Pitcairn's Island  Notes  Source  Whalesite

Captain Lewes (H.M.S. Cambrian)
to W.P.H.C.^*
(July 9, 1909)

SIR,

      I have the honour to submit, the following report upon Pitairn Island visited by me July 6th to July 8th and to inform you that being a Deputy Commissioner for the Western Pacific, I used my authority to settle two or three minor points for the Community, inspected the boats, audited the Government Accounts, brought away the balance of money at their request, and gave such advice as I considered necessary, holding a Council meeting for this purpose.

      POPULATION.      There were on July 8th on the Island: —

in addition, absent at Tahiti and in schooners were 12 males & 10 females, adults, making a total number of inhabitants 152. The preponderance of females should be noticed.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION.

      I an glad to report the Administration of the Island was going on very happily. The Committee for Internal

and external affairs reported openly to me there was no trouble or friction. Both Committees individually were satisfied with the workings while the Council informed me they were equally happily placed and that the affairs of the Island were in a very satisfactory state, there was no trouble nor was anything wanted.

      The Chief Magistrate informed me the Committees and Council worked well together and I enclose returns signed by him for the various Committees (sent to the Consul Tahiti only). He informed me there was a good deal of thieving, otherwise the Court cases were few. He had nothing to complain of or required to be done except as stated later with regard to the Cutters' fund.

      I gave authority to the Council for the following new regulations: —

      1. Payment of fines to be made in the equivalent of arrowroot
or fungus at the discretion of the Chief Magistrate.

      2. New set of school rules and regulations.

      3. Now set of prison rules.

      The Council reported there was general content and prosperity (though little money) and there had been no quarrels or: dissension and I must say the population seemed happy enough and, though I enquired, I found no one had any complaint to see me about. The only point suggested to me was that there should be as Chief Magistrate a man not an Islander.

Mr. McCoy is a worthy man and I do not know who wi11 taka his place but I believe he has not too much authority owing to being related to everyone, still I can see no reason for this suggestion as long as the Islanders remain contented.

      The Chief Magistrate and Secretary complained of receiving no pay and, though unnecessary, I certainly think the Government teacher should get something however small.

RELIGION.      Seventh day Adventists. A minister is supplied by the Conference who also holds appointment of Government teacher without a salary. The present man has done very good work on the Island and had placed the accounts on a good basis, made out a land Register, placed all wills, etc., in a book, and generally takes great interest in all that concerns the Islanders. He is shortly leaving the Island for another job?, and, being the one capable man, he will be missed.

SCHOOL.      The new school regulations, a copy of which is attached, was drawn up by the Minister and approved by the Chief Magistrate and myself. The principal alteration makes the age of leaving school 16 years in place of 14. The idea of this is to keep the lads under discipline. They do little work and get into mischief and are a nuisance to the Community. Both parents and the Council asked for the alteration and under the peculiar circumstances I approved of it, there being no secondary

educational school for the boys to go to and no work to put them to. Not only has the teacher to teach without salary but he has to provide school stationery, Mr Simons having refused to pay for it as approved by the Lords of the Treasury, and the school Stationery sent out from England was ruined at Tahiti by salt water.

GARDENS AND CULTIVATION.      I regret these did not show much sign of care, ever thing growing wild in profusion, while the cocoanuts were very badly planted, bearing badly and also diseased. Oranges and Lemons are all growing wild and I understand that, owing to want of rain at the proper time, not more than 10 tons of arrowroot will be made this year and for similar reasons the fungus has also suffered. I fear with fruit and vegetables growing without care and plentifully for the family requirements, the Islanders will never make the best use of their productive Island where anything will grow with care and cultivation.

ANIMALS.      One horse in all now on the Island with the exception of goats gone wild. The last two pigs were sold to the ships. Fowls practically run wild, Turkeys do well and ducks have been imported. Some dogs I saw, rats were said to be numerous and mice very plentiful. The Islanders would be glad of more cows, they had just imported two but one died and the other fell over the cliff.

EXPORTS.      The only exports are arrowroot and edible fungus and these only in small quantities. The Islanders depend on

passing ships to buy their fruit and vegetables and had a record year in 1908, visiting 47 ships, but this year only 12 have been so far seen. Even if there were a cutter belonging to the Island there is not enough produce for her to make more than one trip a year to Tahiti.

IMPORTS.      Are anything passing ships will exchange and I hear at times spirits. Complaints were rare to me that drink was often supplied from passing ships. Imports from Tahiti are prohibitive owing to the customs charges and it is hoped that an English store will be started at Henderson Island with whom the Island could trade.

