Pitcairn's Island  Notes  Source  Whalesite

No. 30.

PITCAIRN ISLAND.

      On the 26th of February last, your Excellency instructed me to proceed to Pitcairn Island in order to enquire into its general state of affairs, and I have now the honour to submit the following report on the situation as I found it on my arrival there on the 14th May last, and of the measures adopted by me in consequence.

      The Government of Pitcairn Island was formerly conducted by a magistrate assisted by a council of two persons, but "owing to lack of strength and firmness on the part of Government officers" the people became dissatisfied, and on the 3rd October, 1892, Captain Rooke, of H.M.S. "Champion," suggested a change. On his recommendation a president, vice-president, and a judge, and seven members of Parliament, charged "with power to legislate, to plan for the public good, to execute the decisions of the court, and to see that public demands are speedily attended to," were elected by the islanders in the belief that "a larger number of officers will tend to make a stronger Government, and that plans for the public welfare will be executed with greater success." For some time this method of administration worked harmoniously enough, and it is only within the past two or three years that inquietude has been manifest. During my visit to the island, I perceived that the functions of the members of Parliament had become merged in those of the president; that the judges annually elected were oftentimes incompetent to deal with the matters brought

before them, and frequently incapable of enforcing their decisions; that jealousies amongst the officials had become rife, and that, in view of the general laxity observable, a radical change was necessary. Accordingly, before my departure from Pitcairn Island, and in accordance with your Excellency's instructions of the 26th February last, I inaugurated a new system of government, based on the requirements of the community as I found it, the particulars of which I shall have the honour to communicate to to your Excellency under separate cover.

      Your Excellency is aware that Mr. Alfred Young had been elected President of the community for the current year, in the place of Mr. McCoy, who had previously held the position for a period of six consecutive years. On enquiry, I learned that this change has come about in consequence of the people's confidence in Mr. McCoy having been somewhat shaken under the following, circumstances: —

1. That, as a prominent member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church intimately connected with the Foreign Mission Board of that sect of religionists, Mr. McCoy had found his duties in relation to that body more deserving of attention than the interests and well-being of the islanders.

2. That, in his dealings with the people, Mr. McCoy had gradually become autocratic and arbitrary.

3. That, under Mr. McCoy's presidency, the government of the Island, and the proper administration of justice, had been neglected; and,

4. That, in his relations with me, Mr. McCoy had frequently misrepresented the views, desires, and demeanour of the islanders, and equally misled them in regard to my efforts on their behalf, especially in the matter of the cutter "Pitcairn."

      Having. always had a high opinion of Mr. McCoy's discretion, I endeavoured to explain away these allegations; but so many proofs were forthcoming, and the general discontent of the people was so obvious that I could but conclude that the community had done wisely in superseding him, if only for a time. The Pitcairn people admit that Mr. McCoy has done much for them in the past, and that at one period his administration of the island had been satisfactory. But they insist that during the past two or three years, he has assumed towards them an attitude incompatible with his position as a member of the

community; and I fear that their contention is not without foundation. Now that I am acquainted with many matters hitherto unknown to me, I am of opinion that Mr. McCoy has become somewhat inflated in consequence of his status among the Adventists in America, and of the deference shown to him as President of Pitcairn Island in his travels abroad. He has doubtless learned to consider himself indispensable in the latter capacity, and probably, for reasons of their own, the Elders of the Adventist Church have encouraged him in that conceit. However this may be, in the circumstances I can no longer venture to recommend Mr. McCoy's recognition by His Majesty's Government as permanent Chief Magistrate of Pitcairn Island. As now advised, it is more desirable in my judgment that he be re-elected to that position by the people — a not unlikely contingency in view of his intelligence and personality, and the fact that he is not entirely without local influence. His abilities are excellent, and should further benefit the community if employed and controlled under the new system of government inaugurated by me. With regard to the charges of misappropriation of certain funds alleged against Mr. McCoy, charges already known to your Excellency, I was able, after due investigation, to convince the people that their accusation had no substantial support. I was bound to admit, however, that he had laid himself open to suspicion in consequence of his disinclination to render detailed accounts, or to afford satisfactory explanations in regard to the matters complained of.

