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as King of Samoa, that on him had been bestowed all the titles, and that he was therefore Taitafa and Tapu, according to the laws and customs of Samoa. They further informed the Chief Justice that the Oa Malietoa had been duly conferred. 

Now according to the customs of Samoa, certain men possess the right to confer a title. If they are unanimous in their selection, the title will be given to one man, but one dissenting individual may  bestow the title upon a different candidate, from the one chosen by the rest, and indignant though the majority may be, they cannot question the validity of the title thus bestowed. In old Samoa the districts were more united than they are now, and the men having the right to bestow a title generally accepted the wishes of the people as declared in the "fino" (meeting) and so were unanimous in their choice, but of the late  years, as a consequence of the division of parties, this rule has not been observed, with the consequences that now it is not uncommon to find several chiefs, all bearing the same title and all acknowledged, while formally there was but one.

Well the trial came on and 13 chiefs with Mr. E. R. Herrington as consul and Mr. E.W. Gurr as solicitor appeared to represent Malietoa, and 13 chiefs with Mr. Von Bulow as Consel for Mataafa.

Amongst other things, it was shown at the trial that Leulumoega, the ruling town of the district of Aana, was unanimous for Tamasese as King, but he placed his right on the Tanu as allowed by old Samoan customs, and the electors agreed to this and acknowledged Malietoa Tanu as King.

In all, 17 witnesses for Malietoa were examined and cross examined, and 13 witnesses for Mataafa, with the result that it was clearly shown that "according to the law and customs of Samoa both Malietoa Tanu and (cont..)