BOATS.      There are three whalers. Queen Victoria's whaler built in 1898 was in excellent repair and construction. The boats are well handled and cruise as far as OENO island and to all passing vessels, but the landing place is a bad one, even dangerous. Wood for oars and canvas for making sails are wanted badly. They repair the boats well and make sails.

CRIME & PRISON.      There was little crime on the inland. Thieving Is the worst and the elders are unable to stop the practice.

      The prison is naturally rather a simple affair and at the request of the Council I drew up a few regulations for their guidance. They are enclosed.

IMMORALITY.      Mr Carey, the head teacher, informed me there was a great deal of immorality on the inland. The Church cannot

stop it. The married men are as bad as the young unmarried ones and the preponderance of women adds to the causes for it and illegitimate children were common.

INTERMARRYING.      Intermarriage has been continued to such close relationship that the results were already being shewn in the want of intellect in the children, increase of consumption, heart diseases and the usual sign of degenerates. The Church had done all it could to prevent it but the people would not see the ill results. They preferred to marry "in the family." There were now four names Buffet, McCoy, Christian, and Young and three American sailors Warren, Butler, and Coffin. There were some bright light-haired lads, sons of these latter, and it was the opinion of my officers and myself that these should now be removed from the island. They have nothing to look forward to but marriage with a girl of low intellect if they remain on the island, and no employment. The young men looked of fair physique but without much chest measurement and I do not think they care very much for work. They were brighter and healthier than the majority of Norfolk Islanders I net last year but one can see that the taint of close marriage is telling upon them.

      A gentleman sometime back endeavoured to break up the Community by providing plantations in Rara Tea with a view of bettering the marriage question and taking the Islanders into the world, but they refused to leave Pitcairn. There are 31 families now on the Island.

HEALTH      The health of the island is good. The Council

told me they required no drugs or medicines, only dressings for accidents and they said that sickness was uncommon. There is no doctor, practically no medicines, and they use hot water for everything.

DRINKS.      Only permitted medicinally except to strangers on the island by permission of the Chief Magistrate, but it is feared that passing ships are being induced now to give it to the boats going to them and that the thin edge of the wedge is introduced, the more so as one of the American sailors usually comes back drunk.

RECRUITING.      It in stated that a Mr. Banks in going to recruit labour at Pitcairn Inland. There are a few men there now. Has Mr. Banks a license to do this? The simplicity of the Islanders in notorious and they are now excited at the prospect or a market at Henderson Inland for them and it should be of benefit to the Island.

GOVERNMENT MONIES.      I enclose the Government account with Pitcairn Island and I have to inform you that I have the balance of fifteen pounds nineteen shillings and five pence halfpenny (£15 : 19s: 5½d)to give you and also 94 kilos of arrowroot and 32 kilos of fungus for which I request you will give me a receipt. It is to be noticed the unpaid fines are heavy but after the visit of the "Men of War" I was told that they would probably be paid.

OWNERSHIP OF LAND.      This point is agitating the simple minds of

the Islanders and it is with a view of having it settled that the head teacher has carefully drawn up a land register and registered all wills, deeds, trusts, and rights and he has compiled details of the former ownership of the sections of land and also of the present occupants. He has made a map to the best of his ability of the present sections as divided off but the official registrar, Mr. McCoy, is rarely now on the Island so that the surveying does not get finished.

      The points in dispute comprise the following and it is to be noted that though the Norfolk Islanders have had no occupation for 56 years on Pitcairn Island they still consider the present Pitcairn Islanders are holding this island in trust for them and by letter and will appoint trustees who are given the use of the land for their trouble.

(A)      Ownership of the sections is claimed by the descendants on the strength of occupation of ancestors prior to 1854.

(B)      The first two families to return to Pitcairn from Norfolk Island claim they migrated from Norfolk Inland and that Pitcairn Island belongs to them being unoccupied by anyone on their return.

(C)      The second emigration from Norfolk Island claim they returned to land previously belonging to them and failing this that 50 years occupation makes the land they occupy theirs, but by (B) those two families refuse to admit the claims of (C) and state these families only hold their land on trust from them and have no claim to ownership.

(D)      Claim of Norfolk Islanders of the present day to lands left by will or deed, possibly by people who never were on Pitcairn Island, which they consider are being held in trust for them.

