HC Deb 25 April 1899 vol 70 cc526-7
M. HOGAN

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it will come within the province of the Joint Commission to inquire into the legality of Mataafa's exclusion from the succession in Samoa, and the extent to which sectarian influences operated in bringing about that exclusion; and whether it is proposed to give the Samoan people any voice in the selection of their future king?

MR. BRODRICK

The question of the succession in Samoa will be reported upon by the Commissioners, whose Report will be considered by their respective Governments.

MR. HEDDERWICK

May I ask whether under the Berlin Tripartite Agreement the British Government did not oblige themselves to recognise as King any ruler of Samoa who might be elected in accordance with native custom, and whether Mataafa was not so elected?

MR. BRODRICK

I must ask for notice of that Question.