      Your Excellency is aware that Mr. McCoy has frequently complained of the conduct of Mr. Petch. Accordingly I proceeded to Pitcairn Island under the apprehension that I was called upon to deal with a person dangerous to the welfare of the community. On my arrival, however, I was agreeably surprised to find Mr. Petch quietly conducting the only school on the island, respected by all, and on the most friendly terms with the president, and with Mr. McCoy himself. On investigating the charges against him, I could not perceive that Mr. Petch had committed offences deserving punishment, or deportation. He admitted that in his utterances, and otherwise, he may have acted hastily and without proper consideration, but suggested that my investigation on the spot must have shown that vigorous protest against existing abuses had at times been necessary. Before my departure from Pitcairn, I was persuaded that Mr. Petch's commercial abilities and education should be utilised for the benefit of the islanders, and, therefore, I have considered it advisable to appoint him to a suitable position in the new administration.

      The new president is neither as well educated, nor as intelligent as Mr. McCoy. But in his dealings with me, I found him practical, energetic, willing, and apparently anxious to correct existing evils. Although his moral conduct in the past has not been without reproach, I have seen no sufficient reason for his removal from the position as chief of the community, to which he has been elected by the people for a season.

      The Pitcairn islanders number 77 males and 92 females, including children and infants, of whom 68 males and 73 females are now resident on the island. They are a hardworking people, more or less healthy, exhibiting certain vicious tendencies which religion has been unable to eradicate. Many of them are narrow-minded and unstable. They have adopted an extraordinary "patois" (derived from the language of the Tahitian women who accompanied the mutineers of the "Bounty" to Pitcairn Island), which is employed in conversation among themselves, although most of the adults can speak the English language fairly well – in some instances very well, considering their circumstances and environment. There are persons of ability among them, but a few appear to be lacking in intelligence. The children and young people are numerous, and, if properly cared for, should turn out useful members of the community.

      With regard to the morals of the islanders, in the aggregate I fear I can say little in their favour. Fornication, adultery, illegitimate children, petty thefts, brawls, bad language, etc., are faults among them (happily they do not use intoxicants), and it was disquieting to learn that the laws and regulations dealing with those offences had seldom been enforced. Indeed, the general laxity has been so great, that abortion by means of drugs and instruments of local contrivance was not of infrequent occurrence. I have made provision for the punishment of that, and of other crimes in the future.

      On arrival at Mangareva, on my way to Pitcairn, the Administrator of the Gambiers, a gentleman born and educated in the Island of Mauritius, who is also in medical charge of the

islands under his administrative control, mentioned to me that during the past two years many of the Pitcairn women and girls had visited Mangareva where venereal diseases are prevalent, and that, in consequence, he feared that some of them had contracted those complaints, and had introduced them into their island. Dr. Cassian further expressed his interest in the Pitcairn Island community, and generously proffered his medical services without remuneration, provided that those afflicted would go up to him for treatment. Accordingly, having ascertained after my arrival at Pitcairn that a few such cases were existent on the island, I made known. Dr. Cassian's kindly proposal and invited the sufferers to accompany me back to Mangareva. None, however, responded to my appeal, and I can only surmise that the persons in question have preferred to go up in the cutter. I also found at Pitcairn Island consumption, lupus, glandular swellings, asthma, and various forms of skin disease. These cases will likewise be taken in hand by Dr. Cassian under the conditions mentioned, and it is to be hoped that the islanders will appreciate and will not fail to take advantage of that gentleman's benevolent solicitude for their welfare. I discovered no deformities among the people, but the front teeth of most of them are bad — the only visible result of their intermarriage with each other.

      Some years ago the Pitcairn Island community embraced the faith of the Seventh Day Adventists, a religions sect having its origin and headquarters in the United States. On their Sabbath day, in the observance of which they are scrupulous, the Pitcairn islanders, dressed in their best and looking clean and wholesome, make a favourable impression. They are exemplary in their attendance at weekday prayer meeting's and Church gatherings; but, nevertheless, vulgar stories and exclamations and obscene songs are not unknown to them; and it is an alleged fact that, on suitable occasions, women will accompany the men on board of passing ships ostensibly to sell curios, but in reality for immoral purposes. The Pitcarin people contribute ten per cent. of their produce and of any moneys they may receive as a tithe to the Church, and they pay subscriptions to the Sabbath School and other religious funds. I understand that the produce so contributed is sold, and the proceeds, together with other cash collections, are forwarded to the Foreign Mission Board of the Adventists in America.

