to Tupou and the chiefs.^ The real deficit at the Nuku'alofa
Treasury for 1 January to 12 December 1904 was £1,600. This, said
the High Commissioner, included a balance of £1,000 from 1903
which seemed to have vanished without any trace. The overdue
salaries for the second and third quarters of 1904 amounted to
£1,500 received in the Treasury in the past fortnight. Government,
however, owed £200 in debts from ‘previous quarters' and £1,960 to
traders and others. Debts not shown in the books could amount to
£1,000 and those from overseas were yet to come. The known debts
in Tonga as well as the revenue needed for paying the salaries for
the last quarter of the year amounted to £5,000. In order that
Tonga might be 'freed' from this debt the High Commissioner offered
the meeting a British Government loan of £5,000. If Tonga accepted
this loan, he said, she would be acting rightly.
Turning to the question of the Government officials im Thurn said 17
that Kupu was 'not the right man' to be Minister of Police and that
the Auditor Manase Lavaki was 'more stupid in auditing books than some 18
other Tongans'. Lee and the chief European clerk in the Customs
Department, Mr Macauley were not fit to hold their positions and they
would be replaced by two other white men whom im Thurn was going to
choose. The new officials im Thurn desired to appoint were
Mateialona as Premier and Auditor and Ata to be his Assistant.
Fatafehi was to have the additional office of Treasurer and Thomas •
Roberts was to be Assistant Treasurer.
16
17
Copy, address of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific to the King and chiefs of Tonga, 28 December 1904, Royal
correspondence. Ibid.
18
Crown Solicitor and was to be given a seat in Cabinet so that he
could assist the Premier. Skeen was also to be the Minister in
charge of the Custom House and Post Office. The actual work in these
departments, however, was to be done by Robert Mitchell Denny and
William Bagnall, the officers immediately under Lee and Macauley
respectively. Vaea was to preside over the Tongan Court at
Nuku'alofa and Polutele was to be the Chief of Police.
Among the administrative changes im Thurn proposed that the King
should rule with the advice and approval of Privy Council and not
independently of it. The Premier would never decide on important
issues or authorize any expenditure without the consent of Cabinet.
Government accounts would be audited by Europeans. These requirements,
im Thurn, claimed, were in accordance with the Constitution of Tonga.
The Tongan Government 'should work in harmony with the Chamber of 19
Commerce'. Governments elsewhere, the High Commissioner claimed,
listened to the representations of the traders and legislated 'for them 20
in such a manner as to avoid disputes'. Prisoners would work for
the Government and no longer for the Ministers and the chiefs.
Tupou I's speech in 1891, calling on the nobles to give more land to
the people must be carried out and the laws must be printed in English
for the benefit of the Europeans. Many bad laws had been enacted in
the past, the High Commissioner claimed, and the King and Cabinet were
to correct them.
19
Ibid.
20
On the presumption that Tongan landowners were free to lease
their land as they liked, im Thurn told the meeting that Government
must cease to interfere with this right. He also stated that the
Government had wrongfully collected the rents on non-government
lands and that this practice must cease. Owing to his dislike for
Sipu, the High Commissioner continued, Sateki had deprived him of
his island of Fafa which the Government had then used as a
quarantine island. While Government had the right to take private
land for public use, it was also obliged to compensate the owners
for their loss. Thus im Thurn now required the new Government to
give Sipu appropriate compensation for the loss of Fafa. Furthermore,
Fotu and Sateki's two sons-in-law who were residing on government land
must either pay rent or move elsewhere. The rents on Royal land
which Tupou I had given to Government but which Sateki had recently
returned t:o Tupou II must revert to Government. Finally, im Thurn
proposed that since Government was very poor it should accept the
offers of the European residents who desired to pay their remaining
rental immediately in return for the immediate renewal of their leases.
Referring briefly to his deportation of Sateki and Fotu, im Thurn
said that the late Premier had advised the King badly and through
22
him a foreign firm had ruled Tonga in its own interest. The late
Minister of Finance through either 'wickedness or stupidity' had
done exactly as his father and the Jews had wanted him to do and he 23
would 'never be Treasurer' again. The High Commissioner then
turned to the changes he wanted Tupou to make. Firstly, His Majesty
should give up the 'absolute power' he had 'unconstitutionally 24 seized'. 21 22 23 Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. 24
from the public revenue' in excess of his 'legitimate emoluments'. These drawings, im \d/ sometimes amounted to totals His Majesty was hardly aware of. Thirdly, Tupou should abandon the two or three political associates of his own choice and work with the legitimate government officials.
