The Annexation.

The "Stella" anchored off the north side of Sunday Island on the 15th August last, and on the 17th Captain Fairchild hoisted the British flag on a staff erected near Mr. Bell's homestead, at the foot of Fleetwood Bluff. The Proclamation annexing the islands^* was then read, and the islands declared part of the Colony of New Zealand, the following persons being present: Islanders: Mr. Thomas Bell, Mrs. Frederica Bell, Miss Henrietta Bell, Miss Bessie Bell, Miss Mary Bell, Miss Frederica Bell, Miss Ada Bell, Master Thomas Bell, Master John Bell, Master Raoul Sunday Bell, Master Henry Bell, Mr. John Avent. Government steamer "Stella": Captain John Fairchild; Second Mate, Norman Henderson; Second Engineer, A. W. Bethune; Seaman A. Reynolds; Seaman William Ashwell; Seaman H. McFarlane; Seaman M. McKenzie; Seaman James Hughes. A. H. Hutton, Treasury Clerk; S. Percy Smith, Assistant-Surveyor-General; H. D. M. Haszard, Assistant-Surveyor; H. Kensington, Chainman; T. F. Cheeseman, Curator Auckland Museum.

The same ceremony was performed at Macauley Island on the 24th August, by erecting a flagstaff, hoisting the British flag, and reading the Proclamation as above, there being present Captain Fairchild, two seamen of "Stella," T. F. Cheeseman, S. Percy Smith, H. D. M. Haszard, H. Kensington; and again at Curtis Island on the morning of the 25th August, the weather being

^* See New Zealand Gazette for 1887, page 954.

page 18 too rough to land, but the anchor being down^* the flag was hoisted and the Proclamation read as before on board the "Stella."