THE first tidings of the Convention reached Samoa at the end of November 1899 by the steamer Manapouri, Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, from Auckland, whence cable news was available. Dr. Self, then President of the Municipality, received the following February his appointment as first Governor and instructions to hoist the German flag.

This he proceeded to do on 1st March on the historic peninsula of Mulinu'u in the presence of practically the whole white population of Apia and of an immense concourse of natives. A party from the German warship Cormoran, then in port, assisted at the ceremony. It will be remembered that as far as Western Samoa is concerned the Convention amounted to no more than a nullification in favour of Germany by Great Britain and America of their claims to the territory, and a reservation of commercial rights. Annexation therefore was necessary if the islands were to be taken over, and the Proclamation of the Kaiser, read at the ceremony, established this in the formal word : “We hereby in the name of the Empire take these islands under our Imperial Protection." The German Consul handed over the Imperial flag of his Consulate to the Governor and to the Commander of the warship. The Govenor thereupon declared the Islands to he German Territory, and solemnly hoisted the flag to the strains of "Heil Kaiser Dir” and a royal salute from the ship.

Benedictions from the missionaries followed and Captain Emsmann of the Cormoran and Mataafa made speeches. The gallant captain had been long known in Samoa; he had been through the 1889 disaster and the guest of Government House at Sydney after it. His speech on this occasion is a rousing one; and. because there are yet many in the writer's own country who refuse to believe that the doctrines of Treitschke and von Bernhardi have produced a curious, though it is to be hoped only temporary, psychosis in any wide section of the German people, a translation follows - translation be it said which loses much from the sonorous original :

’Where a German soldier in faithful duty to his Fatherland has fallen and lies buried, and where the German Eagle has struck his fangs into a land, the land is German and German shall remain.' These words of our All-gracious Emperor and Lord have been fulfilled. Our comrades who lost their lives fighting in Samoa rest henceforth in German soil. It was on the 18th day of December 1888, the day of the fight by Vailele, when I stood after the retreat of our enemies, together with the to us so well-known gentlemen Hufnagel, Haidlen and Tiedemann, on the veranda of the home of the manager of the Vailele plantation which was perforated by the bullets of the enemy. What was to be the recompense of the shed blood of dead andd wounded lying around us? So we asked one another. There was but one answer: 'Samoa shall be German.' And one of the gentlemen present added: 'So it will be for we have a Hohenzollern as Kaiser.' When ten years later I returned to Samoa I could report to His Majesty the Emperor: 'The Germans in Samoa have confidence in the German policy and look with complete conviction into the future. Animated by high patriotism the Germans living in Samoa do not give up hope to see Samoa in the future under the German flag.' The Day is come at last. Over us are flying the colours, Black, White and Red. 'The land is German and German shall remain!' For so ran the words of the All-Highest. His Majesty our All-Gracious Emperor and Lord we thank utterly for the favourable issue of the Samoan question. Him, who, as the leader of the German men, looks carefully after the interests of his subjects all around our globe, Him who pledges all his power and his influence for the welfare of his people and his land, let us follow in the furtherance of Germanism. Let us train our children and our children's children in such a way that their fear of God, their faithfulness to their Emperor and the love of their Fatherland may last to the very day of their death. God shield, God save our beloved Emperor and his House. Hurrah for His Majesty our Kaiser and Lord!"

Several British residents left the Territory never to return. Among them were R. L. Skeen, late Chief justice of Tonga who died there in 1916, and E. W. Gurr, now of American Samoa, both New Zealanders though Islanders by adoption.

His Excellency Dr. Willhelm Heinrich Solf was a capable and careful administrator. He is the same Dr. Solf who still retains, when Germany no longer occupies any colonies, the high office of Imperial Colonial Minister and his utterance during the Great War will be remembered by many Colonials.

He found himself in charge of two specks of territory surrounded by great English territorial and commercial interests, and these he, knowing that Pan-Germant expression would in no wise strengthen the cause for which he worked, sought assiduously to placate. He found a community in much dispeace, foreign and native. When he left it nearly eleven years later, for well-deserved promotion, all sections of the community were in harmony and trade was flourishing.

Solf first visited Fiji and studied British methods of colonisation there. He proceeded slowly to establish an efficient and stable government, knowing well that only thus could satisfaction be. Existing regulations were gradually modified to suit the new requirements. In May he created, in lieu of the Council of the Municipality, a Governor's Council of six members, two of whom were British. German government officials came from Germany and a wholesome, if somewhat costly, system of civil service was established. At least one of these officials was British. The Geman Vice-Consul at Sydney, one Hubert Knipping, was temporarily appointed Judge of the Court having jurisdiction over whites. For the first time in history Samoa saw and felt the benefit of a good and united government. Taxation was not sensibly increased, yet useful roads were slowly pushed out from Apia and public buildings rose one after another.

