Death Of R. F.

Brechin

Man Who Did Valuable Agricul tural Work in New Guinea

NEW Guinea people will learn with deep regret of the death, in an acci dental aeroplane crash on June 17, of Warrant-Officer R. F. Brechin, of the New Guinea Force.

Mr. Brechin was an inspector and instructor in the New Guinea Depart ment of Agriculture, and he had been for some years in charge of the Depart ment’s experimental station, established on the Upper Ramu (mainland) table land by Mr. George Murray (Director of the Department, missing since the Jap invasion of Rabaul).

The Ramu station was put there to find out what the newly-discovered uplands of Central New Guinea could produce, and young Brechin threw him self heart and soul into the fascinating job. The extreme isolation of the post did not discourage him or his attractive young wife —their enthusiasm for the work was too great for that—but it is a fact that they were greatly discour aged, at times, by the apparent indiffer ence of the Administration towards their experimental work. There was a period when —according to private letters writ ten by Mr. Brechin, which we have seen —the experimental station was kept going only through the grim determina tion of Mr. Murray that his plan for proving the agricultural value of the central plateaus should not be swept away.

A little time before the war, the Gov ernor-General, Lord Gowrie, paid an official visit to the Ramu station, and this broad-visioned man was intensely interested in Mr. Brechin’s work. He was shown that such tropical products as tea and quinine could be grown there, and at the same time he was presented with the luscious fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone. When Lord Gowrie returned to Sydney, he asked for additional information about the work of the Ramu station, and about the tableland generally.

After that, Mr. Brechin enjoyed the definite goodwill of New Guinea official dom; and, had it not been for the war, the fine pioneering work of Mr. Murray and Mr. Brechin probably would have led the way towards a policy of agricul tural development in Central New Guinea.

Mr. Brechin’s work will not be lost.

Central New Guinea definitely has a future, and Mr. Brechin’s name will be linked with it. But his experience—and, above all, his enthusiasm and his belief in the possibilities of the Ramu-Purari country—will be sadly missed.

He was the only son of Mr. and Mrs.

N. Brechin, of Gurney Road, Dulwich, and he leaves a young widow and a baby son.