paid to the lords of the manor, the Government was virtually the landlord, and the king had voluntarily made over to the Treasury all rents due upon the lands not included within any "inheritance."

The chief obstacle that would confront every Government in Tonga would always be the difficulty in collecting the poll-tax. The people required some stronger incentive to pay than the fear of levy by distress. To meet this difficulty I adopted an idea, suggested to me by Mr Hanslip, that the tenure of land should be made dependent upon the regular payment of taxes. I converted the polltax into a land-tax, and gave to every taxpayer the right of occupying one allotment of a fixed area, inalienable in his family so long as he and his heirs continued to discharge their debts to the State, but liable to forfeiture if for three successive years they were guilty of neglect. As each man arrived at manhood he was entitled to claim an allotment; and when the father of grown-up sons died. his widow kept his allotment for her lifetime. At her death each of the sons might choose whether they would relinquish their own holdings in favour of their father's or not; but in no case could a man occupy more than one holding. Thus we combined the "Nationalisation of land" with the institution of lords of the manor. By changing the name of the tax I disposed of the necessity for claiming it from Europeans, since, being possessed of no land of their own, they could not reasonably be called upon to pay a "land-tax." The poll-tax had for many years been the chief grievance of the traders, for Europeans will pay an amount of indirect taxation which, if imposed in direct form, would cause a rebellion.

A more delicate, if less important, question was that of the marks of respect to be paid to nobles. The Tongans still cling tenaciously to certain ancient forms of respect, such as the unturbaned head and the cinctured waist in the precincts of a village. To traverse Nukualofa without a girdle would be a greater solecism than to walk the length of Piccadilly hatless and in one's shirt - sleeves. But the more servile forms of homage to chiefs-squatting at the roadside or performing moemoe-were so inconvenient that by the king's order a quasi-military salute was generally substituted. In Polynesia, to raise yourself physically above another is to lay claim to a moral superiority over him, and the introduction of horses brought a new difficulty. To sit elevated above the world on the back of a horse tends to make Tongans cheeky, just as in Fiji the consciousness of having long hair makes the most respectful man insolent to his superiors. Many years before, a law had been enacted. compelling commoners to dismount when they passed a member of the Upper House, or rode past his house. The Europeans laid the blame of this enactment at Mr Baker's door; but, if I may judge from the savage tenacity with which the nobles clung to this obnoxious section, it is more probable that the law was passed in spite of him. Puerile as the restriction appears, let it not be forgotten that a primitive people is always ruled by outward forms; and wherever in the Pacific, and indeed elsewhere, a tribe is found who show no respect to their chiefs, there will be a people less susceptible to government and good order. Such laws, of course, always tend towards the ridiculous. A noble died, and one Jone

RESPECT FOR DIGNITIES.

233

Fifita, his distant cousin, was invested with the vacant title. He was taking the air on the day of his elevation, marching in the middle of the road with the noble mien suited to his new dignity, when seven horsemen, his boon companions in humbler days, met him, showing no disposition to get out of his way.

"Why do you not dismount?" he shouted.

For answer they snatched the empty sacks that lay across their horses' withers, and, covering their faces with them, deliberately rode him down, crying through the sacks, "Recognise us, and take us to court for insolence, Jone!" His lordship laid informations against several innocent persons who were able to prove an alibi, bringing down upon his head thereby the lampoons of half Tonga; for it is fair to say that the Tongans, who have been called the "Snobs of the Pacific," are as quick to recognise and ridicule the peculiar failings of the snob as even Thackeray could have wished.

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XV.

INCUBATION.

IN February our prospects began to look brighter. The copra contract was at an end, and we were free to accept coin for taxes. In order to show defaulters that we were in earnest, we directed the police to sue those of two or three villages, and to follow the judgments with execution so closely that they should not have time to transfer their chattels to a neighbour and usher the bailiff into a house swept of its contents, as was the usual custom. After patrolling the town for half an hour with a handbell to attract buyers, the police swooped down upon the doomed house, planted the Tongan ensign before the door, and seized all the portable property in it. Then the fakatautuki (sale by the hammer) began. The mats, pots, and gnatu were knocked down without much attempt being made to obtain the highest available price, and then as many of the horses, fowls, and pigs as could be caught were sold at an average price-for the horses and poultry at eighteenpence each, and for the pigs at fifteen or twenty times that amount. There are recorded cases of horses being disposed of at these sales for threepence.

This unusually spirited conduct of the Government produced a panic among the defaulting taxpayers. They became, indeed, almost as unscrupulous in their way of raising money for the Government as for the Churches. In the next three weeks we began to see our way out of our financial difficulties. The debt could already be discharged by instalments, and the arrears of salary to officials could safely be left to Parliament, upon whose rather reckless imagination it might have a healthy restraining influence when the Budget came to be discussed. My chief concern was to prevent my colleagues from revolting against the rigid economy I had enforced upon them, now that they knew there was a balance in the Treasury. About this time a meeting of the Cabinet was held to decide finally upon the Budget that was to be laid before Parliament. Tukuaho fully explained that the sole object of the meeting was to secure unanimity among the Ministers. We took the items seriatim-salaries first. When we came to the Premier's department, Kubu proposed that Tukuaho should withdraw, and thus relieve us of the delicacy of discussing the question of his emoluments in his presence. And now began a very elegant display of log-rolling. Tukuaho's salary was raised at one stroke from £400 a-year to £700. Then Kubu's turn came, and he withdrew, to receive an addition of £50; and the whole of the Cabinet, except the Chief-Justice, who was absent, were in like manner handsomely provided for. My lips were sealed, because my own salary was being voted for the additional term of six months for which the High Commissioner, at the king's request, had allowed me to remain, and the Ministers would have been in