Through the generosity of an elderly and wealthy German who had retired to Samoa from Vladivostock, a well-equipped hospital was erected amid pleasant surroundings above Apia and a covered market-place of concrete and iron was built in the heart of the town. In a foreign community where a certain laxity of control had long existed, it was impossible with success and contentment to suddenly fix the iron collar of law or convention, and these matters were slowly and even with good nature adjusted. And equality of justice was impartially extended to all foreigners.

Nor was Solf’s policy with the Natives less considerate and successful. In August he, made pronouncement at Mulinu'u of an elaborate system of creation of government native officials. By thus appointing chiefs to positions of local control of their villages and people as government servants he brought the whole of the natives directly under government authority withiout any change being felt by them. He created Mataafa Alii Sili, or nominal head of the native government officials, a title which was abolished on the death of Mataafa, full of years, in 1912. The native parliament was continued, purely to assuage native feeling, until 1906, when Solf finally dissolved it, The free and primitive customs of the Samoans, notably in regard to marriage, were treated with consideration and for the most part allowed to continue. Rules were made providing for annual augmentation of native cocoanut plantations. The sale of alcoholic liquor to natives was forbidden under severe penalties. Other beneficial ordinances followed. A permanent commission was appointed to settle the family ownership of native land.

Solf remained as Governor until the latter half of 1910, when he left for Europe, receiving there in 1911 his appointment as Colonial Minister. During his absence Dr. Erich Schultz acted as Vice-Governor, and in 1912 was appointed Governor.

Long misgoverned, long weakened by conflicting interests, the community soon settled its ruffled plumes under the steady, quiet policy of the new government. The story of the Colony became one of development, the surest sign, in times of peace, of stable governance. Cocoa and rubber claimed the attention of settlers and large companies were formed, mainly in Germany but also in Great Britain and Australia, for the opening up of new plantations in the foothills of Upolu. The question of labour had already become acute, for the Polynesian is incapable of continuous work. Accordingly arrangements were made with the Chinese Government for the importation of indentured coolies and in April 1903 the first batch of 276 arrived. A book, written by one Lieutenant Richard Deeken and published in Germarny, drew by its alluring optimism a number of German immigrants of small capital to Samoa. But Solf wisely discouraged small planters who were apt to become a burden on the little tropical colony. Areas for cocoa and rubber were cleared, planted and after the required number of years came into product. The export of cocoa rose from 92 tons in 1906 to 1033 tons in 1914, rubber from nil in 1910 to 67 tons in 1915. As plantations extended unfortunately tropical pests and diseases made their appearance, and some still have to he contended with. Canker has largely affected the cocoa plantations. More alarming were the depredations of the cocoanut beetle which first made marked appearance in 1911, and which for a time threatened to be a serious matter for the natives. Both required and still entail an immense amount of trouble and labour. As development increased so imports grew.

In 1902 a volcanic eruption the first within the memory of the natives, broke out on the north side of Savaii. No loss of life or property resulted. In August 1905 a fresh and more serious outbreak occurred some miles to the eastward, and about fifteen miles from the sea; for six years molten lava from the burning crater crept unceasingly down the long slopes to the seaboard, and many miles of good plantation and cultivatable land were destroyed. The natives of four coast villages, were rendered homeless and provision had to be made for them by the Government on the island of Upolu. In August 1911 the eruption of lava ceased and the volcano has since been quiescent.

In July 1914 there was completed some six miles from Apia a powerful wireless station of the Telefunken pattern. Curiously the first published news it transmitted was of the European War.

Praise has been given German administration; there were matters that were not so pleasing. The Lauati incident of 1909 was rather a reversion to the dark ages. Lauati, a man of rank of Savaii had for many years been famous as an influential native and more as an orator in his beautiful Samoan language. The exact cause of his incurring German displeasure has not been divulged, but the offender was long known to be pro-British and it is suspected that he had sent letters to the Colonies praying for their help in matters connected with taxation. However that may be, in the year mentioned Lauati and several other chiefs with their families were banished by German warship to Saipan, of the Marianne Group. There they remained until Fortune's wheel having brought the British to Samoa, and Japan to the Mariannes arrangements were made for their return, which after some difficulty was carried out in 1915. Unfortunately Lauati died on the return journey.

The system of government moreover was bureaucratic; the taxpayers had no direct representation. But the most vicious thing about the Germam administration was its persistent refusal to allow to the community a knowledge of its finance. The reason is obvious. It was part of the well thought out policy. Samoa soon commenced to pay as it easily can do, and Germany quietly pocketed the surplus. There were sufficient colonial deficiencies elsewhere no doubt. On the very best authority it may be stated that in the latter years of her administration in Samoa, Germany made substantial surpluses which were carried off in gold by warship on at least one occasion to swell the coffers of the Fatherland. In 1912 a surplus was thus available of a quarter of a million marks.