Show KIIBERLYS COURSE His Proclamation and Efforts to Restore Peace in Samoa THE MOXOiXGAHELA IS ALL SAFE The Store Ship Arrives at Apia Overtures to Taniasese An Interview With Dr Knappe APIA Samoa via Francisco AprilST Copyrighted by the Associated Press Nearly all of the survivors of the wrecked German war ships have gone to Sydney and the COO American sailors who composed the crews of the Trenton and Vandalia are waiting for a steamer to take them to San Francisco The condition of the Trenton and Vaudalia has not changed much during the last month Both vessels are complete wrecks A considerable quantity of clothing cloth-ing and provisions was saved from the Trenton after the storm and all the machine guns on the spar deck were taken ashore The work of removing her heavy battery occupied four weeks King Mataafa sending many of his men to aid The guns and carriages car-riages weighed over a hundred tons but their removal did not seem to lighten the Trenton in the least Admiral Kimberly will endeavor also to remove the Vandalias battery Half a dozen native divers have worked faithfully on her every day and hundreds of dollars worth of stores have been saved by them When the Nipsic was hauled off the reef it was found that she had been damaged considerably Her engines and boilers were sprung and the rudder and smoke stack gone and several inches of her keel are scraped away the entire length of the vessel ves-sel Temporary repairs were made with the intention of sending the vessel to Auckland Some of the officers made objections to her goifig to sea and declared her unsafe The admiral arranged with a tramp steamer to convey the Nipsic to Auckland and then sent the Nipsic out for a trial but a sharp squall came up as she was going out of harbor and in a short time tme the temporar rudder gave away leaving the Nipsic adrift without steering apparatus appa-ratus By the prompt use of sails she was swung around with her head towards the sea when she steamed at full speed to a position two miles off the reefs The tramp steamer went out and towed her back into the harbor The admiral ad-miral will send her to Auckland as soon as another rudder can be made and proved secure Notwithstanding the precautions against the sale of liquor by naval officer the sailors have been able in some way to secure liquor on various occasions Several of them have been severely punished Not more than onethird of the victims of the storm have been recovered and it is supposed sup-posed a great number were cither washed far out to sea or are fastened in the coral reef Francis Joseph Howard one of the Trentons crew died April as a result of the injuries received in the storm The most important politual event which has occurred here was the iisuanco by Admiral Ad-miral Kimberly on April 17 of a proclamation proclama-tion advising the natives to put an end to the war which they have been carrying on among themselves The admiral strongly urged that fighting cease and the people reunite re-unite for the common interest of their n country He stated that he had prepared a paper that could be signed by both parties who desired to obtain peace and establish order He had the proclamation translated into the Samoan language and distributed all over the island Captain Farquhar of the Trenton was sent t lay the matter beforeTainusese and request him to distribute the circulars among his men Tamasese received the delegation very courteously and replied that he too desired to see the war closed and promised to distribute the circulars crculars He said he would reply to Admiral Kimberly bony in writing later Admiral Kimberly stated to the Associated Asso-ciated Press correspondent that lie had issued the proclamation after a conference with Mataafa and because he felt that something must be done at once to assist the natives in establishing peace He had interviewed the German and British consuls con-suls but found they could do nothing to assist him so he determined to issue the proclamation entirely upon his own responsibility re-sponsibility The admiral believed the present conditions condi-tions favorable and hoped that the proclamation pro-clamation would sooner or later have the effect of drawing tho parties together He said there is nothing in his notices that either party can object to and tho paper which he has prepared to be signed is to be used only in the event of the natives agreeing agree-ing upon some plan of action His desire was to assist the Berlin conference by bringing about such a condition of affairs that a government could be formed in Samoa immediately upon the conclusion of the conference He had advised Mataafa to remain perfectly quiet April 22 the admiral received a letter from Tamasese the latter signing himself King of Samoa He declined to make any overtures over-tures for peace at present though he said lie desired to have the war brought to a close and would like to see the same condition condi-tion of affairs in Samoa a in the latter part of 1SS7 This was just after Mataafa had been deposed by the Germans and Tama sese Tamasese offers to