      Owing to the close relationship of the families Mr Carey stated the confusion of claims was very hopeless and he asks that definite enquiry be made and that the present Islanders

be given security of their sections of land as already threats of High Court proceedings against some of the Islanders have been made which, of course, they are quite unable to meet, the Norfolk Islanders also having lawyers to strengthen their case if necessary.

      I went carefully into the matter but it is so involved I would submit that as the island is so small and some of the present occupants have barely land enough to support themselves it would have to be considered whether justice would not best be met by a total resumption of the island by the crown then the land be reallocated possibly as held today, without considering the various and often puerile claims made by second families, second wives, second husbands, etc., etc., as the families are so closely connected a fresh start would hurt no one. I have assured the Islanders that this matter would meet with your attention with a view of settling once for all whether the land is theirs or whether they are merely holding it in trust. The Commission issued by the High Commissioner to Mr J. McCoy as registrar seems useless now in view of his travels in the mission schooner as a missionary and might be withdrawn in favour of the Chief Magistrate in office at the tine.

      It would be as well to collect the knowledge of Mr. Carey, the head teacher, upon the land question before he leaves for Australia. He has spent his spare time on the subject and has studied the claims and genealogies until he known more about them than anyone else.

CUTTERS FUND.      At the present moment the points of greatest interest to the Community are the funds of the two cutters "PITCAIRN" and "JOHN ADAMS." The history of these cutters is one of misfortune in the first case and mismanagement in the second and no more pitiful story can he told than the purchase out of subscription funds of a rotten cutter intended for the stormy seas around Pitcairn Island, and it can hardly be wondered at that the Islanders in Council on July the 7th gave it definitely in their opinion that they did not want a cutter again — it was too expensive for them. I agree that a cutter or schooner is useless to them as they have no harbour or anchorage and only produce enough export for one trip a year to Tahiti where the vessel would lie for the remainder of the year. If a trade is established with Henderson Island matters night be different, but it is my considered opinion in support of the decision arrived at that a vessel larger than a whaler is useless to the inland at the present time.

      Now with regard to these funds; —

1st Cutter "PITCAIRN" fund. This cutter was bought by the Consul at Tahiti to annex the dependencies of Pitcairn and was then sold to the Pitcairn Islanders, the Imperial Government advancing £200 for the purpose. The Cutter foundered in a gale in 1904 and was a total loss. Since than the Islanders have been collecting money to pay off the £200, but there still remains £50 to £80 to be repaid. The whole question is confused, though presumably clear enough in the Consulate Office at Tahiti, as there appears to be a fund for the benefit of the islanders providing that the £200 debt for the "PITCAIRN" cutter is repaid by them. I have some

letters on the subject but I am desired to ask that a clear statement of the matter may be forwarded to Pitcairn Island. They have not been able to get a statement of account and it is feared that some value sent to Tahiti has not been credited to them — possibly not received. In addition Mr. Simons has refused them any money for school books, nor have any pigs arrived from New Zealand as directed in the High Commissioners letter dated 20th February 1905. The Islanders submit their statement, which is rather confused, of how the fund stands and ask that they may be informed similarly what the Government state of the account is, whether any money is coming to them and whether they must continue to remit the remainder, which they find difficulty in doing this year owing to so few passing vessels. I would urge that this fund be definitely settled up — it causes annoyance to the Islanders who do not understand that Mr. Simons has probably done his best for them.

2nd cutter "JOHN ADAMS" fund.      On the loss of the first cutter Captain Stubbs, R.N. provided by subscriptions £124 towards a new Cutter, to which the Imperial Government added £150 conditionally. The details of this gift are laid down in the Secretary of State for the Colonies letter to the High Commissioner of the Western Pacific dated 6th of September 1905 and the British Consul at Tahiti's despatch to the Chief Magistrate of Pitcairn No. 17 dated 12 November 1906, the latter being a very interesting document. A cutter was bought by Consul Simons and called the "JOHN ADAMS" and he sent her to Pitcairn Island. The Community finding her rotten returned her to him. He sent her down again and again they returned her (see enclosure). The Magistrate and 7 men then

      came up in her and made the Consul inspect her and he condemned her and sold her for £60 (see enclosure).

      For the Consul's delegate to send a rotten cutter to those waters can only be described as wicked and to waste government and private money as most unfortunate and it is quite clear that the cutter was rotten (see enclosure).

      The point now is that the Islanders want a statement giving all expenses definitely, not giving them "about" so much as stated in one letter, and the way they have been treated has made them rather bitter and I am not surprised and would suggest a careful statement of all monies be made with regard to the fund to see if any of the private money is left to help them pay off the debt incurred by the 1st cutter.

