About Islands People

Rev. R. Godfrey, Anglican Archdeacon of Southern Melanesia, arrived in Sydney from Vila, New Hebrides, in December by the Morinda to seek expert ocular at tention.

Mr. T. W. Alport Barker was re-elected Mayor of Suva, Fiji, at a special meeting of the Suva Municipal Council, held on December 5.

Major H. S. N. Robinson, general sec retary and treasurer of the Melanesian Mission, who was secretary of the New Zealand Finance Board of the mission before being transferred from Auckland to the new headquarters at Sydney, will resign shortly. It is understood that he is sorely distressed at the failure of cer tain Sydney authorities to co-operate willingly with him in matters affecting the mission.

Rev. Ian H. Stockdale has resigned from the Anglican Mission in New Guinea and returned to Australia, after two years’ work at Sag Sag, New Britain. At the end of December he was invested by the Bishop of Armidale as Vicar of Nar rabri, N.S.W.

Mrs. A. D. Lelean, wife of Rev. Lelean, Ra, Fiji, arrived in Melbourne by the Monterey on December 7 with her child ren, and is staying at Camberwell. Rev Lelean will join his family in Victoria at the end of this year, and probably will be appointed by the Methodist Mission to circuit work in Australia.

Mr. M. V. Quinn, of New Guinea Gold fields, Ltd., Wau, returned to the Man dated Territory after furlough in Aus tralia by the December Macdhui. He is the hon. secretary of the Wau Progress Association.

Mr. A. S. Gaye, newly-appointed United Kingdom representative of the British Phosphate Commission, arrived in Syd ney by the Monowai on December 31, en route to Nauru and Ocean Islands, on a tour of inspection. He left for Central Pacific at the beginning of January.

Rev. R. L. McDonald, chairman of the Fiji district of the Methodist Church, made a hurried trip to Australia in De cember in connection with matters relat ing to the finances of the Fiji district.

He arrived in Sydney by the Monterey on December 3, and returned to Suva on the same vessel on December 15.

Mr. D. S. Aarons, has been appointed general manager for New South Wales of the Vacuum Oil Co. Pty. Ltd. Formerly he was assistant general manager and has been with the company for 32 years, having served in Melbourne and Western Australia. During the War, Mr. Aarons was in the 16th Battalion and rose to the rank of Captain. He was decorated with the Military Cross and Bar. Mr. J.

D. Rogers is now assistant manager for New South Wales.

Sister E. Field, of Malaita, B.S.I., was in Australia early in December. Later she sailed for New Zealand to spend the remainder of her short furlough in the Dominion. Miss Field is on the staff of the Melanesian Mission Hospital at Mala.

Mr. J. Nason-Jones arrived in Port Moresby from the Lakekamu goldfield, Papua, on December 20. He left the fol lowing week by the Montoro for Sydney on a short holiday. While in Australia he will confer with his directors of Guinea Gold N.L. and acquaint them with the progress made on the extensive pro perties held by them in the Lakekamu area.

Mr. Eric Ramsden, a Sydney journalist and a well-known writer on Polynesian topics, left for Tahiti in December, in company with Mr. C. B. Nordhoff. He will spend several months in the Poly nesian Islands and in New Zealand be fore returning to Sydney.

Nurse Muriel Ward, who returned to Australia from New Guinea early in 1934 owing to ill-health, has now recovered satisfactorily. She left Brisbane to con tinue her work at the Methodist Mission, New Britain, by the Macdhui on De cember 21.

Pastor A. H. Ferris, has retired from work at the Seventh Day Adventist mis sion on Lord Howe Island, where he has been stationed for 25 years. He returned to Australia by the Morinda on December 28. Mr. Ferris’s three sons are S.D.A. missionaries in the South Seas. One is at Ambrym (New Hebrides), another at Suva (Fiji), and the third at Guadalcanal

(B.S.I.),

Mr. H. F. Pearson, Assistant Warden, and Mr. I. W. Morley, Inspector of Mines and Machinery, of the Mining Warden’s staff, Wau, New Guinea, resigned from the service in November. Mr. Morley is the joint author, with Mr. Harold Tay lour (Warden of Morobe goldfields), of a valuable handbook entitled the ‘‘Devel opment of Gold Mining in Morobe, New Guinea.”