forgive Mataafa and his men if they will throw down their arms He also stated that he would not consider any proposition for peace until after the conclusion with Berlin Mataafa and Tamasese afterward agreed upon a temporary truce and promised Admiral Kimberly that they would do nothing to alter the peaceable state of affairs until after the Berlin conference adjourned The United States store ship Monongahela arrived off the harbor April 8 Admiral Kimberly did not wish to burst her in the treacherous harbor she being a sailing vessel and after getting off a few stores sent her t the harbor of Pago Pago All but eighty of the German sailors went to Sydney March 31 in a steamer that belonged longed to a German trading company and had just arrived just before leaving Captain Von Erhhard of the German war ship Olga said he had had enough of Samoa and thought the best thing the Germans Ger-mans could do was to sell to the Americans and leave the country The Olga which was not seriously injured in the storm also sailed for Sydney under covering of he trading steamer The Olga saluted the American flag as she steamed out of the harbor The Associated Press correspondent called on Dr Kuappe the German consul a few days after the Olpa sailed and asked him if he still recognized a state of war between be-tween the Germans and Mataafa He replied re-plied that ho certainly did and that other German war vessels would soon be sent here He spoke very harshly of Mataafa and said the natives would have stopped fighting among themselves long stopp Mataafas men had not been urged on by certain white residents of Apia He declared de-clared that the German war ships coming would bring 2001 troops Notwithstand lug these representations Knappe told an entirely different story twp weeks ago At hat time Patu one of Mataafas most influential luential chiefs heard of Knappes utterances utter-ances and called on him in person Patu told Knappe that if the reports that the Germans were t prosecute > a vigorous war against them were true ho wanted to know it I so he did not propose to wait until they arrived but would send 2000 men to the German plantations saloon to carry away everything they could find The Samoans he said d not propose to wait quietly until the Germans had got enough men there to kill them I it was to be war they wanted t fisht it out right then Knappe assured Patu that the reports were not correct and that no more ships were coming and that there would be no more war between the Germans and Samoans Sa-moans In a conference between Mataafa and Admiral Kimberly in which the former urged the latter to establish state of peace Mataafa represented that the country was going to ruin the crops spoiling on account of no men being at home to attend them and the natives not only making no money but had already reduced themselves to poverty by contributing their i means to carry on the war Mataafa said if Tamasese consentedhe wanted both parties to breakup break-up their camps and let their men go to their homes Admiral Kimberly and viceConsul Blacklocla afterwards had a conference Blackock aferwars conerence with Consul Knappe in regard t the matter mat-ter butnothing i was accomplished although Knappe nd fea that the proposition to I stop the war met with his approval There was a near approach to the renewal of hostilities March 3 on account of a rumor that while Mataafas forces were being reviewed re-viewed in Apia Tamasese would make a descent on the camp and overpower them A large number of Mataafas warriors watched Tamaseses camp for several days but the matter finally blew over Tamasese has not more than 80 men in his party His ranks have suffered greatly from desertion but his camps on the elevated ele-vated plateau are almost impregnable Several Sev-eral native demonstrations have been made in honor of Admiral Kimberly and his nib cers whom Malaafas men seem to hold in highest esteem At these fetes great quantities quan-tities of chickens yams and other native ttes anl productions have been presented to the admirl He was finally obliged t request re-quest Mataafa not to have any more of these presents as he could not see the natives na-tives depriving themselves by bringing their food to him The last demonstration held was that of April when over 2000 warriors and 1000 women and children were present Warriors held a grand review re-view before the admirals house and the women performed native dances as a mark of high esteem Several native chief sdanced before the house something theynever do except before persons of very exalted rank A rumor was current two weeks ago that the German vice consul had visited the camp of Tamasese and urged the natives there not to become discouraged telling them that more German forces were on the way and as soon a they arrived they would again commence the war against Mataafa Admiral Kemberly on hearing this rumor immediately wrote to Dr Knappe asking for confirmation or denial Knappe did not reply in writing but meeting the admiral on the street a couple of days later declared de-clared the report was false |