The attention of the President of the Municipal Council is respectfully directed to the following rumours:—
1. That at his suggestion, or with his authority, dynamite was purchased, or efforts were made to procure dynamite, and the use of an electrical machine was secured, or attempted to be obtained.
2. That this was for the purpose of undermining, or pretending to undermine, the gaol in which the Manono prisoners were confined.
3. That notification of this design was sent to the friends of the prisoners.
4. That a threat of blowing up the gaol and the prisoners, in the event of an attempted rescue, was made.
Upon all and upon each of these points severally the white residents anxiously expect and respectfully beg information.
It is suggested for the President’s consideration that rumours unconnected or unexplained acquire almost the force of admitted truth.
That any want of confidence between the governed and the Government must be fruitful in loss to both.
That the rumours in their present form tend to damage the white races in the native mind, and to influence for the worse the manners of the Samoans.
And that the President alone is in a position to deny, to explain, or to correct these rumours.