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] [Footnote 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.”