The British Consulate
pp. 49-51 · Read in the full issue
On Tahiti
A NTEDATING by ten years the ap pointment by foreign governments of other consuls for the group, Captain Chanton, domiciled at the Hawaiian Is lands, led the way. In 1825 Great Britain saw the need in both places and named Charlton as its representative “for the Georgian and Sandwich Islands.”
The present day misnomer of the for mer was unknown in London. Tne Foreign Office had on file the Reports of both Wallis and Cook. To Wallis (1767) the Sous-le-Vents were unknown: it fell to Cook (1769) to first learn of them, and upon them he bestowed the name of Society Islands, after the Royal Society, which had given him whole-hearted sup port. They lie a full hundred miles away from Tahiti, and were whoLy indepen dent entities. Time and politics have brought about the change of name.
It was not till 1835 that the U.S.A. decided to follow the lead of Britain, and flhed the post in Tahiti with the Belgian, Moerenhout. These two men, in addition to their official position were a.so alike as the pioneer “rum-runners’’ of the South Pacific, defying Tahitian Laws and Orders, and both lost their posts in the main for that same cause.
Complaints oft and loud were made by the Tahitian authorities to both London and Washington. To London was added the complaint of the long absences of Charlton; he came when it suited him.
London saw the need of change, and Hawaii and Tahiti became separate juris dictions. T. Elley, a local British resi dent, had acted as Vice-Consul since 1826 and was anxious to withdraw; he had had enough.
In February, 1837, whilst William IV. was King, George Pritchard received the appointment of Consul. This is not the time to deal with his stormy career; but as to his removal in 1844 the fact should be better known that the British Govern ment were very far from being dis pleased with him. Thus they wrote to h.m; “Par from wishing to express any disapprobation of your conduct, it would be more conducive to your own comforts as well as to the good understanding between Great Britain and France that you should be replaced by some person who had been in no way connected with the transactions which have taken place within the last two years.” (Command Papers, No. 173). He went to Samoa.
He, like Charlton, had been acting in a dual consulship; the Sandwich Islands had been dropped, but the Friendly Is lands had taken their place. Years later, Tahiti stood alone.
It is strange, but true, that there is no list of succeeding Consuls for Tahiti to be found in the Consulate records, nOF te there any to be found in British Governmental publications, where such should be. A request for this desired information has now gone forward to the Foreign Office, in the confident belief that it will meet with the usual courtesy of
that office. Till then, it would be leading nowhere to give a few scattered names covering the century since Pritchard’s appointment, none of whom seem to have done more than faithfully to c?,rry out their duties. Once obtained, the list will be given publicity to a larger public than Tahiti and so complete this sketch of the Consuls themselves. !r T , HE Consulate site has a history of * its own. It was in 1818, when the second. Pomare ruled the island, that the L.M.S. decided to open a mission station in the fast developing new town of Pa peete. It fell to the missionary W. P.
Crook to see the matter through. He had arrived on the Duff in 1797, had been left alone on the Marquesas that same year, where he remained for nigh two
years, then revisited England. But the call of the South Sea was upon him, and in 1816 he reached Tahiti’s nighbouring isle, Moorea. Pomare had lately declared for Christianity as the religion of his kingdom, and had domiciled himself at Papeete. There was need of a new centre and it fell to Crook to see it done.
What has confused many searchers is the mention of Wilks’ Harbour as the scene of his work. The two names are synonymous. The L.M.S. men had the habit of giving names of their leaders ai Home to the places where they were stationed, creating villages at times into towns Waugh Town, Roby Town, Haweis Town, to name a few. Wilks was honoured with a harbour. He is often confused with the American Commodore
Wilkes; but the man was one of the founders of the L.M.S., and the minister of the Tabernacle, Moorfields, London.
Every man must have his home, and Crook evidently wished to be on the safe side for his family. He had plenty of confidence, but took no chances, so he built his residence aloft on the mountain side, back of the developing settlement, where now the Semaphore and the Train ing School for native pastors stand. His correspondence is written from “Mount Hope, Wilks’ Harbour.” Brother Eliis
evidently did not like the long climb, but puts it mildly: “Inconvenient on account of its distance from the settle ment.”
For his church, Crook secured a fine stretch of waterfront property at the southern end of the little town, away from its northern end, where the old time Nanu had stood, and where settle ment was thickest. The land was on the Paofai strip running back to the hills, and it is yet unproved who was the donor —whether the King, or the High Chief Paofai—for Pomare, like other chiefs, had portions of property in other strips than his own, of Vaiete. Be that as it may, it was ample for its purpose.
There soon rose, in order as follows, a native church, with spacious church yard; a commodious pastor’s residence, in its own ground; another for visiting brethren, in its own ground; next to it, the printing office, also in its own ground; and finished with a plot, as a cemetery for the faithful.
So things remained till, in 1837, Queen Pomare decided that there must be a separate home for the British Consul, who was then living in the brethren’s residence. She solved the problem in quick order. The large and unused churchyard was the site, lying between the church and the main residence.
There the Consulate stands to-day, hard by the pastor, but a road divides it from the native church. Consul Pritchard thought that the site had been given personally to him and, on leaving, sought to sell it to the Home Government, but the Queen quickly undeceived him: She had given it to the nation which had done so much for her people. It was British soil, and to it she fled in her day of distress: it is British soil to-day, and we of to-day have pride in our home.
That land has been British soil for just a century. Its buildings, however, have seen much change. The present charming bungalow and neat office is but four years old, raised by orders from Home, and supervised with meticulous care by Dr. and Mrs. Williams. Alike with it, the native church has been in builders’ hands; but the pastor’s residence has an
The Residence, British Consulate, Tahiti.
age-long look, and one hopes that it may so remain.
The rest of this valuable property was forced out 1 of church hands; but that is another and grievous story, which fully documented may be read some day. It was a fiercely “raw deal” and does credit to none. Haply, we have our home to-day, and a most worthy occupant; which is all that the above short summary of his torical facts requires to complete, for those who fain would know, a side glimpse into Tahiti’s past.