Addenda By W. W. Bolton

TO complete the story, now first given to the general public through the publication of Mr. J. L. Young’s manuscript, it may be of interest to men tion various additional facts which in the main are to be found in the obscure and now rare weekly newspaper of Papeete in its issues of that day. “The Messager de

Tahiti” came to an end in 1880. It Is strange that this news-sheet should have escaped the attention of the author of the MS., who lived for years in the town.

The following items deal with many aspects of the life of a remarkable man, a born organiser who was known locally as “Big William”, not alone for his fine physique but that, for Tahitians, all he did was on a colossal scale, stupendous.

An Official Visit MENTION has been made of an offi cial visit.

There was another visit paid by a large party of guests a year later, who in their report, express their astonish ment at all they saw and at the bound less and overwhelming hospitality of their host during many days. They dwell on “this vast Estate”: “the astounding suc cess after only four years”, and at seeing “an establishment on so vast a scale functioning with such calm, such order, full proof of superb direction”.

They seem to have been specially at tracted by the Chinamen’s Village: “a small town, two clubs where they dance, and a theatre for their plays. Always keen to make his workers happy, he per mits each Chinese who behaves himself well a house where he can live alone. It is his home. This favour is highly prized, the number of separate dwellings grows yearly”. Prom Taharini Valley the labourers were allowed to cut timber to make rafts on which to disport them selves in the lagoon.

Their host won th,eir hearts for they thus conclude: “Calumniators before taking up the pen should go and see for themselves, taking note of the work, and they would certainly blush at the very idea of wronging an establishment which does hpnour to him who created it”.

Stewart was given the honour of a spe cial visit by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1869, amid all the pressing engagements of the Prince, who must needs see the amazing estate. Later on. we come across an advertisement inviting cargo for his vessel “The Prince Alfred”: he re turned the visit in the only way he could.

The Countess de la Ronciere THE cordial friendship between the Roncieres and Stewart gave free play to the evilminded, It crushed the woman; she could stand no more.

An official notice appears reading that the Countess had left Tahiti “in a poor state of health” and quite “unable to bid adieu to her friends”: and the Imperial Judge Jocolliot reports that before a year was out she died at her residence in Paris, demanding an enquiry by the Gov ernment to kill the calumny, but which was bluntly denied her. The Roncieres’ enemies were strong at Home.

The departure of the Count himself, did not, as the MS. shows, end the bit ter hounding of Stewart. There were still nigh fours years more for him.

Once only does he appear to have hit

back, but here again he lost out. He had been summoned to attend the Court (for a case not named) and had replied by letter refusing either to attend or be rep resented. In December, 1870, the matter was brought to the attention of the Su perior Court, when the charge was made that “the said Stewart refuses to acknow ledge in the said functionaries and mag istrates the powers they claim, and pro tests their decisions and th,eir judgments”.

He was fined and the costs were his to pay. 111-will of Catholic Mission THE ill-will of the Catholic Mission to wards the Count —which reacted upon Stewart—was the result of his report sent home as to the iniquitous and in human conduct of Father Laval and his assistants at Mangareva (Gambier Is lands). The French Parliament took up the matter and demanded the banish ment of Laval from the Gambier Group, which was duly carried out, the man be ing retired to Papeete where he died in 1880.

The tract of land which Stewart ac quired was owned in the main by the Vai-raa-to people and those allied to them through marriage. Throughout 1864 and 1865 there are to be seen in the lit tle newspaper of Papeete long lists of those giving the required legal notice of their purpose to sell to Stewart, and among them appear the names of Royalty, two sons of Queen Pomare —Ariiaue and Tamatoa —both wishing to have “a finger in the pie” of ready cash. Not only the land was pur chased but all the cattle browsing on the plots: they would help keep down the verdure and fed his army of labourers.

There appears later on, a portion of the Annual Report for 1867 of the Company, issued from London, giving two items: “Land costs 750,000 francs”: “Improve ments 1,671,415 francs”. Stewart appears on the Board of Directors but not Soares who was appointed later, acting at first only as general manager.

Introduction of Chinese SINCE the introduction of Chinese to Tahiti by Stewart, they have increas ed and multiplied till to some they appear as a menace to the community.

Be that as it may, there are many who are the direct descendants of these pion eers. There are still Gilbert Islanders resident in Tahiti under the name of the Arurai, after Hope Island, in that group, from whence their progenitors mostly came.

