free of expense, at the ship's tackles. The goods, therefore, belong to us until we deliver them to the traders over the ship's side. I told the German Consul that, as to the consigned goods not belonging to our firm, which I could not guarantee did not contain contraband of war, I would undertake to land them at my own expense at the German wharf, leaving the consignees to. take delivery there. So far as our own goods were concerned, I offered to give a guaranteed bond that they concealed nothing contraband of war. The German Consul seemed inclined to entertain this proposal, and asked if I would give a large bond. I answered that I would give whatever was required in reason. The German Consul told me to go and bring the ship's manifest to him, and that he would then go through it with the captain. He also said that he did not suspect our own goods to conceal or contain contraband of war, but that he was in doubt regarding the consigned goods. I then left the German Consul to go to the ' Richmond ' for the manifest. On my way I was met by a German man-of-war boat, the officer of which said to me, ' It is the Commandant's orders to remove the "Richmond" to the small harbour [pointing to the German harbour] and anchor her there.' I inquired, ' What part of the harbour are we to go to ? ' The officer replied, 'It will be pointed out to you,' pointing, as he said so, to a place immediately astern of His Imperial German Majesty's warship ' Adler.' I then said to the officer, ' You will have to go to the captain ; I have nothing to do with the shifting of the vessel.' He asked where the captain was. I replied that he was at the British Consulate. I then proceeded to the British Consulate, found Captain Hutton there, and returned with him to the ' Richmond,' where we procured the ship's papers, including the manifest, repaired with them to the German Consulate, and handed them over to the German Consul. It then transpired that the German Consul was now disinclined to accept my previous offer respecting the landing of goods, and he told me that the captain of the German man-of-war ' Adler' thought that the whole of the goods ought to be searched. I asked if, instead of having the goods brought to the German wharf in order to be searched, he would send an officc;r to the ' Richmond' to see the cargo, package by package, as it went over the ship's side, and I promised that every facility should be given for such an inspection. The Consul replied that he himself had also put such a suggestion before the captain of the ' Adler,' who, however, did not think it was a proper one, and that, therefore, the search of the goods would have to go on in the way that had been previously determined. I then warned the German Consul that we should have a claim against the German authorities for the detention of our vessel and for damage to the cargo. He told me, in reply, to send in a claim for any delay or damage to the cargo which we could prove. I asked to whom we should send such a claim, but at first he would not say. Finally, he said the German Government would pay all damages. I asked him to write me to that effect, but he neither assented nor refused. Then I offered to make the bond I had previously tendered up to a penalty of $10,000, but he said that he was determined on his course and would take no bond : the cargo must be searched. He said that the power had gone out of his hands, and he led me to understand that it was the Commandant's decision. Captain Hutton and I then left the German Consulate. I proceeded to call upon the various traders and consignees, and I told them that I had failed in my endeavours to get the goods on shore. Just before 4 p.m. on this Saturday, the 19th of January, I returned to the ' Richmond,' in obedience to a signal from the captain. To my surprise I found the vessel in possession of an armed party of German men-of-war sailors, under the command of an officer from His Imperial Majesty's ship-of-war ' Adler.' This armed party had come onboard the 'Richmond' without any notice, and entirely without any leave, license, or permission from Captain Hutton or any of his officers or myself. I went forward and down the fore-hatchway into the ' Richmond's' hold, and there I saw some German men-of-war sailors, fully ataied, and engaged, under the direction of an armed officer, in searching the cargo and breaking open packages. lat once expostulated with the officer upon this conduct. He told me they would do as little damage a* possible, and that we would be recompensed for any damage, but that his orders were to make a thorough search, and he insisted upon doing so. The officer asked for an auger in order to bore, holes in some kegs of beef, &c, and an auger was accordingly brought and passed clown to him. .With this auger the German sailors bored, in