Germany And
p. 67 · Read in the full issue
Tonga
Interesting Items of Forgotten History
Letter to the Editor.
SINCE 1918 the Tonga Government, in its official Almanac, has published under “Remarkable Days—November 8” the following item:— “Fakata-eaoga ae Talite Fe’ofa’ofani a Toga mo Jiamane i he Fanogonogo 1916” —which means that on November 8, 1916, the Treaty of Friendship be tween Tonga and Germany was abro gated.
Actually, this Treaty was cancelled by Article 4 of the Convention between Great Britain and Germany, signed in London on November 14, 1899, by which the German Emperor renounced, in favour of Great Britain, all the rights of Germany on the Tongan Islands, including the rights of extra-terri toriality in the said Islands.
The “Koe Boobooi” (first Tongan newspaper, printed by the Wesleyan Mis sion), published in the issue of Novem ber, 1877, the fact of the signing of a Treaty of Friendship between H.1.M., Emperor Wilhelm of Germany and King of Prussia, and H.M. King George Tubou of Tonga, which was signed and witnessed by the following:— Ernest Wilhelm Heinrich Hugo Edward Knorr, Commander of H.I.M.S. “Hortha”.
Theodor August Ludwig Weber, Ger man Consul for Samoa and Tonga.
Uiliami Tugi, Minister of Lands and Speaker of Parliament.
Rev. Shirley Waldemar Baker, of the Wesleyan Mission.
The Treaty was signed and sealed by H.M. King George Tubou I, of Tonga.
On January 6, 1879, the following decorations arrived from Germany:— The Insignia of the Red Eagle, Class 11, for H.M. King George Tubou I.
The Insignia of the Red Eagle, Class 111, for Prince Wellington Gu (grand son of George Tubou I).
The Insignia of the Red Eagle, Class IV, for Uiliami Tugi, Minister of Lands and Speaker in Parliament (grandfather of the present Prince Consort, U. Tugi).
A most elaborate, pearl-handled set of surgical instruments for Rev. Shirley Waldemar Baker, of the Wesleyan Mis sion.
On the subject of decorations, it may in terest readers of the P.I.M. to know that the late King George Tubou II received, in 1914, from the Sultan of Morocco, the Insignia of a Commander of the Star of Morocco; and also, in the same year, from the King of Italy, the In signia of a Chevalier of the Order of Peace (founded by Prince Sergim Or loff and at that time under the joint patronage of the Czar of Russia and the King of Italy). H.M. Queen Salote became, in 1935, Dame of the Order of the British Empire, and Prince Tugi was created 0.8. E. in 1937.
I am, etc., Haapai ,Tonga, F. T. GOEDICKE, March, 1938.
EDITORIAL NOTE: Mr. Goedicke is quite correct. The agreement made be tween Britain and Germany in 1899 supplied a clear definition of their inter ests in Samoa, Tonga and the Solo mons. Germany withdrew from Tonga, while the British renounced all claims to the northern Solomon islands of Bougainville and Buka. The latter be came part of the German colony of the Bismarck Archipelago, and that is why to-day they are part of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, instead of part of the Solomon Islands, to which, geographically, they belong.
The Germans, until the fateful August
of 1914, never lost their interest in Tonga, however. The writer was in Vavau on a ceremonial occasion in May, 1914, and the German flags on display that day easily outnumbered the Tongan and British flags together.
Hon. B. B. Perriman, M.L.C., of W. R.
Carpenter and Co. Ltd., arrived in Syd ney from Rabaul, New Guinea, by the “Nellore” on May 25. After 19 years in the Territory, he is now making his headquarters in Sydney, but will con tinue to make periodic visits to his Company’s N.G. branches.