Memories Of ‘Bully’ Proctor

Letter to the Editor THE article on “Bully Proctor” (“PIM,”

September) interested me greatly, as I lived for nearly two years in Futuna, within a quarter of a mile of the Catholic Mission at Segrave, the only port with a good anchorage in Futuna. This was in the 1890’s. Father Quibler (or Patale Soane, as he was called) was in charge; and he told me about Proctor, exactly as you have it in the “PIM.”

Proctor was a swine. I first heard of him at Savage Island (Niue) although he had never been there. Head, the trader, told me about him.

Then, again, in Apia, Robert Louis Stevenson and Blacklock, the American Consul, and Cusack Smith, the British Consul, mentioned him.

Afterwards, I found traces of him at Rotuma. He did not last long there, as there were two traders there who knew all about him, and were pretty slick with a shooting-iron. Thence he went to Wallis Island and Futuna.

Father Bataillou was one of che strongest men ever to live on Futuna— the natives used to tell me about him.

Father Quiblier was an old man when I knew him in the 1890’s —an old, lovable Christian —and although my wife and I were Protestants we were treated as if we were his children. He was loved by all, and respected. We were the only two Protestants on the island. Opperman and his wife (mentioned in Louis Becke’s “By Reef and Palm”) with whom I was working, had turned Catholics.

F. S. Whitcombe, Senior.

Levuka, 5/11/48.