Stewart’s Misfortunes THE statement made as to the dissat isfaction of some as to the price Stewart had paid them for their land —in fact, that they had been duped— lends strength to the local belief that they placed a curse upon the estate. And the seouel may well be said to sunport th,at belief, not alone in the case of Stew art himself, but that every subsequent attempt, to this day, to revive the area has ended in disastrous failure.

The years 1870 to 1873, which latter year saw Stewart’s end, had been far more cruel years for him than the brief summary nf the MS. colour to.

Herewith : the blows, as the little news paper reports them: Owen and Graham (Stewart’s bankers in Auckland) seek to recover and send up J. E. Brown in 1870 as their Attor ney. J. E. Brown was a New Zealander, by profession a book-keeper, who went later to the Marauesas to act in that capacity for Captain Hart (once Commo dore of Stewart’s fleet) who had cotton interests there. Stewart sees his hereto

fore unencumbered creation plastered with a mortgage “dated May 10, 1871”. His undisputed supremacy becomes a tem porary managership “for our account”, cn September 22, 1872.

Next, this is taken from him, and J.

E. Brown appointed on January 31, 1873.

His full rule is restored, Owen and Gra ham “having renounced th,e mortgage” on March 28, 1873. It was but a flash in the pan, for the shareholders step in.

“By a Writ of Ref ere, Mr. John Ed ward Brown acting in the name of and as Attorney for the Tahiti Cotton and Coffee Plantation Ltd., has been placed in charge of the administration of the said Company’s Estates in place and in stead of Mr. William Stewart”.—June 17, 1873. He now is wholly out of it.

Then came the final blow—the order of the Court declaring him, personally, a bankrupt was rendered on Septemb3r 23, and on the 24th he died of a violent haemorrhage.

The following obituary notice appeared in the issue of the local sheet for Sep tember 26: — “Mr. William Stewart succumbed on the evening of the day before yesterday, to the onslaught of a prolonged and cruel illness. He was the first European to introduce the culture of cotton to the colony, the development of which is a source of prosperity and riches to the country: and throughout the course of his management he attempted by every means possible to encourage both com merce and agriculture on Tahiti. Such are the rights of Mr. Stewart to th,e regrets of both the European and native

a . n u w , ith , such regrets will not be lacking .

Where He Is Buried A S Wh8 a t e lie the remains of Mr.

SX William Stewart to-day, there is need for correction of the MS. His first was Mataiea > Jut near his residence at Atimaono. When the es-

tate had been liquidated, and the land opened for sale to the public in 1875 his widow removed his bones to the property however, to the ‘^plot” R where a he? a fathjer and mother were placed in a four-square mausoleum (still standing, but now empty) but across the highway dividing the property: “between the main road and

the sea”, which lies but a short distance away.

William Stewart’s widow was one of the several daughters of Andrew Gibson, a highly esteemed English merchant in Papeete, and his Tahitian wife, Moehauti a Pupa. Stewart held him in the high est regard, for when he died (February, 1569) and his body was taken to the family property of his wife at Mataiea for burial, his friend had his small army of employees* line both sides of the high way as the cortege passed the estate.

Years later, when the Pupa property was sold, Gibson’s body and that of his wife were removed to Papeete’s picturesque cemetery “Pauranie”, where his epitaph reads in both native and English:—“A good name is better than great riches”.

“Moaroa” Tragedy WHILST the MS. account of the tragedy of the “Moaroa” is largely in accurate. owing to its being gather ed together piecemeal, its opening para graph is valuable as giving the reason for Lattin’s presence as a “passenger” aboard, as also is its concluding para graph as giving the fate of the natives, both of which items were unknown to the second mate, and so completes the story.

Authorship of MS, THERE is considerable difference of opinion as to the authorship of the MS.

Those who claim it as the work of W.

J. Stuart, who was employed by William Stewart as a highly efficient engineer, are met with certain statements in the major latter half which could not possibly have come from his pen, e.g. (1) The owner ship by the writer of one-fifth of the es tate which is recorded under the name of J. L. Young: (2) The arrival of the writer on Tahiti, years after—not before —the death, of Stewart. The best solution would appear to be that W. J. Stuart wrote as far as the first mention of Wil liam Stewart’s death: and J. L. Young, securing the MS. from his aged friend, who ended his days in Papeete, added the remainder, striking off a limited num ber of typed copies for his particular friends with “attached photograph” of the man whom he, like others, had never seen.