      Formerly Miss Rosalind Young (a copy of whose book on Pitcairn Island I have the honour to forward under separate

cover for your Excellency's information) undertook, with minimum success, the education of the Pitcairn islanders. In the year 1893, however, the Adventists established schools in the island, and instructed adults and children alike. The American teacher employed was properly qualified, and produced excellent results until she was withdrawn in 1896, since which date the schools have been neglected, and to-day the young people are up practically in ignorance. Mr. Petch (who has no experience in school work) and Miss Rosalind Young are doing their best in the limited time at their disposal; for in order to provide for themselves and for others dependent upon them, these persons are compelled to take their share in the general work of the island. The narrow-mindedness and seeming lack of intelligence noticeable in may of the Pitcairn people are more due to ignorance, I think, than to any mental infirmity; and there are now on the island about 40 males amd 30 females, ranging from one to seventeen years of age, in need of education and attention. In these circumstances, the question of their present and future welfare is difficult of solution, unless, indeed, your Excellency could in some way come to their aid. It has occurred to me in this connection that, provided the necessary funds were forthcoming, it might not not be difficult to find a teacher accustomed to island life, who, for a time, and for a moderate remuneration, would be willing to undertake the control and education of the younger members of the Pitcairn Island community. Such a person need not necessarily be a white; the islanders would doubtless furnish him with suitable lodging (unfurnished) and with partial board, and Miss Rosalind Young, might be engaged at a salary of, say, £15 per annum to take charge of the girls under his supervision. I submit these suggestions with much hesitation, in view of the charge which they involve on the High Commission or other public funds; but the question appears to me to be urgent, and as the islanders are too poor at present to move in the matter, I can see no other satisfactory way of meeting it.

      The Pitcairn islanders are given to exaggerate their financial position. As a matter of fact, under existing conditions they are a poor people — among the poorest in this region, for they have no copra or shell for disposal, and the success of their husbandry is often precarious in consequence of the infrequency of rain. During the past two years, thanks to the cutter, they have sold at Mangareva produce to the value of about £300, to passing ships they have disposed of vegetables and fruits to the value of £60, making a total of about £360, or at the rate of £180 per annum. Out of this sum they have provided clothing for the women and children, underclothing for the men and boys, kerosene oil, soap, candles, flour, tinned meat,

and other necessaries, besides paying the Church tithes, subscriptions and instalments (now amounting to over £60) towards the repayment of the £200 loaned to them by His Majesty's Government. In addition to the foregoing, they have disposed of produce sufficient to defray the working expenses of the cutter, and to procure men's heavier clothing, and other things from passing ships. I observed that their stock of chickens is small, and I ascertained that beyond wild goats, of which there are about 200, there are no animals suitable for food on the island. The islanders cultivate for their own consumption and for commercial purposes sweet potatoes, yams, taro, melons, and pumpkins; and the fruits consist of oranges, bananas, and pineapples. Arrowroot, which they cultivate and prepare in limited quantities with much labour and by primitive methods, is their chief source of revenue. Men and women alike take part in the cultivation of the fields, and I was much interested in observing Thursday October Christian, a man of 85 years of age and the oldest resident on the island, do as good a day's work in the open as any of them. Their houses are built of native wood, cut and prepared laboriously and are thatched with the leaf of the pandanus palm.

