Fijian Boxer's Death
p. 34 · Read in the full issue
In New Zealand
From Our Own Correspondent SUVA. June 25.
IN mid-May, the New Zealand press an nounced that a Hawaiian-Canadian boxer, named Joe Burns, had died at the Auckland Public Hospital after being knocked out in a bout with Tommy Downes, on May 10.
Actually, the “Hawaiian-Canadian” was a Fijian ex-policeman, named Peni Latinidavetalevu, aged 27, from the Tailevu village of Kiuva.
Peni was a constable from 1938 until 1942. In 1946, he stowed away in the ship “Flying Cloud,” was sent back to Suva from Vancouver, and went to gaol for a month. In March. 1947, he stowed away in the “Marine Phoenix” and noth ing was heard of him until early this year when he wrote to friends in Fiji and sent a photograph of himself with two fellow-workmen at a New Zealand timber-mill.
Early in May, the Fiji police notified' the New Zealand authorities that “Joe Burns,” a boxer whose photograph had appeared in the New Zealand “Free Lance,” was Peni Latinidavetalevu. but before the Dominion police had time to take action the fatal bout had taken place.