Personal

Mrs. Emma Radke, of Tanunda, South Australia, has been informed by United States authorities that her husband, Mr.

P. Radke, her sister, and her sister’s hus band, Mr. T. G. Braun, are prisoners in the hands of the Japanese. They were Lutheran missionaries, serving in the Madang district, of New Guinea, when the Japanese occupied the area.

Mr. R. A. Laws, of Wau, New Guinea, who suffered a serious illness last year, is now completely recovered, and is do ing a useful job of work for the American Red Cross. When he became ill, about last May, he had to dispose of the busi ness which he had purchased, near Sydney, in the Parramatta district. Mr.

Laws is at present living in Cremorne, Sydney, but he entertains hopes of mov ing northwards fairly soon.

Mr. Bernard Lee, formerly in charge of the powerhouse at Samarai, Papua, and now of ANGAU, was married in Sydney in March, to a New Zealand girl. He returned to Papua a fortnight ago.

Mr. E. E. Washington, who has been filling a post in the Department of Ex ternal Territories, Sydney, since the Japanese invasion, has now gone to an important job on the staff of the Depart ment of the Interior, Brisbane.

Amongst the wounded soldiers recently arrived in New Zealand fromTEe Middle East are two former residents of Western Samoa, who enlisted there. They are: Dick Jessop, formerly of Burns Philp office staff, and R. Katterns, a planter. Henry Krone, also of Burns Philp office staff, and now a sergeant in the New Zealand Forces, in Fiji, recently enjoyed several months’ furlough in Apia and has now returned to Fiji.

Mr. Alfred Herrick, well-known ship ping and customs agent in Suva, Fiji, with Mrs. Herrick, is spending an over due furlough with their son, Mr. A. J.

Herrick, who is on the staff of the Bank of New Zealand at Masterton, New Zealand.

Captain A. R. W. Robertson, who has been acting as Colonial Secretary of Fiji, was appointed to act as Governor’s Deputy during the absence of Mr. A. T. New boult, Colonial Secretary.

A queer kind of fate dogs Mr. and Mrs.

Frank Exon, of Suva. They left Sydney recently per flying-boat, for Auckland.

Something went wrong with the engines, and plane and passengers rode the Tas man’s sad sea waves for many hours until they were picked up by the Navy. The last time they went from Sydney to Suva they were on the “Niagara,” which was sunk by a mine off Auckland, and they spent some time in a lifeboat before being similarly rescued.