in question, I beg to
inform you that I am going to answer the address in writing as soon as
possible.--I have the honour to be, dear Sirs, your obedient servant,

SENFFT.

IV

_Apia, Oct. 2, 1891._

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, ESQ., E. W. GURR, Esq.

Gentlemen,--I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of an address
without date which has been signed by you and some other foreign
residents and handed to me on the 29th of September.

In this address my attention is directed to some rumours, specified
therein, concerning which I am informed that "upon all and upon each of
these points severally the white residents anxiously expect and
respectfully beg information."

Generally, I beg to state that, with a view of successfully performing
my official duties, I believe it is advisable for me to pay no attention
to any anonymous rumour.

Further, I cannot forbear expressing my astonishment that in speaking to
me so seriously in the name of "the white residents" the subscribers of
the address have deemed it unnecessary to acquaint me with their
authorisation for doing so. This omission is by no means a mere
informality. There are white residents who in my presence have commented
upon the rumours in question in a manner directly opposed to the meaning
of the address.

This fact alone will justify me in objecting to the truth of the
above-quoted statement so prominently set forth and so positively
affirmed in the address. It will also justify me in abstaining from a
reply to the further assertions of gentlemen who, in apostrophising me,
care so little for the correctness of the facts they deal with.

If, in consequence, according to the apprehensions laid down in the
address, those unexplained rumours will "damage the white races in the
native mind," I think the signing parties will then remember that there
are public authorities in Samoa officially and especially charged with
the protection of "the white residents." If they present to them their
complaints and their wishes I have no doubt by so doing they will get
all information they may require.

I ask you, gentlemen, to communicate this answer to the parties having
signed the address in question.--I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
your obedient servant,

FRHR. SENFFT VON PILSACH.

V

_Oct. 9, 1891_.

The signatories of the address are in receipt of the President's favour
under date October 2. Much of his answer is o