Samuel Russell

Dead

Well-known Figure in Tahiti

PAPEETE, August 28.

THE death occurred to-day, from pneu monia, of Mr. Samuel Russell, a well known resident. He had been acting as British Consul here for over a year.

An Appreciation

■JVTEWS of the passing of Samuel Russell, until recently H.M.’s Acting-Consul in French Oceania, will come as a distinct shock to all who knew and enjoyed the friendship of this well-known and popu lar identity in Papeete. Only a few short months ago I sat with him on the veran dah of the Hotel du Diadem and listened as he genially initiated me into the de lights of the Tahitian cuisine. Indeed, there was little pertaining to Tahiti upon which he could not expand—when he had a mind to.

Sam Russell was a man of few words.

Quiet and dignified, typical of the Briton who has wandered into the four quarters of the globe, this Englishman played a difficult role in a foreign com munity and succeeded remarkably well.

From the maelstrom of Tahitian politics (in the eddies of which a foreigner might well come to grief), he kept aloof. Re ward came to him last year when, on the retirement of Dr. Williams he received the highest honour that can be accorded a British resident in Tahiti: and he held that office with quiet, efficient distinction until a successor was appointed by the Foreign Office.

To the Polynesian people he in deed, a friend. Kindly, cheerful, and helpful, he was always ready to give them the benefit of his knowledge and wisdom.

With them, too, he held the common bond of language. To Mrs. Russell (sister to Mrs. Nordhoff, wife of the American novelist), and to members of his family, will be extended the sympathy of all who knew him.

To the newcomer in Tahiti, and par ticularly those of his own race, Sam Rus sell’s experience in the tropics was invaluable. When Lord Beauchamp wanted to rent a mansion in the country or Lady Louis Mountbatten desired to hire a schooner to cruise as far as the Australs, it was to Sam Russell that they applied. But there were others who, like myself, desired neither yachts nor palaces, and to his fellow countrymen he offered the right hand of fellowship and a genial welcome.

What a story he might have written, what tales he might have told! He left home as a lad, served his country in South Africa, went to Tahiti and ate of the mountain plantain and—remained. On that lovely island he spent the best years of his life, and the colourful valley of Pa- Uranie, on the outskirts of Papeete, has now received what is mortal of him.

Papeete had no more interesting spot than Sam Russell’s store. Men whose names are world famous were content to drop in there for a quiet chat with its owner.

Apart from his friendly interest in wan dering Britons, and the courteous manner in which he fulfilled his multifarious duties, Sam Russell has another claim to fame. He was the author of “Tahiti and French Oceania.” In his little book the writer made no claim for literary dis tinction. Yet it filled a long-felt want in

Polynesian literature, and will be a more lasting memorial than any stone placed in Pa-Uranie cemetery. No previous attempt had been made to compile a book of that character relating to French Oceania. Men of acknowledged scientific and literary status such as Charles B.

Nordhoff, James Norman Hall, and Frank Stimson, willingly gave their help to en sure its being, as the author desired, “a reliable source of information for those who contemplate a visit to this compara tively, little known portion of the South Sea.”

Though, in all particulars, it fulfils the essential qualifications of a guide book, there are some exquisite descriptive pas sages within it, written by a sure and able hand; within its pages breathes the spirit of a man, quiet and unobtrusive, who took a simple pleasure in the familiar sights he had known so long, and in the life of the people with whom he was so inti

mately acquainted. Such a man was Samuel Russell.

“Ua iriti e, I te tumu no te Tiare-Tahiti ...” (It is uprooted, The roots of the Tiare-Tahiti . . . ) This fragment from an old Tahitian song will express the grief of those who knew him best. The tree is uprooted. Life’s hurricane has passed. . . .

Eric Ramsden.

Dr. Walter Hellenthal, German Vice- Consul in Sydney, returned from an eight weeks’ tour of Papua and New Guinea by the Montoro on September 1.

Mr. J. M. Mitchell, chief accountant of Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd., New Guinea, is at present spending furlough in Aus tralia, with his wife. Mr. Mitchell was married in Sydney on August 29.