      Some years ago, before they adopted the Adventist faith, the islanders possessed many pigs. To-day there are none on the island, but I have recommended the people to start breeding them without delay for ultimate disposal at Tahiti, where they are now worth about £40 per ton, and are always in demand in practically unlimited quantities. Coffee grows luxuriantly at Pitcairn, and the little brought up to Mangareva from time to time has been declared by purchasers to be much superior in quality to that produced in the Cook and Society Groups. I have, therefore, urged its extensive cultivation and preparation for shipment to Tahiti, where it would probably fetch about £25 per ton in quantities not exceeding at present 50 tons per annum. The islanders expressed their anxiety to follow out my suggestions, and probably by this time they have started planting more coffee trees and procured, perhaps, a boar and a sow or two for breeding purposes from Mangareva, where, unfortunately, they are scarce, expensive, and of a poor kind. Once the islanders have pigs and coffee for export it would be an easy matter, I believe, to arrange for direct communication between Tahiti and Pitcairn Islands; and I am confident that by means of these enterprises, the Pitcairn people will ultimately be able to acquire a vessel of their own, suitable to that traffic. Moreover, from the revenues to be derived from those pursuits, the islanders should in time be able to procure machinery and appliances adapted to the extensive manufacture of arrowroot, which is of excellent guality at Pitcairn, and worth commercially about £12 per ton. I am advised that, under

favourable conditions, the islanders could produce and prepare about 250 tons per annum; and there would be but little difficulty, I imagine, in disposing of that quantity annually in California, New Zealand, and Australia by way of Tahiti. Pitcairn Island, it would seem, probably on account of its formation and geographical position, cannot produce cocoanuts adapted to the manufacture of copra.

      The future prosperity and well-being of the Pitcairn people depend entirely upon their ability to maintain communication with the neighbouring islands, especially with Tahiti, the only market available in this region for their more important products. At present, the cutter owned by the islanders, a small vessel of 14 tons, plys more or less regularly between Pitcairn and Mangareva, whence communication with Tahiti and elsewhere may be obtained at intervals of about three months. At Pitcairn Island, however, there is no anchorage, except occasionally in very calm weather; the voyage between it and Mangareva is often long and boisterous, and no docking facilities are to be had at either place, consequently the little vessel is worn and somewhat strained, and its durability is merely a question of time. It is of importance, therefore, that the islanders should be in a position to replace the cutter, when unseaworthy, by a larger and more useful vessel; and the means by which that end may be attained, are disclosed in the preceding paragraph. But, although the people appear willing and anxious enough to carry out my suggestions, there is no doubt that their energies and foresight are crippled by their indigence, and I fear that they are not likely to move strenuously in the directions indicated unless encouraged to do so. I have, therefore, the honour to express the opinion that if the islanders could be relieved of their liability to His Majesty's Government — the £200 loaned to them in 1902 by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury for the purchase and equipment of the cutter referred to^* — they would not only recognize and appreciate the clemency shown to them, but would also be stimulated to exertions which should lead to their greater prosperity and to their ultimate possession of a vessel adapted to direct traffic with Tahiti. So strongly do I feel that this concession would occasion the results mentioned, that I beg respectfully and earnestly to solicit your Excellency's kindly aid in the matter, in order that, should you see no reason to the contrary, the question may be suitably submitted for the consideration of His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. In the event of a favourable response, I should be grateful if your Excellency would authorize me to utilize

the monies already refunded on that account, in the purchase and transport of a few good New Zealand pigs, for breeding purposes at Pitcairn Island.

      Finally, I have the honour to transmit herewith for your Excellency's information a memorandum^* recording the present division of land at Pitcairn Island, based on the original allotments of the mutineers of the "Bounty."

      His Excellency
            The High Commissioner
                        for the Western Pacific.

      The following recent reports relating to His Majesty's Colonial Possessions have been issued, and may be obtained from the sources indicated on the title page: —

      Robert Teesdale Simons (1856 - 1936) was a British diplomat. He was the Consuls in Tahiti from 1894 until 1908. From September 29, 1903 he was also deputy high commissioner for Western Pacific. After Tahiti, Simons was His Majesty's Consul for the Island of New Caledonia and its dependencies and resided at Noumea. One of his early appointments (1887) was as Vice Consul in Sudan posted to the port city of Suakin. British administration of Pitcairn between 1894 and 1920 was through the Consul at Tahiti. Simons was the first with this responsibility.

R. T. Simons.
      Pitcairn Island. Report, by Mr. R.T. Simons. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty. April, 1905.
His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1905
12 p. ; In-8°
(Colonial reports. Miscellaneous. No. 30)
(Cd. 2397)

(also as: Document no. 124. April 1905. "Pitcairn Island, Report by R. T. Simons". Pages 1788 to 1799.)

Pitcairn's Island  Notes  Source  Whalesite