SUNDAY ISLAND

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 33, 2 November 1929, Page 25

SUNDAY ISLAND

SETTLEMENT OF LONELY SPOT RECALLED DEATH OF MR. THOMAS BELL Dominion Special Service. Pahiatua, October 31. Mr. Thomas Bell, who passed away at the Pahiatua Public Hospital on Sunday afternoon at the age of ninety years, was a most interesting personality. Tall and erect, and not looking a day older than seventy, the late Mr. Bell had put a good deal of adventure into his four-score years and ten. Born at Leeds, Yorkshire, and the only son of the late Mr. Henry Bell, who founded' the Napier Hospital in about the year 1856, and was its medical superintendent for nine years, he came to Australia as an apprentice on a merchantmen at the age of sixteen years. After spending a few years at Ballarat he sailed for New Zealand and spent some time in Otago on a sheep station. Then the gold diggings at Gabriel’s Gully called him. Later he settled for a few years in the Hawke’s Bay district, opening a large flax mill at Nuhaka during the Maori War and in the time of Te Kootl’s activity. From there he went to the Bay of Plenty, then to Tonga and Samoa, and finally decided to try his luck at Sunday Island, and in the year 1879 he sailed with his wife and six children in the ship Norval for the lonely and uninhabited island in the Pacific, where he resided until July, 1914.

Occupation of Sunday Island,

After being on the island for about ten years the Bell family discovered much to their astonishment that the island, which up to that time had been “no man’s land,” had been annexed by the British Government, the warship Diamond having visited the island and hoisted the Union Jack unknown to the Bell family. The formal proclamation was enclosed in a small box, which was nailed to the mast. ' The warship presumably then sailed away without troubling to steam to the other side of the island where the Bell family were camped. Three months later the New Zealand Government sent the steamship Stells, commanded by Captain J. Fairchild, ’with the surveyor-general (Mr. S. Percy Smith) on board, with instructions to. annex .the island. Mr. Bell remonstrated .with Mr. Smith, and claimed that the island was his by virtue of occupancy, and that it had been uninhabitated for ten years prior to his wife and family settling upon it. Mr. Smith advised Mr. Bell to apply for a portion of the island,

and to mark off whiit particular section of the island he would like. Eventually the Government made a grant to the Bell family of about ~io acres, which area Mr. Bell contended was insufficient to keep him and his large family, six children having been born during his residence on the island. Two of the children died. After repeated protests to the Government, and a personal interview with Lord Glasgow, who visited the island, all of which proved futile; the late Mr. Bell sold his block for £5O, the remainder of the island being cut up m small sections and leased to a few settlers, who after about a year trying to make a living up their holdings in disgust. For a number of years the late Mr .Bell and bis family had a most, trying time on the island, the flesh of wild goats, mutton birds, and fish being practically their only food. Rats swarmed in millions and devoured all the vegetables and fruit they attempted to grow, while there were thousands of wild cats roaming the island, the felines preferring the mutton bird to the rodent. To prevent the rats from- destroying a small vegetable plot the late Mr. Bell related that on one occasion he had to enclose the patch in a ring of fire. A German Warship's Visit. In conversation with a “Dominion” representative a few days before his death, Mr. Bell said that about 15 months before the Great War he noticed a dense cloud of smoke due north of the island, an unusual sight from that quarter. Presently he saw that it was a steamer, and it was making for the fishing rock landing place. It anchored within two cable lengths of the island. Mr. Bell said that those on board must have been in possession of, the Denham Bay chart, as it would have been impossible to have

found the anchorage without the aid of the chart. Mr. Bell said that he could see a number of officers on board, glasses in hand, scrutinising the island. He waved a sheet to indicate to them where to land. The old gentleman added that they took no notice of his .signalling, but a few minutes later the warship, was off with the German naval ensign flying at her peak.