About two months after the new settlers had arrived, the bishop of New Zealand visited Norfolk Island in his yacht Southern Cross, bringing a large supply of flour and other necessary things for the people’s immediate wants. He had come to the island a short time before, but as the Morayshire had not yet arrived, had returned to New Zealand. Now, on this second trip, he had brought his lady with him, and also his chaplain, the Rev. J. C. Patteson, who was destined to become a martyr to the cause he loved.
Mrs. Selwyn remained on Norfolk Island, while the bishop went back to his labors. She soon won the hearts of the people, and gave much assistance in teaching in the day school as well as in the Sunday school. She tried to impress upon the minds of the young women and girls whom she taught, the importance of practicing habits of cleanliness and industry while young, teaching them also how to cook. This energetic lady was not satisfied with merely giving instruction, but would frequently visit her scholars at their homes to see whether those instructions had been followed or not. In this way more lasting good was accomplished, and much real benefit resulted from her patient and conscientious labors.
When the Pitcairn islanders first came into possession of Norfolk Island, they understood that the island belonged to them, for so had they interpreted the letter sent them before their removal, by Sir William Denison, the governor at that time of New South Wales. On arriving at their new home they found that two men were already there to divide the land among the new arrivals. These latter quietly informed them that their services were not needed, as the islanders were able to manage for themselves. The two men left on the Morayshire, and, having reported to the proper authorities, two other surveyors were promptly dispatched to Norfolk Island with orders to measure the entire island and divide it into fifty-acre lots. Each family had fifty acres to a share, a rather smaller portion than they had at first shared out among themselves. Subsequently, when the governor himself visited the island, his letter was shown him as sufficient authority to justify the people in the course they had taken. This document he calmly got possession of, and remarked something to the effect that matters were somewhat changed since the letter was penned.[5]
[5] The possession of Norfolk Island was a much-mooted question. When Bishop Selwyn was in charge of New Zealand as his diocese, it was his wish to remove the headquarters of the Melanesian Mission to Norfolk Island, but neither the Pitcairn Island committee at home, nor the governor of New South Wales, Sir W. Denison, deemed it best that it should be so. Some few years later, when Bishop Patteson was head of the mission, the matter was again brought up. While some of the people were in favor of the movement, others strongly opposed it, but the matter was finally settled by the bishop’s purchasing several thousand acres of land, being granted permission to do so by Sir John Young, governor of New South Wales, he having been so authorized by the home government. Thus was the desire of Bishop Selwyn’s heart fulfilled in the removal of the Melanesian Mission from New Zealand to Norfolk Island.
When His Excellency Lord Augustus Loftus made an official visit to Norfolk Island in 1884, he sought to remove the impression “tenaciously held” by the people that the island was entirely theirs, and spoke very plainly to them respecting the use and abuse of the island, dwelling strongly on the fact that so many trees should be suffered to be cut down without planting others in their stead.
On Sir William’s next visit to Norfolk Island he informed the people that a schoolmaster and a miller with their families were then on their way from England to settle amongst them. There were, besides, a shoemaker and a stone mason. “But,” added the governor, “I stopped the shoemaker in Sydney, for I did not like the looks of the man.”
A letter had been written to the people about this time by their old friend the Baron de Thierry, then residing in Auckland. It contained such sound advice and good counsel to the people respecting their right use of the many privileges accorded them, that Sir William declared it “worthy a place in the archives of the island.” The governor himself gave much wise counsel to the people, and encouraged them to exert themselves to the best of their ability in the discharge of their several duties in the untried life that lay before them, showing how much depended upon their own efforts to insure success in the general improvement of themselves and their surroundings.
In due time the expected party from England arrived. The school, which was then kept by Simon Young, was immediately given into the hands of Mr. Thomas Rossiter. He was an excellent disciplinarian, and proved himself fully qualified to assume the task of managing and controlling the children, who often tried his patience. One of the spacious rooms on the second floor of the new barracks had been converted into a schoolroom, and here, once every week, Mr. Nobbs, for several years, was in the habit of visiting the children for the purpose of giving some religious instruction. This consisted principally in thoroughly grounding them in the teachings of the church catechism, and putting the more advanced pupils through a series of questions and answers preparatory to their becoming candidates for confirmation.
Mr. Rossiter, while engaged in his daily duties as schoolmaster, also encouraged the people to apply themselves to the cultivation of the land, and to raise field and garden products for the yearly show which he instituted. Both by advice and example he won encouraging success. Under his skillful hand the wild confusion of the neglected government garden gave place to order and beauty, and the rich, ripe clusters of luscious grapes bore witness to the careful attention that was bestowed on them.