NORFOLK ISLAND.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1868, 30 September 1913, Page 8

NORFOLK ISLAND.

UNDER FEDERAL CONTROL. A ROMANTIC HISTORY. A gem of the ocean, with a strangeVy romantic history—Norfolk Island—is about to pass over to the control of tho Commonwealth. A Bill authorising tho acceptance of.tho island as a torntory has been read a second timo in tho Commonwealth House of Hcprcsentatives, and the measure will bo put into operation 011 a date to be fixed by proclamation. " The preamble of the Hill, according to the "Sydney Morning Herald," states that on September 29, 1844, a Commission issued by Royal authority severed Norfolk Island from tho Government' of New South Wales, and vested its control in the Government of what was then Van Diemen's Land. This lasted until Juno, 1856, when by proclamation tho island bccame a distinct and independent settlement; In 1897 tho island again passod over fully to tho administration of New South Wales, to which it has been attached ever sinco.

In the Gonvlot Days. Norfolk Island, whioh is situated 950 miles east-north-east irom Sydney, and nearly midway between New Zealand and New Caledonia, has a circumference of about 20 miles. It was discovered by Captain Cook iii 1774, but was not inhabited until 14 years later, whon Lieutenant King lauded with a party of 24, mostly convicts, sent by the Governor of Now South Wales. • lu 1806 this settlement was abandoned, and for 20 years tho island was mainly used as a whaling station. From 1826 to 1855 it served as a penal settlement onco more. The worst of the convicts were sotit to the island, and it becamo the scene of indescribable horrors. , When Judge Burton went thero from Sydney in 1834 lie heard no fewer than ISO cases of crime. * Tho proceedings in Court, ho said, "revealed a feature of depravity which it may bo safely asserted no human Judge ever had revealed to liim before." Ho had to deal with practically every crimo in the calendar, and ' the most abominablo of them all. He described the island as "a cage full of unclean animals, full of crimen against God and man, murders and' blasphemies, and all uncleanliness." After tho trials, whon numbers were sentenced to execution, not a few declared their "joy to be rid of that hell," though it was by tho gallows that they made their exit from it.

The Pitcairnors. Tho convicts, who had brought tho island into a high state of cultivation, wtro withdrawn in 1855, and a year later the island wa6 occupied by tho descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty, who had become too numerouß to lind a comfortable subsistence on l'itcaim Island. Some of them did not toko kindly to their now quarters, and made their way back to their old homo. It is this living chain which binds Norfolk to those daring men who 120 years ago threw their captain into an open boat in a little-known sea, and then flung themselves exultantly into i an Arcadian life with a number of Tahitian girls, that will render tho. island's inclusion within the Federation an event of more than ordinary interest to moßt Australians, and associate it witlv a certain amount of sentiment/ The story of John Adams and his fellow-mutineers is too well known to require recapitulation. They had multiplied to such an extent in the early "'Fifties" as to make removal to some larger island imperative. It was either that or starvation. In April, 1855, Captain Frcmantle, of H.M.S. J vino, visited l'itcairn, and, having described Norfolk Island to a mass meeting of the islanders, asked them to say if they would go. A vote was taken, with the result that 153 favoured removal, 34 being against it. The majority, of course, ruled, and the islanders prepared to loavo tho little spot in the Pacific whero for 65 years they had spent so adventurous an existence. Tho snapping of tho tie was keenly felt, and there were many heavy hearts aboard the contract ship Morayshire as she, on May 3, 1806, sailed for Norfolk Island with the Pltcairners aboard. The attitude assumed fcv the Government was in the fullest senso paternal, and tho experimont was watched ■ with a _ sympathetic interest overywhero. Owing to constant intermarriage, most of tho present generation of Pitcairncrs have greatly deteriorated montally and physically, tho easy conditions of their lifo not having, holped them to develop the best qualities. They aro slightly coloured, betraying traces of their _ Tahitian blood, and their speech is peculiarly slow, -their characteristics aro unbounded hospitality and a love of pleasure. A Tropical Gem. Tho island is one of tho most beautiful places in tho Pacific. It has a Inch, cliff-bounded coast, surrounding an elevated tableland of extraordinary fertility. Norfolk Island pine trees dommato the landscape, and all sorts of tropical fruit and other trees grow m profusion. The island is _ tho headquarters of the Melanesian Mission, and is in close communication with the outside world by means of tho "all-red" cablo.