LONELY PACIFIC ISLE.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15853, 26 November 1923, Page 4

LONELY PACIFIC ISLE.

HAMILTONIANS HERMIT UFE.

ONLY WHITE MAN THERE.

In an acoount of an adventurous voyage of over 200 miles in a 30ft yacht through the little known parts of the Pacific Ocean, three men, Messrs R. A. Sampson, of the United States, E. G. Spiers, Tahiti, and R. D. Triibie, Mexico, who are at present in Auckland, referred to a romantic experience which befol them on reaching the remote island of Manihiki, north of the Society Islands. This lonely spot in the Pacific had not been visited by while men for 12 years, so the islanders informed them. Manihiki is inhabited by about 400 natives, ruled by a half-caste, who was at one time a cabin boy with the notorious Bully Hayes. He was known to the natives as “Governor” Williams. A solitary white man was discovered on the island, on which he had been for 36 years, perfectly content with his lot. He had long been disgusted with civilisation, he told the visitors, and had no desire to go back to old associations. His name was Frank Gelling, and 'he was bora in New Zealand. During the two weeks the three men remained on the island, the natives went on'holi* day. All work was suspended, anti every effort directed to making the visit of the white men a memorable one. Feasts and dances were the order of the day, while countless presents in the form of baskets, mats, fans, chickens, eggs, and coooanuts were lavished upon the visitors. ... It will interest the people of Hamilton to know that the Frank Gelling referred to is a HamiltoniaD, and the third son of the first town clerk of the borough. A-s a youth he was practically starved out of the town, which, in those days, offered no scope and no work for young fellows, ana disgusted with the conditions of civilisation as he knew it, he decided to leave the country altogether and went to the Pacific. Islands, from, which h$ ltas never returned.