A.—3

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9. When the House of the people meets for regular session, one of its members shall be elected Chairman for the whole year. 10. The place of meeting of the House of the people shall be the Parliament House in Avarua, subject to consent of the Federal Parliament. 11. The House of the Arikis shall meet in such place and at such times as the three ruling Arikis may direct. 12. The work of the Rarotonga Council will be to maintain order and peace, and do all that may be necessary for the good of the whole island. But each Ariki will, as heretofore, rule within her own district. 13. The decision of the majority of the Council shall bind the whole Council. The decision of a majority of the Arikis in the House of Arikis shall also bind the whole. 14. The first elections for members of the people shall take place at such time and in such manner, on or before the 14th October, 1893, as the House of Arikis may direct. 15. The Government. —The Government o£ Rarotonga shall consist of the Arikis. The Ariki who is to convene the Government or sign papers and documents for the Government is the Ariki of Arorangi. 16. If any Ariki desires that the Government should be called together, it shall be called together accordingly within five days of notice of such desire having been given. Dated at Avarua, this 22nd September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three. Approved. To come into operation forthwith. Frederick J. Moss, British Resident.—22nd September, 1893.

(No. 9.) Mr. F. J. Moss to His Excellency the Governob, My Lobd, — British Residency, Rarotonga, 13th November, 1893. I have the honour to inform your Excellency that I returned to Rarotonga on the Ist November, having been away nearly five weeks, instead of the two or three weeks as anticipated. The detention was fortunate, as it enabled me to deal, in all the islands, with the administration of justice, and to place it on a sounder foundation. 2. The system so long in existence, which gave the Judges and police the power of dividing all fees and fines of Court among themselves as their only official pay, after setting aside a proportion for the Arikis and Mataiapos, who were thus involved in its meshes, has been fully referred to by me in previous despatches. I need only say that increased experience has deepened my conviction that there could be no hope of progress with the widespread demoralisation which the system produced. Officials of all kinds become chiefly extorters of money, or of moneys worth, and the people not only suffer grievous oppression but lose all heart in its resistance. 3. Mangaia—at which I first called—is an exceptionally strong illustration. In it the original system has always been most rigidly enforced, and the authority of the police most strenuously upheld. Being delayed there for ten days, the opportunity was favourable, and I am glad to say that I induced the local Council, after a hard struggle, to pass an Act reducing the police to twelve men, paying them and the Judges from the Federal subsidy, and appropriating all future fines and fees of Court to the public revenue. The remainder of the police thus disbanded number no less than 143. Most of them are men of influence, and all of them are church members, and they will be likely to give some trouble yet before settling in their new position, and accepting as final the loss of power and of the privileges which attend it. That they will ultimately settle down and apply themselves to coffee-planting and other useful pursuits I entertain no doubt; but no possible evil resulting from their disbandment can be so great as the mere existence of this arbitrary and irresponsible body of 155 men in a population of little more than 2,000, which is that of Mangaia—men, women, and children all told. In maintaining the new law the local Government will be supported by the body of the people, and they most likely will find able leaders from among the better-disposed and more intelligent of the old police, many of whom perceive and admit readily the mischiefs of the old system. 4. At Mauke, Mitiaro, and Atiu similar reductions in number and similar appropriations of the fines and fees to public revenue were much more easily effected. The action taken by Mangaia was accepted as a precedent, and similar laws were passed in these islands. 5. At Aitutaki the difficulty was nearly as great as in Mangaia, though for different reasons. The system had long been much relaxed by the resident missionary (Mr. Lawrence) at Aitutaki, and the people were not under the terrorism that so strikingly prevailed at Mangaia. But their Arikis had quite lost their hold upon the people ; and the struggle for power, and for the police privileges which followed, was creating much bitterness and confusion. A proposition to form the Arikis into a separate House (as recently done in Rarotonga) was rejected almost unanimously. They were satisfied with the existing constitution of their Council, and finally agreed to reduce their police to twelve, to pay them from the Federal subsidies, and to appropriate fees and fines to public revenue. 6. I have returned well content with the work done, and with strong hope of its striking a heavy blow at the corruption in official life which under the old system was inevitable where Maoris, as a rule, were concerned. The Judges and the police will no longer have any interest in the imposition of fines, and in the seizure of articles of all kinds to enforce payment in the most extortionate and arbitrary way. Crime, in the legal sense, is very rare in all these islands. The offences of which these police take cognisance are almost exclusively against the moral law. A very wide field is not only thus opened for their exactions, but the moral sense of the whole people is blunted by unceasing espionage, by a total absence of security from intrusion at all hours of the night or day, and by the fullest publicity being given to every breach of morality. Nor can it be doubted that among the police themselves were a large number that required quite as much looking after as the people in whose affairs they so actively meddled. I have, &c, Fbedeeick J. Moss, British Resident. His Excellency the Earl of Glasgow, G.C.M.G., Governor of New Zealand.

[Translation.] No. 4, 1891.—Fob electing the Au. 1. There shall be an Au in each of the districts of Avarua, Arorangi, and Takitumu, whose duty it will be to look after the roads and public works, and maintain order in the district. 2. The Au shall consist of the Arikis of. the district with two members elected by the Mataiapos, two by the rangatiras, and two by the rest of the people. The first election shall take place on the passing of this law, and elections in all future years on the Ist June ; if that be Sunday, the following day shall be the day of election. 3. When elected, their names shall be sent to the Ariki, who will call them together at such time and as often as the said Ariki may consider necessary. 4. The Au may impose penalties not exceeding 20 dollars for the breach of any law made by them, and approved by the British Resident. 5. The Au may raui cocoanuts or produce when they consider such raui for the publio good, but it will not be valid unless approved by the British Resident, and its terms aud duration made publicly known. 6. The Court of the district will enforce the laws made by the Au, and levy the penalties for their nonobservance. 7. The Au is empowered to levy dues for vessels using the moorings and wharves in any harbour in its districts, and to appropriate the same to the Ariki of the district. No new moorings shall be laid down nor wharves built without the written consent of the Ariki being previously obtained. This law will come into force on the Bth day of July, 1891.