Mr. Arthur Brander,

Of Tahiti

lyf H. Arthur Brander, who returned to Tahiti a few years ago after an absence of many years abroad, is a mem ber of a family which has made commer cial history in Eastern Polynesia.

Alexander Salmon, his grandfather, went to Tahiti from London about 1827, and on marrying Arii-Taimai, the foster sister of Queen Pomare IV, assumed a position of considerable influence in Tahiti. The Queen specially lifted the interdiction against the marriage of foreigners with Tahitian women so that the couple might wed.

Mr. Brander’s father, a native of Elgin, Scotland, where he was born in 1816, settled in Auckland in 1840. After paying a visit to Tahiti, he was so enraptured with the island that he returned in 1842, and later married a daughter of Alexander Salmon and Arii-Taimai. Another daugh ter was the late ex-Queen Marau, widow of Pomare V. Mr. and Mrs. Brander possessed several estates in Tahiti, and every important visitor at that time was entertained by them. Two of their sons were at school in Sydney at the same time as Queen Marau, It was the custom of their father to send his children to complete their education, either in Aus tralia or in Europe, in one of the family schooners.

Mr. Arthur Brander was sent to the ancient seat of learning at St. Andrews in Scotland. Nowadays, he is the Papeete secretary of the Syndicat d’lnitiative de la Colonie de Tahiti, to give the local Tourist Association its impressive French title.

His brother, Mr. Wini Brander, is still en gaged in mercantile pursuits in French Oceania. Both brothers are noted recon teurs, and have many interesting stories to tell of their early boyhood during one of the most illuminating phases in Tahitian history. Indeed, it is regrettable that their recollections have not been put in book form long ere this.—“Eriki.”