Mr. POINTERasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) whether his attention has been drawn to the treatment of Mr. Cameron, on the island of Tonga, who was president of the Toga ma'a Toga Kautaha, a co-operative association formed in 1909 for the purpose of shipping copra and fruit for the natives direct, and composed chiefly of upwards of 3,000 natives; whether he is aware that, after a compulsory audit of the books, the Tongan Government issued a gazette extraordinary embodying the audit report, which declared that the books were faked and the assets appearing in the balance sheet did not exist; that on the strength of this report the Tongan Government seized the association's goods and premises; that Mr. Cameron was afterwards summoned 1187W by Mr. Humphreys, one of the auditors, on behalf of the Government, for embezzlement and falsification; that the acting chief justice of the Western Pacific who tried the case declared that the evidence of Humphreys, who was also chief witness for the prosecution, was biassed, prejudiced, and amounted to animosity against the accused; and that the action of the Government in seizing the goods and premises of the association was highhanded and ill-advised; whether, seeing that despite his attack upon the defendant Mr. Humphreys was compelled to admit that the association could pay 20s. in the pound, and that, in dismissing the case, the judge declared that no falsification had taken place and no material matter had been omitted, he will make careful inquiry and take action in the matter; (2) if he is aware that after the dismissal of the case against Mr. Cameron, president of the Toga ma'a Toga Kautaha, for falsification and embezzlement, the Tongan Government issued an Ordinance (No. 4 of 1911), declaring it to be illegal for any Tongan to bring an action at law against the, Government or against any officers employed by or acting with their authority, in the matter of the suppression, winding up, or liquidation of an association recently known as the Toga ma'a Toga Kautaha, and further making it unlawful for any native of Tonga to give, subscribe, collect, or to aid, assist, etc., in the collection of any money to assist any non-native who in the past may have been associated with natives of Tonga for the purpose of trading, or in any Kautaha, and that, under cover of this ordinance, the Tongan Government issued another gazette in which all the statements about the falsification by Cameron were reaffirmed in spite of the fact that the verdict of the acting chief justice of the Western Pacific acquitted him of any wrong doing in the matter; whether he will withhold his sanction to the said ordinance until full inquiry has been made; and (3) whether the Consul-General of the island of Tonga, Mr. W. Telfer Campbell, is responsible for the prosecution of the Toga ma'a Toga Kautaha; whether he used his influence in the Cabinet of the Tongan Government, of which he is a member, to procure the prosecution; whether this is the same Mr. Camppell who was formerly in the Gilbert Islands, and to investigate whose alleged tyrannous acts the High Commissioner, Sir E. im Thurn, paid a special visit to the Gilberts in 1905; if so, whether he will 1188W now publish Sir E. im Thurn's report; and, if not, will he state the reason why the publication of the report is so lone delayed?
Mr. HARCOURTI understand that the matters referred to are the subject of actions now pending in the Court of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, and in these circumstances it would not be proper for me to make any statement with regard to them. It was stated, in answer to a question asked in the House in April, 1909, that the High Commissioner, who visited the Gilbert and Ellice Islands to inquire into the charges made against Mr. Campbell, had satisfied the Secretary of State that the complaints had no solid foundation, and that his report contained so much personal and confidential matter that it could not be published.