SUNDAY ISLAND CLAIMS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 67, 10 July 1914, Page 5

SUNDAY ISLAND CLAIMS.

ASPIRANTSI IN AUCKLAND. [PER PRESS AssooumoN.] Auckland, July 9. The claim of Mr Thomas Bell to the ownership of Sunday -Island will probably be disputed by several other parties. Mr Bell and his family have resided continuously on the island since 1870, but several residents in Auckland believe that they can establish claims to a share of the land, on the ground that their ancestors were earlier inhabitants of Sunday Island. Three people are believed to be the only surviving relatives of Mr James Reed and his wife, who went to Sunday Island ill 1837, and resided there until 1845. They are two daughters, Mrs J. Cooke and Mrs Gee, both of whom live at Xorthcote, and Mr N. Von Sturmer, their nephew, and a grandson of the late Mr Reed. According to a documentary record in the possession of Mr Von Sturmer, a statement was given by the late Mrs Reed in Auckland on April 13, 1866, regarding the family’s resident on Sunday Island. She stated that in 1836 Mr Reed was in cllar,e,e of a whaling station in Queen Charlotte Sound. and they were there married by Captain .Bateman., of the ship Cheviot. In the following year Mr Reed and his wife were taken with some Maori “slaves” to Sunday Island by Captain Batenuni. They returned to New Zealand iin the ship Montezuma in 1845, and lived in Auckland subsequently, The mother of Mr Von Stunner was born lon Sunday Island. He states that acicording to the accounts he has heard ‘of that early settlement, there was no sign. of European occupation 'found by Mr Reed, except one pig, which was presumed to have been the survivor of some liberated by Captain Cook. Several goats were acclimatised by Mr Reed, and he also planted bananas and oranges, securing stocks from Pitcairn llsland. The family lived in Denhani [Bay

Captain Baker and a Samoan woman, whom ho married, were also early residents on the island. Several of their descendants arc now living in New Zealand.