Kirchner

Death of Mr. F. H. E.

ALL those acquainted with the kindly and courteous Franz Hermann Edward Kirchner, who had been a resi dent of New Guinea since 1905, and who was a naturalised British subject, will regret to learn that he died in St. Vin cent’s Hospital, Sydney, on September 16, following a stroke. He was 70 years old.

Mr. Kirchner travelled to Sydney at the end of August, and he was distressed by the outbreak of war between Britain and Germany. He had had a varied and adventurous life, and many misfortunes had come upon him as a result of war.

He went to South Africa from Germany when a young man, and had success fully established himself in business in Johannesburg when the outbreak of the Boer War destroyed practically all that he had. He was then, for some time, in India; and, later, he established a busi ness in Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia, but this also was not a success.

After a short period in Sydney he went to N.G. in 1905, and eventually be came prominently associated with the well-known Forsayth organisation. He was director in Kavieng of Messrs. For sayth, Kirchner &' Co., which prospered exceedingly under his untiring manage ment. But again war destroyed all that he had built, and in 1914 he came to Sydney, where he was engaged in business for some years. He went back to New Guinea at the end of the Great War, and engaged modestly in business on his own account, and as the manager of various companies, especially gold-mining con cerns. Two years ago he was appointed Translator in the Land Titles Depart ment, in Rabaul, and he was held in high esteem by all who knew him there. His wife and son had predeceased him and, apparently, he was quite alone in the world.