"Van Rees" Laid Up.

fFHE K.P.M. steamer “Van Rees” (3,000 tons), which was one of the two ships to inaugurate the South Pacific Line’s service from Dutch East Indies to N.Z. and Australia, via Pacific Islands ports, was laid up in Batavia on her arrival there early in January.

She has been replaced temporarily by the S.S. “Swartenhondt” (5,084 tons). In July, the “Tasman” (4,993 tons), which recently has been in the East African service after carrying on the Java-Australia run a few years ago, will permanently replace her.

The new motor-ship “Maetsuycker” (4,000 tons), the second unit in the South Pacific Line’s service, was over hauled in Batavia in December. She has now taken up her schedule again.

A Fijian man and woman were found guilty in December of the murder of the woman’s husband in the Lautoka District. Crime of this kind, based on the eternal triangle, is very rare among Fijians. The two murderers were sen tenced to death. They took the sentence calmly, although the woman wept quietly. The man was executed in Suva gaol. The woman’s sentence was com muted to 20 years’ penal servitude.

Mr. Neil C. Elliott, Cadet in the N.G.

District Services, spent furlough in Melbourne in early January with his mother, Mrs. Elliott, widow of Major- General H. E. (“Pompey”) Elliott.

Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Spicer and their two children, who live at Vavau, Tonga, where Mr. Spicer is manager for Morris, Hedstrom, Ltd., arrived in New’

Zealand by the December “Matua”.

Rev. B. Chenoweth, of Kavieng, New Guinea, and his wife, are spending fur lough in South Australia. A Methodist missionary, he has given 14 years of service in the Territory, most of it on New Ireland.

Mr. Reginald Douglas, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. E. Douglas, of Nagilai, Fiji, married Miss Phyllis Seagar, of New Zealand, at Taveuni on December 11. They have made their home on Rabi Island.

Warrant Officer Arthur W. Worman, a well-known and respected member of the N.G. Police Force, died at Rand wick, Sydney, on December 25. Joining the Force in 1930, he had since been stationed at Rabaul.