According to a 1903 article in "The Timaru Herald", Ross " his little colony on model lines and succeeded beyond expectation" and Charles Darwin mentioned after his 1836 visit with HMS "Beagle" that he "found the natives in a state of freedom". However, the article omitted the sentence that immediately followed: "but in most other points they are considered as slaves". Ross traded with Dutch vessels enroute to Dutch ports on Java and Sumatra, and became a naturalised Dutch subject; he had approached both the British and the Dutch government for annexation but neither had responded.