Deaths Of Islands People

Mr. Harry Penn

Mr Henry Penn, 40. branch man ager for Morris Hedstrom Ltd . at Faasageleaga, Savai’i, Western Samoa, was accidently run over by a copra truck and killed on Jan uary 18. He leaves a wife and five children.

The heavily loaded truck stalled near the top of a hill at Lefatu, so he told his boys to unload all but 30 sacks of copra and carry them to the top. Then he stood on the running board, took hold of the steering wheel and started to reverse the truck to a point lower down the hill in order to get a better approach run.

But just as it reached level ground, and was being backed round a slight bend, he slipped off the run ning board and fell partly beneath the truck. With the wheels in a reverse lock, the front ones passed over him, pinning him by the shoulders face down as it slipped into a ditch. He was killed instantly.

Mr. Penn had been with Morris Hedstrom, Ltd., for about ten years and a branch manager on Saviai’i for the past eight years.

Mr. R. C. G. D. Higginson

Mr. R. C. G. D. Higginson, who was a magistrate in Fiji for many years and a former puisne judge, died in Suva on January 22. He was 74.

Mr. Higginson went to Fiji in 1907 from England and had served in the Colony ever since, except for 11 years in Tanganyika between the wars.

Rev. Matthew Van Stijn

Rev. Matthew van Stijn, SVD, 40, a Divine Word Missionary from the Alexishafen Vicariate of New Guinea, died at the Madang Hos pital on January 19 from abdominal complications. He was the third Divine Word Father of the Alexis hafen Vicariate to die within eight months.

Born in Hellegom-Lisse, near Rotterdam, Holland, Father van Stijn was 13 years old when he joined Divine Word Missionaries in Holland. He was ordained a priest in 1944, and three years later went to New Guinea.

Except for a short period of leave after ten years, Father van Stijn

served in New Guinea all that time, being stationed in the Highlands at Nera Gaima, Mingende, Nondugl and Banz.

For the past four years he had been preparing the way for Our Lady of Fatima Agricultural College in Banz which will teach Highland natives improved methods of farm ing.

Before returning to New Guinea last May, Father van Stijn spent eight weeks in the United States visiting agricultural experimental stations to become posted on all latest agricultural developments.

Father van Stijn is survived by two sisters in Holland.

Mrs. Edward Gosnell

The death has occurred in Syd ney of Mrs. Edward Gosnell, a foundation member of the Polynesi an Association of Sydney.

Mrs. Gosnell was born in Rotuma; she had lived in Levuka and Suva, and for the past 40 years had lived in Sydney.

Mrs. Gosnell, whose Rotuman name was Fesaitu, was a chieftainess. of two tribes of that island, Itamuta and Hanap’mata. Her father was the Rotuman chief Vaenuk’Hanap ’mata.

She was the granddaughter of Captain Kenneth Arthur Ray, who was a pioneer navigator in Fijian waters in the early days of the Colony.

Mrs. Gosnell left a husband, and a family of one daughter, four sons and many grandchildren.

Mrs. Alice March

The death occurred in Suva, Fiji, on February 4, of Mrs. Alice March, a well-known resident of the Colony.

Mrs. March had been before her marriage, a Miss Durant, and for some years assisted her mother in conducting the Melbourne Hotel in Suva, of which Mrs. Durant held the lease.

All members of Mrs. March’s family predeceased her. Her son, Martyn (Bunny), who was a well known athlete and a member of the Public Works Department, died several years ago.

Mr. G. G. Smith

The death occurred in Bendigo, Victoria, on February 9, of Mr.

Gerald Gaudy Smith, at one time a well-known resident of New Guinea. He was 56.

Mr. Smith has had no business connections with NG since World War 11, and for the past six years has been licensee of the Shamrock Hotel in Bendigo.

He is survived by his wife, Joyce, a brother and two sisters —one, Mrs.

H. R. Wales, also at one time a well-known resident of NG.