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A.—3B

King Togia then said, —I am very glad to meet the chiefs from New Zealand and the great country of Great Britain to-day. We thank God for having suffered us to meet together to-day. I wish to thank you on behalf of the chiefs of the island for this visit from the Ministers of New Zealand. We are glad that you have come to bind together the agreements that we have made in the past. There are eleven villages in the island, and there will be eleven chiefs to speak. We had previously arranged that only five of the chiefs should speak to-day, but seeing that such a number of chiefs have come from New Zealand we have decided that eleven should speak. That is all I have to say. My spokesman will say everything I have to say. Hon. Mr. Mills (to the interpreter) : Kindly ask them to speak as shortly as they can and to the point, as otherwise it will take too long. A great number of my friends are not used to sitting out in a tropical sun for so long a time. Let them select two of the chiefs for the purpose ; then if they omit any particular matter any one of the others can mention it, and my Secretary will record it. Pulekula, Native teacher, said, —We are the chiefs and the people of the Island of Niue, and we wish to speak to Mr. Mills, as Minister of New Zealand, and also the members of Parliament assembled here to-day. The Queen of Great Britain sent Mr. Thompson here to hoist the flag to protect this island. He was sent direct from London by the Imperial authorities. Governor Eanfurly also came, the Governor of New Zealand, and hoisted the British flag as an annexation flag, and the chiefs and the people at the time told the Governor that they wished to be connected with Great Britain. To-day we hear that Niue has been handed over to the control of the New Zealand Government. We do not quite understand Governor Eanfurly's message by letters and telegrams. In regard to the agreement made with the chiefs and people of Niue —we wished to be annexed to Great Britain, and not in any way to be connected with any part of her dominions. But now that the British Government has handed us over to New Zealand we wish to deal directly with New Zealand. We wish, I say, to have direct communication from Niue to New Zealand, and from New Zealand to Niue, and not to have any connection with Barotonga whatsoever. We wish to show you a few laws that were in existence on the island formerly. The liquor law is one thing—that is, that liquor should not be brought into the island ; this is the old law of Niue. Also, as regards the manufacture of liquor in these islands—orange-beer or pineapple-beer, similar to what is manufactured in Barotonga and other islands—this should not be allowed. We wish also that British residents in Niue shall be prohibited from taking liquor —both white Europeans and coloured Europeans. The next matter is the land laws. We do not wish any land sold. We wish that law to be made a permanent law —that land shall not be sold in Niue. Niue is a very small island. A portion of the land is utilised because it is good for planting food—taro and other vegetables. A great portion of the land, however, is useless rock, &c. ; it is useless for any purpose whatever. Another thing is that the Natives have great disputes with regard to the boundaries. They do not know exactly who owns the land. Then, in reference to the duties on goods brought here by Niue Natives; they go away to other islands and return again with passengers' luggage. We wish the duties reduced on these Natives' luggage. Likewise the duty on tobacco, which you have already spoken about; it is too heavy for the island. Another important matter is about horses ; horses imported into Niue are liable to a duty of £1 per head. Hon. Mr. Mills : Not from New Zealand ? Mr. Head : No ; he means from Tonga. Pulekula : We wish the £1 duty on horses to be set aside. This is the house we have built for the use of the resident sent here from New Zealand [pointing out the building]. All that timber has been supplied by the Natives, also the lime has all been supplied by the Natives. All the inhabitants of Niue have helped to build that house, and there are carpenters among them. All the people that did the bulk of the work wish the Government to grant them something as payment for their work. We also wish that a Niue man be appointed to look after the Government Treasury to see that all the money is properly disposed of. The law that was made in Earotonga with regard to trading licenses is another matter. Latterly we hear that the license does not apply to Natives. Does that exempt the Natives of Niue from paying a license fee ? Are we to understand that the Niue Natives are to be allowed to trade without paying for licenses ? Hon. Mr. Mills : I will have all the correspondence with reference to the matter looked up, and send you word as soon as possible about this. Pulekula : Then, I wish to say something with regard to the vessels that come here for labour. Do the captains of these labour-vessels pay the Government Agent any fee? Mr. Maxwell: Yes ; the last captain paid a fee of 2s. per man. That money, of course, went to the Treasury. Hon. Mr. Mills : They pay a fee of 2s. each for registration. Mr. Head : Pulekula refers, I think, to labour licenses. Hon. Mr. Mills : They have not been paying any licenses similar to what you refer to, but they have brought traders' licenses from Australia, from the Commonwealth, and this is one of the matters I intend to look into. Pulekula : Now, there is another thing —the Niue people leaving the island. Formerly they tried to stop this, but at the present time Natives are leaving in great numbers, and therefore the population of Niue is decreasing. The men that go as labourers are paid their advances in the presence of the Eesident Agent, and 4s. is stopped from the amount. They do not wish that money to be stopped. Hon. Mr. Mills : This is in accordance with the regulation passed by the Council. It will be for the Council to alter it. I understand that this law was drawn up by Mr. Percy Smith, and then passed by the Council. I understand that this law was passed so that those who took men away might be known, and would have to bring them back again ; but I think that nothing should be charged beyond what will pay for the clerical assistance needed.