Dr. Phillips Died In
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[?]Fetime Of War
[?]N Tropical Pests
Dr. Phillips Died In Auckland, at 62
|EVOTION to science sometimes * is thought to indicate a dull life. Dr. John Sydney Phillips, 10 died in Auckland in September, the early age of 62, was com jtely a scientist—yet few men eked more colourful travel and idest adventure into 30 years of entific work.
He was well known in the South cific where, in the Solomons in 15-39 and in 1953, he made igthy and successful studies of 3onut pests; and, when he died in Auckland private hospital, he s described as a resident of Fiji.
Dr. Phillips left Oxford in 1926 :h Degrees in Forestry and in tomologv: he got other scholastic tinctions later, at the Universities Hawaii and Yale, and the London tiool of Tropical Medicine, in Dpical Agriculture, Medical tomology, Polynesian Anthro ogy, and Parasitology: and he Dte innumerable articles, seven ;able papers on scientific and hnical subjects, and three books travel and adventure, n the course of his researches,
he lived in many lands and visited most parts of the world. He planted rubber in Malaya; studied the feeding habits of New Zealand trout; spent a year at the College of Science, London, studying the copra bug; studied pineapple insects in Hawaii, and had a spell on anthropology in Honolulu under Sir Peter Buck; studied anthropology at Yale; spent a year or two studying coconut pests in the Solomon Islands, and then another year or two seeking predators and parasites in Indonesia and Queens land: had about 8 years in West Africa especially Nigeria and Belgian Congo—on anti-malarial work; thence back to Indonesia for two years’ anti-malarial work for the World Health Organisation: another year on the coconut pests of the Solomons: and the last two years as the official entomologist in the new Indo-Chinese country of Vietnam.
Dr. Phillips devoted his life to scientific investigation of all kinds; and his work in the Western Pacific High Commission countries and in Fiji and Samoa won him many friends and high respect in the South Pacific. His last book, Fa’a Samoa, is now in the hands of his publishers. t Mr. O. A. Dare. Resident Com missioner of Niue Is., paid a short visit to Tonga in August.
t- First survey of the incidence of leprosy in New Guinea is being made by the Department of Health A leprosy expert, Dr. D. A. Russell, says there are at present eight Leprosy colonies with 1,400 inmates in the Territtpry. It is hoped to trace the incidence of leprosy in each district so the worst areas can be found. Leprosy was a major problem in New Guinea, but as it was only of a slightly infec tious variety, it should be pos sible to take measures to restrict it and stamp it out.