Fatal Accident In Wau

Death of Mr. James Stewart

ONE of the best known men on the Morobe Goldfield, New Guinea, Mr.

James Stewart, was accidentally killed in Wau in mid-November.

Mr. Stewart and Mr. Wallie Corden left the lower hotel, in Mr. Corden’s motor-truck, to go to Corden’s place. Mr.

Corden was driving. The truck failed to take a corner, ran off the road, and over turned. Mr. Stewart was very badly in jured, and died three hours later in hos pital, in the presence of his wife and sisters.

Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have been asso ciated with the goldfield since its begin

ning— ever since Mrs. Stewart opened the Bulolo Hotel, at Wau, and “Jim” tried his luck with shovel and dish. He was a happy, companionable type, whom everyone held in high regard. He was gen erous to a fault: many are the men whom he had helped over the stony patches.

He was himself, like all prospectors, a super-optimist, and usually had a mine somewhere which was about to become a Golconda; but such is the irony of life!—it did seem recently that his min ing interests were about to turn out trumps. He was a public-spirited man— no Morobe movement for the public good failed to enlist his support.

There was much public sympathy for Mrs. Stewart. The funeral was the lar gest ever seen in Wau—3o9 Europeans gathered at the graveside. There were three services ordinary, Masonic, and Buffalos. The Hotel Bulolo boys marched to the cemetery in their uniforms, and carried large crosses and wreaths made by them out of flowers. Sixty-five motor vehicles were included in the funeral procession.