408 SECEDERS FROM NORFOLK ISLAND. 
sixteen in number, the parents were the only 
persons over the age of fifteen years. We have 
heard nothing of them since their departure, and 
you can easily imagine how great our anxiety 
is concerning them. During the four or five 
months subsequent to their departure, nothing of 
note transpired beyond the arrival of H.M.S. 
Cordelia, bringing despatches from the Go- 
vernor-General, and a letter from yourself, 
informing me that you had forwarded a box 
containing the articles I mentioned. The next 
letter I received was by Mr. Rossiter, on the 
23d of June, dated January 1st, 1859, and with 
it a package of excellent books from your bene- 
volent Society. Your new year's letter was 
most acceptable. The next letters which came 
to hand arrived through the kindness of Bishop 
Selwyn; and with them the long-announced 
and anxiously-expected box, in good order, and 
everything correct ; the clothing, &c. all ex- 
cellent, and well-fitting. The letters were dated 
July and October, 1858, and had been sent with 
the box on board H.M.S. Elk, to be brought 
hither ; but on her arrival at Auckland she was 
ordered elsewhere, and the things she had on 
board were transferred to the Southern Cross. 
For the books furnished by your Society, and 
contained in this box, I beg leave to offer my 
grateful, my unqualified thanks. The Cate- 
chisms are the helps I have long needed ; that 
is to say, a sufficient quantity of them to form 
classes ; and now that I have so much more 
time to attend to this particular branch of school 
instruction, I think you may well expect me to 
