THE RELIEF OF TRISTAN DA. CUNHA.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR...I Sri, —The recent efforts to assist the inhabitants of this lonely South Atlantic island have brought about a widened public interest in them, and it is thought that advantage should be taken of the fact to place the movement on a firmer footing. For the advancement of the cause, it is matter for no small satisfaction that it can now be announced that the President for the time being of the Royal Geographical Society and the Chairman for the time being of the Council of the Royal Colonial Institute will act as Joint ex-officio trustees of the fund, and the account—the Tristan da Cunha Fund—at the National Provincial and Union Bank of England, 15 Bishopsgate Street, E.C. 2, will stand henceforth in their names. It is recognized that the islanders accept privations as of the settled order of their existence, and it is desired to leave the general character of the settlement unimpaired. What it is sought to do is to mitigate the less tolerable of their privations, and what these are the recently published reports. of the Rev. H. M. Rogers and Commander Wild serve to show.
While the means are now sought for the relief of immediate wants, the main purpose of the movement is to solve the difficult question of communications. For with intercourse assured and visits announced ahead, those necessaries of life which the island cannot itself produce may soon become the subject of exchange for its own products in the way of trade, and what is the real impediment to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in maintaining the mission—namely, the want of the means of passage for its clergy—will be removed. After the difficulties which have been overcome, it is now a matter of actual demonstration that there is nothing in these aims which is insurmountable.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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