SUNDAY ISLAND.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12282, 8 July 1914, Page 2

SUNDAY ISLAND.

ADVENTURES OK THE BELL FAMILY. THE SCHOONER THAT NEVER RETURNED. A HARD AND LONELY LIFE. Auckland. July 6. Definite settlement of .the question as to who is tlit- right!ill owner ot Suiidav Island, in the Kennadec f.roup, which lie.-, six hundred miles about north-east of Auckland, is sought by Mr Thomas Hell. -.-ni*. Mr P.ell. after having resided with his family inr tirirty-iive years on the island, lias just been brought buck to New Zealand _.* it his own rr-onest, together with bis wife and the eleven other islanders. Mr Bj ; I! . arrived in Auckland by the OoveTiiment .steamer Tutanekai on Saturday evening. fn the course of an interview with a New Zealand Herald ri-invseiu.-uive Mr Bell told an interesting- -story. in which lie made it clear that he considered himself to be justly entitled to the possession of the Pacific island upon which lie had lived so lons. , An old New Zealander, Mr Bell was originally engaged in farming in Poveriv Bay, and during the Maori war"'he keot a store in t.he Bay of Plenty district. Trade fell off at the close of hostilities, and in 1878 Mr • Bell undertook a trading expedition to •t-h'e Pacific Islands. Taking his wife :hkL.six New Zealand-born children with J rim he visited Tonga and Samoa, but f«iimd no trade openings there. Whilst in Samoa an old resident of Sunday -Island brought the island under Bell's not ice. and lie decided to inspect it. Hie- arrantred with the captain of a schooner bound ior Auckland to take his.partv and to call at- the island. On,arriving there on Deecmbcs 0, 1878, it"was agreed that the Bell family should remain so that -its possibilities <<h-ciiiid be thoroughly examined. The master of the vessel was only able to stay there one day. He said, however, that he would call hack for him on his--return voyage. At that time tlie captain of the schooner was a regular trader to the Island, and making calls .•rt Sunday Island from Auckland every t-hree months. According to Air Bell, however, the mariner in question on reaching Auckland bought a barque and went into the San Francisco trade, leaving the .Sunday Islanders to their own devices and never returning for them. -In th is way began Mr Bell's long soiottm in the Pacific. When he realised that he and his family had apparently been forgotten by the Island trader he set to work to provide a habitation. Assisted by his eldest daughter, then thirteen years of age and now Alls Gelderd. of Pahi'atua, lie erected a good dwelling in Denham Bay, hav-

in? plenty of tools. Then followed a period of groat privation and anxiety whilst awaiting the return of the schooner which never came. Provisions hogaii to run short and everything that was put into the ground was devored by rats, of the same species as the original Maori rat of New Zealand, which infest the island to this day. These rodents reversed the usual order ot' things by "hibernating" in summer and coming abroad in winter. Matters were growing very serious for the Bells. They were on the very of starvation, subsisting on the flesh of goats which Mr Bell and his eldest daughter used to capture with difficulty in the liilly part of the island. There were no fisli to be caught at the island. It was not until the winter subsequent to ' their landing that a ■vessel was sighted by Mr Bell. This turned out to be an American whaler, th? barque Canton, from New Bedford. Captain Sherman. The whaler was bound for the Solomons, and was already behind time. She could not take the islanders aboard. Arrangements weremade, however, to obtain £lO worth of provisions from this ship. Some time later the Bells, having moved their dwelling to the north side of the island, succeeded in attracting the attention of a passing brianntine, the Ttyno. owned by Messrs Henderson and M'Farlane By that vessel Mr Bell came to Auckland and made- an arrangement with 1 lie" owners to have their line of Island trading vessels call at Sunday Island every tliree months. Thus the islanders found themselves restored to communication with" the outer world and they lived on contentedly. Four more children were born there. Mj: Bell now went in for sheep-farm-ing, procuring 300 ewes from Auckland, and .with the help of some native boys from Xiue (Savage Island), he did a. lot of clearing. An attempt to extend his operations in wool by the formation of ;i limited company failed owing to the loss at sea of an entire consignment of sheep, 520 in all. The story of Mr Bell's present grievance comirenc<;'s..:ir this stage. The family had been- on Sunday Island for about nine or ten years, when Mr S. Percy Smith. Surveyor-General. represent ing the New Zealand. Government, arrived and informed All- Bell that the island had been annexed by the British Government and transferred to New Zealand, and that Mr Bell was therefore then and foi: the future a tenant at will on Government lands. Mr Bell claimed at least a portion of the island as a sheep run. an area of 900 acres, saying tlint Jie would be satisfied with that. This -area he states: he marked off on the chart,, and he alleges that an undertaking was given that it should be secured to him.

"The--island was out up into throe blocks, of 1400 acres, 100 acros, and SXiO acres- respectively," said Mr Bell, ''and was leased by the Scddon Government to three settlers. All 1 pot was equivalent to two acres apiece for each member of the family. I claim, that this is the only -ease on record where the inhabitants of an island have been deprived of sufficient land for their own support. The throe leaseholders did not remain long at the island, two of them leaving after a few months and the third staying three years." Questioned as to what he now intended to do in the matter. Mr Bell declared that ho-had not left Sunday Island finallv. He had come back to Now Zealand partlv for private reasons and partly to go into the whole quo? tion of 'ownership. "The land T . had cUared." he said, "was leased to others over my head. I lost my sheep in a j hot. dry summer through the other set- I tiers cut tin;; them off from the water. The .sheep had to clear out from the lagoon where they had been accustomed to water owing to the setting up of a irnit industry on that portion of the island. I could not keen them from the salt water, and they all died. I want a fee-simple title to the island," he continued. "I claim that it is mine by virtue of occupancy. There is no more land oil the island than is necessary ior inv family and myself. I occupiedthe island for thirty-five years. It :s only fit for grazing purposes, and to send more settlers there would only be repeating history. My idea is to reside there again and make a living by sheep farming. Also I claim that J am entitled to compensation for the loss of my stock, for loss of time, and lor the scattering of my family."