About Islands People

Rt. Rev. L. S. Kempthorne. Bishop in Polynesia, attended the General Synod of the Church of England at Nelson, New Zealand, in March. He planned to spend part of April in the Cook Islands, to be in Tonga during May, and then visit Western Samoa in June.

Mr. M. A. Condon, assistant geologist of the Australasian Petroleum Co. in Papua, recently returned to Port Moresby, from leave. During his furlough in Australia he was married and his bride accompanied him back to Papua.

Mr. Robert Herbertson died in Queens land on March 1, aged 87. He was one of the last two surviving members of the expedition that went into the ranges at the back of the north coast of New Guinea in 1878 to look for gold and which was decimated by fever. The story was told in the “P.1.M.” some years ago. The only surviving member of the expedition now is Mr. Arthur Peck, of 99 Queen Street, Melbourne. He is 85 years of age and still is in good health.

Mr. Harold Bull, of Burns Philp (S.S.) Co. Ltd., Nukualofa, died recently in Tonga, following a sudden heart attack.

He was well-known in Fiji, having been transferred to Tonga from Levuka only a few months ago.

Nurse Ann Cole left Sydney for Papua in April to act as relief nurse at the Leper and Tuberculosis Hospital. Gemo Island, near Port Moresby, while Sister Fairhall, of the London Missionary Society, proceeds to Australia on short furlough.

Mr. R. Stevens, a member of the Treasury Department’s staff in the N.G.

Administration, arrived in Australia from Rabaul at the end of March, on leave.

Mr. Harold Griffiths, of the Thursday Island Customs Department, has been transferred to Sydney.

Mr. A. Cookson, wireless operator on Ocean Island, has been appointed ad ministrative officer at Hull Island, Phoenix Group, which is now part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.

Mr. Pat Costello, one of the best known commercial and mining men in Fiji, arrived in Sydney by the March “Mon terey” on a short business trip.

Sir Harry Luke, K.C.M.G., Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, from Suva on March 15, cn a holiday visit, accompanied by the acting A.D.C., Lieutenant M. L. Ber nacchi. Sir Harry underwent a short period of health treatment at Rotorua, visited the Centennial Exhibition at Wellington, and then returned to Auck land, sailing for Suva on April 1. During His Excellency’s absence from Fiji, Hon.

John Craig, Colonial Treasurer, acted as Officer Administering the Government.

Mr. E. Wilson, manager of Messrs.

Whitten Brothers’ store at Samarai, Papua, is at present in Sydney on fur lough. He is president of the Samarai Chamber of Commerce, and in that cap acity is energetically attending to a num ber of matters in Sydney.

Mr. Peter Wolfcarius, who formerly was a resident of Papua died in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, in March, after an illness extending over three years.

Mr. Coring Andrews, well-known Islands author, and Mrs, Andrews left Rarotonga by the March “Matua” en route for the United States, on what they hope will prove only a short business trip.

Dr. Robert Fruchtmann, a Polish refugee who has been living in Sydney, will shortly leave for Papua to take up duties at the Methodist Mission’s Hos pital at Salamo.

Mr. B. C. Ballard, British solicitor at Vila, New Hebrides, is spending a short furlough in Melbourne.

Mr. Oscar Newman, the agent of Burns Philp (S.S.) Co., on the island of Ambrym, New Hebrides, is spending a holiday in Norfolk Island with his family.

Father S. Bourke has joined the staff of the Marist Mission in Western Samoa.

MISS P. TALBOT, Sister at the Melanesian Mission Hospital, Fauabu, Malaita, returned to the Solomon Islands by the M.V. “Southern Cross” early in April, after spending furlough in New Zealand since last November.