i n N ew -| re |and

Stevenson Relics lost i n N ew -| re |and

SOME of the last relics of Robert Louis Stevenson’s sojourn' in the Pacific were lost in the Japanese invasion of New Guinea. They were articles of furni ture, and were the property of Mr. H. L.

Schultze, of Titingo Plantation, New Ireland.

There were two wardrobes, a glass cabinet and a great four-poster bed, all carved distinctively and made in the heavy fashion of the Victorian period.

Stevenson lived in Samoa between 1890 and 1894; and about that time the viva cious and attractive Emma Coe (Mrs.

E. E. Forsayth), who had established her self in New Britain as the rich and in fluential “Queen Emma,” visited her re lations in Samoa. The colourful person ality of “Queen Emma” greatly intrigued Stevenson; and he made a gift to her of this richlv carved suite of furniture-.

Mrs. Forsayth took the furniture back to New Britain. She bequeathed the suite to one of her nieces, Mrs. Edith Kaufmann—Mrs. Kaufmann’s mother was Carolina Coe. Years later, Mrs. Kauf mann presented the furniture to Mr. apd Mrs. Schultze. Mr. Schultze’s mother was Mrs. Kaufmann’s sister.

The Schultzes left New Ireland late in 1941, and when the Japs came in, their plantation home and everything in it was completely destroyed.

Mr. Schultze enlisted in the AIF. Some time later, to his astonishment, he was discharged, because he “was not a British subject and was an enemy alien.”

His father had become a naturalised British subject in Queensland, in 1896, and his children, therefore, assumed they were British. But Mr. Schultze had not re-applied for naturalisation after Aus tralia became a Commonwealth, and the children had not lived for any time in Australia, and therefore, according to this unexpected interpretation of the law, although their father remained British, they were aliens. Mr. Schultze has now formally applied for naturalisation.

Archdeacon and Mrs. A. J. Thompson, of the Anglican Mission, Papua, re turned to their station in January. Two nursing recruits, Sisters Rawlings and Jean Henderson, accompanied them.