Deaths Of Islands People

J. A. Garnett

THE death occurred suddenly on October 23 in Suva, of Mr.

Jasper Adrian Garnett. He svas 62.

He was born in Fiji and was one 3f the leading farmers, and a Danana buyer, in the Tailevu area.

Be was a nominated member of Legislative Council from 1944 to L 947 and for some time chairman of ;he Rewa Co-operative Dairy Com- Dany.

Mr. Garnett was a keen sports nan, fisherman, and a well-known Dowler. He was also a prominent Freemason.

He is survived by his widow, a laughter, Mrs. Mervyn Harris of Waikato, New Zealand, two sons, R.oy, of NZ and Kenneth, a Veterinary Officer on the staff of ;he Department of Agriculture; and 'our brothers, Hamlet, William, Lionel, and Claude, all of Suva.

Mr. Harold Rhodes

V/|R. Harold Rhodes, A Dairy

Ltl farmer of Tailevu, died in Suva on October 24.

He was given a military funeral; i firing party from the Fiji Infan cy Regiment fired a salute at the graveside.

Mr. Rhodes went to Fiji about 20 ago from New Zealand; he

is survived by his wife, three sons, and three daughters.

Mr. H. H. Hemus

UNNOTICED by the newspapers, Mr. Harry Hemus died in Auckland on August 12, at the age of 76, thus ending 63 years’ close association with the firm of A, B. Donald & Co., whose branches are scattered throughout the Cook Islands and French Oceania.

Mr. Hemus shipped out of Auck land in 1888 in the well-known Countess of Richmond, as super cargo. This vessel later to be known as the Haupiri, when acquired bv the Union SS Co. —then made regular six-weekly voyages from Auckland to Tonga, Samoa, French Oceania and the Cook Islands for the firm then known as Donald & Edenburgh.

From that first voyage during which, incidentally, Robert Louis Stevenson came aboard in Apia as guest at an officers’ dinner Mr.

Hemus made regular voyages out of Auckland for the following 58 years, for very many years as Islands In spector for the company. In this capacity, he made his last voyage to Tahiti about 5 years ago.

It is unlikely that any man ever travelled that 2,000-miles span between Auckland and Papeete more

frequently than the late Harry Hemus. His death will be mourned by a wide circle of friends in the Eastern Pacific.

Since Mr. Hemus’s retirement, the office of Islands Inspector has been taken over by Mr. Bennett, formerly manager of the Rarotonga branch.

C. W. Rundnagel

AN old link with the New Guinea past was broken on October 5, when Carl Wilhelm Rundnagel died suddenly at his daughter’s home in Svdney. He was 70.

He owned Reiven plantation in the Kokooo district, where he had lived since the Queen Emma days.

Taken prisoner by the Japs at Kokopo in 1942, he spent his intern ment with the Vunapope mission Internees.

He retired from NG in February, 1951. Reiven has been managed since by his son, Mr. Otto Rund nagel. He is survived by his widow, son, and two daughters.

Mrs. P. Huon

AN old resident of Suva, Fiji, Mrs. Paul Huon, died on October 24.

She was a daughter of the late W. L. Coward, a planter in Tailevu.

He died in 1920 and Mrs. Huon has lived in Suva since.

She is survived by her son, Mr.

Carl Huon, of Suva.

Mrs. Louie Reay

FIJI lost another of its pioneers at the end of October when Mrs.

Louie Reay, widow of the late Mr. W. Charles Reay, died in Suva.

She was 81.

Mrs. Reay went to Fiji with her

parents when about 17. In 1890 she married Mr. Reay, then a Stipen diary Magistrate of the Colony. She took a very active part in the social life of Fiji.

She is survived by: Miss Lorna Reay, Mrs. Hazel Livingston, Mrs.

Widlake (England), Mr. C. S, Reay (Commissioner of Labour, Fiji), Mr.

Francis Reay, Mr. H. Neville Reay (Vatukoula), and Mr. A. G. Reay (Labasa).

Sir Henry Milne Scott, KC, of Suva, was a visitor to Sydney and Melbourne recently. He was in poor health a few months ago, as the result of excessive strain, but he has made a very good recovery. He returned to Fiji in mid-November.