On 2 January 1905, Tupou and about thirty chiefs called on im
26
Thurn to give him their answers to his proposed changes. Tupou began by discussing the land leases but it was soon clear that his object was to defer giving any final answer. The High Commissioner, however, was determined to extract from the King the answer he
wanted. Thus he plainly told the meeting 'that the real choice before them all as Tongans was between, on the one hand, frank
acceptance of the guidance which the British Government was offering, and, on the other hand, immediate loss of their King and eventually
27
of their independence'. At this ultimatum Tupou and his
supporters were visibly shocked. In the words of the High Commissioner: 'His Majesty started; most of the chiefs smiled; Chief Justice Kaho looked gre.y; the King spoke to me in a low tone, but rapidly;
Mr Watkin interpreted very deliberately and reluctantly; the King had said that he had not expected such a declaration from me, that he was sure that no chief wished that Tonga should lose its flag, and
28 finally that he accepted my proposals'.
25
25 26
27
Ibid.
E. im Thurn to Colonial Office, 15 March 1905, C.0.225, Colonial Office Papers.
Ibid. 28
and reforms he wanted. Sipu and Finau 'Ulukalala were to be
immediately appointed Governors of Vava'u and Ha'apai respectively.
The number of Chief Justices and Magistrates as well as the rest of
the civil service must be reduced. This would improve the work of
civil service and reduce the greatest of Government's expenses, namely
the payment of salaries - all taxes should now be paid to the
Treasury and the position of the tax clerks abolished. Government
should immediately declare that at the end of three months, the only
coins to be used in Tonga would be the British ones. Furthermore,
money should be voted for the maintenance of Vuna wharf and its two
rotten piles should be replaced at once. £1,600 should be paid to
de Lambert as settlement for his claims against the Tongan Government.
Finally the High Commissioner said that he would present to
Government what were to be Tonga's Estimates for 1905 before he
returned to Fiji.
Four days after this meeting, Fatafehi published a Gazette
announcing that Civil Service salaries would henceforth be paid 29
monthly. ' The practice common under Sateki's premiership of
granting 'Treasury orders' with which civil servants purchased goods
from the shops was terminated. The Gazette also announced that the
Government would no longer be responsible for goods supplied or
services rendered to it unless the orders for them had been signed
by the Premier and countersigned by the Treasurer or the Minister of
Finance. On the 17th, the appointments im Thurn finally decided on 30
were gazetted.
Koe Kasete,
vol.19, no.l, 6 January 1905.although some alterations were made. Thomas Roberts was given a
stronger control of Tonga's finances by his appointment as Treasurer
and Assistant Minister of Finance. No Customs and Post Office
Ministers were established but Skeen was still given the dual offices
of Chief Justice and Crown Solicitor. Denny became the Post Master
and Collector of Customs and Bagnall his chief clerk.
At a meeting with Tupou and the chiefs on the 17th the High
Commissioner presented His Majesty with a new Anglo-Tongan Agreement, 31
which he wanted him to sign. A summary of the reforms im Thurn
had persuaded the King to accept, the proposed agreement required
the King to rule through the chiefs and never to receive or
appropriate the leases on government lands. The hereditary titles
and their associated estates were not to be interfered with and the
nobles were again required to give more land to the people. The
land leases of the foreigners were to be renewed according to a
regulation to be issued. The advice of the British Consul in Tonga
was to be sought and taken and his approval was to be required for the
appointment or dismissal of all senior officials. A foreigner was
to reorganize the Police Force, all laws were to be published in English
and in Tongan, and the Estimates for 1905 were to be passed as drawn
up by the High Commissioner.
The meaning of these proposals was clear but most distasteful
to His Majesty. His political independence and the internal
autonomy of his Government were to be severely reduced. Worse still
it was the British Consul wTho now had the final say in Tonga's
Government, and the fact that Hunter was to enjoy this power over him
made Tupou more bitter.
31
E. im Thurn to Colonial Office, 15 March 1905, C.0.225 Colonial Office Papers.
Trying to use the only method of escape he could really resort to
at this stage, Tupou attempted to avoid giving any final answer.
But the High Commissioner wanted no further procrastination and
simply told Tupou to sign or prepare for deportation. On 18
January Tupou sadly signed the Supplementary Agreement with Great 32
Britain. Three days later im Thurn returned to Fiji.