Death Of Mr. A. W. Caten

In Suva

Noted Musician and Composer

SUVA, June 7.

Mr. Abner Warner Oaten, Of

Suva, died on June 3, the day be fore his 72nd birthday. He was bandmaster of the former Fiji Defence Force Band (now the Band of the Fiji Military Forces) from 1924 until his re tirement in 1935.

Mr. Oaten joined the British Army when he was 16, and was with the Cold stream Guards Band for 24 years. He was a foundation member of the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra and a member of the London Symphony, London Phil harmonic. Queen’s Hall and Covent Garden Orchestras, and other musical organisations in Australia. He composed eight popular marches for military bands, and in 1928 produced a setting of the Fijian “Isa Lei” which, in sheet music form, has become well-known in New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere.

Incidentally, Mr. Oaten never laid claim to being the composer of the air of ‘Tsa Lei.” If there ever was an indi vidual composer, it was Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba, of Lau, who unquestion ably— according to Fijians was res ponsible for the song in the form that has become a Fijian tradition. And neither Ratu Tevita nor Mr. Oaten had anything to do with the crooner-perver sions recorded in Australia and America in the last year or two.

Mr. Oaten is survived by his second wife and by a son, Mr, Reginald Oaten, who is in the Government service in Fiji and is a member of the Suva Town Board.

The Fiji Crown Counsel, Mr. E, M.

Pritchard, has resigned and intends to take up legal practice in New Zealand.

Mr. P. Pritchard, chief fire-fighting officer in the NZ Air Department is at present inspecting fire-fighting equipment at aerodromes in the Pacific Islands.

He will visit landing fields in Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and Tonga and appoint European fire masters. Native crews will be employed.