Circumstances were continually occurring which rendered it imperative that the chiefs of Rarotonga should follow the example of those at Tahiti and the Society Islands, and adopt a code of Christian laws as the basis of the administration of justice in their island; for as their civil polity was intimately interwoven with their sanguinary idolatry, when the one was subverted, the other perished in its ruins; whilst the ancient usages, which were in accordance with the spirit of their religion, of necessity sunk into decay, when the people were brought under the mild influence of Gospel principles. From time immemorial the inhabitants of this lovely spot had been addicted to thieving; and as vast numbers of those who professed Christianity were influenced by example merely, no sooner, had the powerful excitement produced by the transition from one state of society to another subsided, than they returned to the habits in which, from their infancy, they had been trained.

Prior to the introduction of Christianity, they had several methods of punishing the delinquent, or rather of avenging themselves for the injury received. For this purpose the friends and relatives of the aggrieved party would go to the house of the offender, and take by force whatever article of value they found there, even the mats on which he slept. Not unfrequently would the house be broken down, the banana trees laid prostrate on the ground, and every article of produce destroyed.