      I submit a statement by Mr Carey relative to his inability to obtain a statement from Mr. Simons the Consul.

      I cannot say that officers or men were altogether pleased with the characteristics of the Islanders. I fancy they are quite comfortably off but they were given a very large quantity of useful things as presents from both ships and further large supplies in payment of produce (goats and pigs) yet all the time they wanted more — more — anything — everything, asking exorbitant prices for their produce and there was not much giving on their part.

      They are very jealous and there was much disputing what was private individual property and what community property —

each person trying to take the lot.

      They wanted blacking for their hair, perfume to make them smell nice, and asked for face cream for their women.

      I thought them ungrateful and grabbing and it is not as if it was necessary as they could well support themselves if they troubled more about their cultivation and I must say Mr Consul Simons wrote most excellent advice to them but it is all neglected.

      Statement of account of Government monies.

A.

      Supply and receipt notes for money and produce brought down.

B.      RETURNS.

Copy of Prison rules.

Copy of school regulations.

Return of Chief Magistrate Council.

Return of Public meetings held.

Return of External Committee report.

Return of Internal Committee report.

Return of Police Court cases report.

1 Birth certificate.

C.

Report on Cutter Fund by Chief Magistrate.

Report on Cutter Fund by Mr. Carey, Head Teacher.

Island 5tatment of Account.

Four receipts received for monies sent to Tahiti.

      Mr Carey visited Tahiti in June 1908. He found Mr.5imons unwell and unable to transact any business regarding Pitcairn Island. Mr. Simons could give no statement of account relative to the Pitcairn Cutter fund, regarding which fund Mr. Carey paid him £41 : 4 : 11 at this time and endeavoured on behalf of the Islanders to find out about the £7 worth of arrowroot and £1 sent down on May 31st 1904 and to get a statement. Nothing could, however, be done and Mr. Simons promised to send the statement on lager — which he did not do.

      Further Mr. Carey asked him to pay for the school requisites on the Island as promised by Mr. Simons and by the High Commissioner and Lords of the Treasury.

      Mr. Simons would allow nothing and no money has been given nor any salary paid Mr. Carey.

      Statements of account are required for

(a) The cutter "PITCAIRN" fund.
(b) The cutter "JOHN ADAMS" fund.

      Mr Carey's estimate of the "PITCAIRN" cutter fund is as follows: —

      Signed in my presence.
                  (sd) Vaughan Lewes.
  8 July 1909

      There have been two cutters.

      The first Cutter "PITCAIRN" bought by Mr. Simons, H.B.Ms. Consul at Tahiti about 1902 to annex Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands. He then handed the cutter over for the benefit of the Pitcairn Islanders but the cutter foundered in 1904 with a loss of one life. When on the Inland 2 years since the Consul said the people would have to pay back the money — something over £200.

      The Community arranged to pay £6 : 13 : 7 each family (there being 30 families) and they have evidently endeavoured to collect the money, but so far only ?? has been paid and, considering the use the cutter was to the Government, they hope to be let off the remainder.

      The second cutter "JOHN ADAMS." Captain Stubbs collected £24 & the Colonial Office £250 and sent it to H.B.Ms Consul at Tahiti. The Consul himself bought a cutter (later Called "JOHN ADAMS") — refitted her and sent her to Pitcairn. On arrival the Community examined her and found her nearly worthless and they sent her back to Tahiti refusing acceptance. The Consul then sent it back a second time and the people refused to accept again and sent it back. Mr McCoy and seven Islanders went with it and requested the Consul to examine it himself. He did so and saw two large holes and the timber and floors rotting clean away. He then condemned it himself and sold her for about £60 which, with the remainder of the original money, he has retained.

      The Consul would not help the Islanders back to Pitcairn and it took them over a year to pay back the money it cost to get back. Since then the Islanders have had no Cutter and are powerless to make any money without it, being unable to get their produce away.

7 July 1909.

      Stated in my presence and in the presence of the Council of the Island, each member of which stated it was the truth.

July 7th 1909.

      Captain Price Vaughan Lewes, C.B., and D.S.O. (1865 – 1914) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was Captain of H.M.S. Cambrian, 3 Sep, 1907 – 7 Sep, 1909.

Document no. 133. July 9, 1909. "Captain Lewes (H.M.S. Cambrian) to W.P.H.C.". Pages 1870 to 1886.

Pitcairn's Island  Notes  Source  Whalesite