PITCAIRN ISLAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23615, 27 March 1940, Page 11

PITCAIRN ISLAND

SUPPLIES OF FOOD SHORTAGE NOT LIKELY MR. R. CHRISTIAN'S VIEWS [by TKLKGIIAI'ir OWN correspondent] WELLINGTON, Tuesday Reports of shortage of supplies on Pitcairn v Island are not viewed seriously by Mr. Robert Christian. Wellington. a descendant of Fletcher Christian, who was the leader of the mutiny on the Bounty. Mr. Christian said that a vessel, which was to call at Pitcairn Island, left last month, and another left this month, with all kinds of supplies for the islanders, so it was hardly likely that there was any privation on the island. Reports of danger of working the landing-place caused Mr. Christian to smile. Such work was not really dangerous to those who understood how to manage the surf boats used by the islanders, he said. These aro long, gracefully-designed craft, made, as a rule, on the island. Mr. Christian's remarks followed the receipt in Wellington of a letter from Mr. C. J. Cooze, formerly of Wellington, who, in spite of his 91 years, is a keen correspondent. He stated, that boats had ceased calling since the war began, although there was a chance of one shortly. Foodstuffs were getting short, because of a long, dry spell and uo ships calling to exchange goods. There was only one landing-place and that was dangerous. Most of the 200 inhabitants were good seamen and periodically made an 80-mile open-boat trip to Morrison Island, relying for guidance on a small pocket compass. Before the war, ships called on an average of once a month and the people engaged in barter for necessary commodities.