Death Of Mr. S. D. Mastapha

A WELL-KNOWN, retired Civil Servant of Fiji, Mr. Samuel Aaran Mastapha, died in Levuka Hospital on Decem ber 27, aged 75. The wide respect and esteem in which he was held were shown when all Levuka’s flags were flown half mast, and all sections of the community attended his burial, according to Christian

rites.

Mr. Mastapha was born in Ran goon, where his father was a fruit merchant, and his grandfather a catechist in the Baptist Mission.

When his father died, over 60 years ago, this Indian Christian came with his family to Fiji, as an indentured labourer. The missionari es

helped the English-speaking lad to a better position, where he learned Hindu stani (he already spoke Burman and German) and helped the Methodists in mission work among the Indian coolies.

He was a valued helper of Miss Hannah Dudley, and his name is on the founda tion stone of the Dudley Memorial Church in Suva.

Later, he became a CSR overseer, and a solicitor’s clerk, and in 1900 he was appointed clerk and interpreter in the Police Court, Suva. In that capacity he served also in Levuka, Nadi, Taveuni and Ra, but eventually he settled in Levuka.

When he retired in 1932, he went to live on his own property near Levuka. He was twice married, and is survived by a large family. There are eleven children of his second marriage alive —Ruth, Christian, Richard, Andrew, James, Daniel, Beatrice, Lawrence, Justin, John and Frances.

Mr. G. A. Loudon, a well-known rubber planter of Papua, has settled down, for 12 months, at an attractive spot near Narrabeen, near Sydney, on the NSW coast. His two married daughters are residents of United States—one in Ohio and one in Michigan.