Broadcast By Sir

Harry Luke

Tribute to Solomons RC

SIR HARRY LUKE, former Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, was the speaker in the BBC programme, “Calling the Islands” broadcast on December 16, re ports the “Fiji Times.”

His trip from Fiji to England had been uneventful, said Sir Harry; but, coming from a land of plenty, he had been im pressed by the strict rationing in Britain, not only of food and drink, but of clothes and even of soap. The city of London had been tidied up, and the damage to be seen was not as great as he had ex pected. Air-raids were rather in abey ance at that time, but nonetheless he had heard his first siren within 24 hours of his arrival.

Criticism of British Colonial adminis tration had greatly stimulated public interest in the colonies, and he had been called upon to do a great deal of lectur ing, broadcasting and public speaking since his return. He had addressed private meetings of both Houses of Par liament, had spoken before the Royal Empire Society and Overseas League and, only that day, he had a two column article published as a leader in the “Times.” On all these occasions he has stressed the importance of the ex tension of the Central Medical School in Suva.

The well-deserved honours bestowed on Lieut.-Colonel Marchant and other officers in the Solomon Islands had been welcomed by him, and by everyone in Britain who was interested in colonial matters, said Sir Harry. The people of BSI, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, Mr. Blandy (RC in the New Hebrides), his French colleagues there, and the people of the New Hebrides, were in the minds of British people at the present time.

Sergeant-Pilot Basil Chalmers, RAF, who left Fiji with the first contingent of Air Force recruits, is at present an in structor in an RAF Flying Training School in Southern Rhodesia. He has announced his engagement to Miss P.

Richards-Edwards, of Bulawayo.