Death Of Fiji Pioneer
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
Mr. Herbert Charles Swann
a period of 70 years—from 1868 until 1938 —Mr. Herbert Charles Swann was a resident of Fiji, and he saw that important group change from “The Cannibal Isles” into one of the leading Colonies of the - British Empire.
He was born in New Zealand, and went to Fiji with his parents when only a few weeks old. During his life, he was en gaged in coconut planting and inter- Island trading, and for many years he t*as a member of the staff of Messrs.
Burns, Philp & Co., Ltd., Levuka. It was Mr. Swann’s father, the late Mr. James Sutler Swann, who established the busi ness of a retail chemist in Levuka, about 1870, and who, with members of his family, extended the business to Samoa and to Suva in later years. Although a number of generations have come and gone, Swann’s big business is still in existence, and the shop is one of the landmarks of Suva to-day.
Mr. H. C. Swann, two years ago, re tired from Fiji, at the age of 70, and he died in Auckland, at the residence of his son, last month. He is survi/ed by his wife, nine children, 23 grand-children, and 4 great-grand-children.