Parliament Adjourned to Watch Tonga's

Fascinating Memories of a Turbulent Phase of Tongan History Parliament Adjourned to Watch Tonga's First Lawyer at Work

By J. D. Whitcombe, Now Living in Auckland

In 1890 the then Crown Prince of Tonga, George Taufa’ahau, was living with the Shirley Baker family in Symonds Street, Auckland, and my father was his English tutor.

Taufa’ahau became so attached to my father that he did not want to return to his native kingdom unless we went with him.

It was then that the Tongan Government, of whom the Rev.

Shirley Baker was Premier, offered father the position of Prin cipal of the Tubou College, and Special European Magistrate.

ND so it was we sailed for Tonga in the SS Wainui, one day in July, 1890. 7e arrived at the Nukualofa irf at 1 a.m. on July 8 to find selves taking part in a little bit history. Two British men-o-war, :S Rapid and HMS Egeria, were port, and a boat which soon put to us from the Rapid brought startling news. ir John Thurston, the se ed “Pooh Bah of the Pacific”, I come from Suva, had placed ;uard over Premier Baker, and I given him the choice either of ring Tonga by our ship, the inui or to be taken as prisoner board HMS Rapid.

Ir. Baker chose the former.

J 1 this we were informed by officer from the Rapid —who led: “. . . and Tonga has seen last of the Reverend Mr. :er.” (He was wrong there, for le years later the Mr. Baker, d had departed Tonga as a sleyan, returned to Tonga, with daughter, as a Church of Eng d Minister and eventually died re.)

Unsettling Events

lut these, of course, were un acted and unsettling events for on our day of arrival in the gdom. is soon as breakfast was over, tier called on ex-Premier Baker. . Baker sent him (and he took , then a very small boy) to the 7 Premier, George Tukuaho. ’he Premier considered the situa i. ’inally he told father that his jointment was acknowledged by Government, and that we might ve in to the College house, which 1 been scrubbed out and painted us. The Premier would send a ig of men to bring our luggage.

Jut after waiting for some time luggage had arrived, though the tigans were bringing gifts of ,nges, yams, drinking nuts, etc.

Some hours later, with still no luggage, father again went to the Government offices and was met by an official who said that the Premier wanted to see him at once.

The Premier informed father that since they had met in the morning he had thought the matter over and found that the Government could not afford to retain his ser vices. Permission to occupy the house was now revoked.

Father replied that he had been duly appointed by the Tongan Gov ernment, every step being taken in proper form, and that he held an agreement which was binding both on himself and on the Tongan Gov ernment. He could not withdraw without full compensation.

Gifts—And More Gifts

It was finally agreed that we might occupy the house without

prejudice.

At 5.30 p.m. there arrived as a present from the Crown Prince, a roast pig and yams and a large box of oranges, also a heap of green coconuts. , . , The next morning there arrived gifts from Mr. Baker, and further gifts from Prince George and from a number of chiefs. In fact gifts kept on arriving.

And in the end, as the crowning point to this astonishing reception, father received, four days after his arrival, a letter from the Premier telling us to leave the house with in seven days. . ..

We left the house and we left Tonga aboard the SS Lubeck, which took us to Sydney.

There, father got into touch with two very old friends, Sir George Grey and Sir Harry Atkinson, who suDDorted him in a claim for cop 1" pensation, made through the British Government, Tnnffa Meanwhile, news frorn Tonga showed that Prince George Taufa’ahau and the chiefs were still determined to have father back there.

Prince George himself travelled all around the group with a magic lantern and the Government College Band, collecting funds for our re turn to Tonga! (The incident is mentioned by Basil Thomson, who was later Premier of Tonga, in his book, Diversions of a Prime Min ister.) Well, in time we received a letter from Prince George, together with over £2OO passage money, and so we returned to Tonga.

But things were not much im proved all at once.

After a while father was appointed by the Tongan Government to audit the Post Office books. He discovered that stamps sent over seas to collectors had never been properly accounted for.

The Postmaster, Mr. Alexander Donald Campbell, took exception to this charge and issued a summons against father for criminal libel.

But father presented this summons to the Tonga Government, who agreed that as father was engaged by them, it was they, and not he, who was being summonsed. He ad vised them to engage a lawyer from New Zealand to defend the case.

(Continued on page 99)

This fine portrait of King George I was taken about the time of the Whitcombes arrival in Tonga, towards the end of King George's long life.

■y left father to secure the r—He chose Mr. Thomas r, who was one of the most lawyers in Auckland at that i arrival of Mr. Cotter and his was also an occasion of his -1 interest. For the Tongans before had they seen a lawyer Tk. • Chief Justice of Fiji, Sir ’ Berkeley, arrived in HMS ove to preside at the case. doubt the then Governor of ir John Bates Thurston, would been pleased to see father ht back to Fiji as a prisoner— ither was at that time in ithy with the Rev. Shirley . But Sir John was not to his wish.) m the case opened, Parliament n session in Tonga, but by of the King, George Tubou I,

the session adjourned to enable members to attend the Court, for interest in the lawyer and his wig and gown was by this time im mense.

Well, that case lasted a week.

It appeared that the only evid ence Campbell could produce as to the whereabouts of the cash and stamps was in a small black book— and this book he could not find.

So on the day before the trial ended the Chief Justice said, “Mr Campbell, if you do not produce that little black book by tomorrow morn ing you will find yourself in a little black box!’’

And so the Government of Tonga, and, I suppose—my father—won the case.

Campbell had to leave Tonga, and

I heard he was found a position in New Guinea by Sir John Thurston —as hangman.

Two interesting points remain to be told.

One is that in no time at all it seemed, Tonga had its own young lawyers appearing in its various court cases. The second is that King George Tubou I died in 1893 at the ripe old age of 95, and Prince George Taufa’ahau came to the Throne as King George Tubou 11.

Soon after the beginning of the new king’s reign, father was appointed Foreign Secretary to Tonga, and he also received £5OO compensation for that position he had first come to Tonga to take!

We afterwards spent many happy days in Holy Tonga.