t
must always seem as if the chief justice had suffered himself to be
irritated beyond the bounds of discretion. It must always seem as if his
original attempt to deprive the commissioners of the services of a
secretary and the use of a safe were even senseless; and his step in
printing and posting a proclamation denying their jurisdiction were
equally impolitic and undignified. The dispute had a secondary result
worse than itself. The gentleman appointed to be Natives' Advocate
shared the chief justice's opinion, was his close intimate, advised with
him almost daily, and drifted at last into an attitude of opposition to
his colleagues. He suffered himself besides (being a layman in law) to
embrace the interest of his clients with something of the warmth of a
partisan. Disagreeable scenes occurred in court; the advocate was more
than once reproved, he was warned that his consultations with the judge
of appeal tended to damage his own character and to lower the credit of
the appellate court. Having lost some cases on which he set importance,
it should seem that he spoke unwisely among natives. A sudden cry of
colour prejudice went up; and Samoans were heard to assure each other
that it was useless to appear before the Land Commission, which was
sworn to support the whites.

This deplorable state of affairs was brought to an end by the departure
from Samoa of the Natives' Advocate. He was succeeded _pro tempore_ by a
young New Zealander, E. W. Gurr, not much more versed in law than
himself, and very much less so in Samoan. Whether by more skill or
better fortune, Gurr has been able in the course of a few weeks to
recover for the natives several important tracts of land; and the
prejudice against the Commission seems to be abating as fast as it
arose. I should not omit to say that, in the eagerness of the original
advocate, there was much that was amiable; nor must I fail to point out
how much there was of blindness. Fired by the ardour of pursuit, he
seems to have regarded his immediate clients as the only natives extant
and the epitome and emblem of the Samoan race. Thus, in the case that
was the most exclaimed against as "an injustice to natives," his client,
Puaauli, was certainly nonsuited. But in that intricate affair who lost
the money? The German firm. And who got the land? Other natives. To
twist such a decision into evidence, either of a prejudice against
Samoans or a partiality to whites, is to keep one eye shut