The Editoes'Maillay

Looking For Some

holographs

;d V. Frankenstein, art critic San Francisco Chronicle, who ipiling a book on certain * of Christian art in the South has appealed to us for help lining some photos, first of these is of the Catholic ch at Hatiheu. Nukuhiva, esas, demolished by a tidal in 1945. This church was i by Brother Michel Blanc, a {man, who was stationed m islands from 1863 until his in 1899. The church, a work t in stone, is described m ison’s in the South Seas. Pos some yachtsman or other who called at Hatiheu inpre- Lays may have a photo. There ja huge statue of the Virgin itiheu, the work of Brother 1 which is presumed to be still tng on a pinnacle overlooking iv a photo of which is sought, rankenstein has made very ex e inquiries all over the woHd ood photos of these, without is also seeking s of murals executed by Father Berchmans Veighe, a Dutch which decorated the interior ie Hatiheu church mentioned ther churches in the Marquesas Tahiti prior to 1899. Probably hotos of these exist (Father ie also decorated a church at unau, Hawaii, which is still in mce and which has been fully nented. No photos of these Is are required.) yone with photos should con- Mr. Frankenstein direct.

Elections About

oconut Palm

;’ve made it pre f ty clear by now we are not looking for more mation about double-headed i trees (following Lew Friday s al in February PIM) but a note L Hamburg, Germany, from »us German-New Guinea pioneei irich Rudolph Wahlen, now 87 he subject is interesting not so h because of the double-headed i but because of the rest °f the v he tells. Writes Mr. Wahlen.

)n Wuwulu plantation, nearly

rears ago, I discovered a palm l two branches. I was preparing ake a photo, but a branch of a i-tree was in the way, and I >d my foreman to send a native to cut away the branch he boy went up to do the job, while chopping he stood on the Qch itself, and so fell down vily as soon as the branch was

“I asked William Leonard (an old Danish sailor who arrived m Matupi m April, 1895, in the Danish barque Embla, shor ty after my arrival) to tell the boy to be careful. But that native of Wuwulu just answered; Sir you ordered me to cut the branch .

“That showed the power the native king (the Pualla) had. Any SSe who did not obey at once was severely punished. I was the Pualla ° f “The Wl coconut palm on Wuwulu had two branches, and I gaye the photo to Professor Preuss J?^ re «ho of the New Guinea Company, who published this phenomenon in his book. It may be that th ft is still alive—the present ownei of th.

Wuwulu plantation would know.

“William Leonard was hrst a trader in New Ireland, and his partner was a Mr. Lundin, a Swede.

They had troubles with the natives, who Y killed Lundin and wounded Leonard badly in the face. In 1909, when he had been 14 years in the Islands, I told him to make a trip at my expense to Australia to re cover his health, he answered. Sir, I never shall leave Wuwulu and my natives. Here I live and here I die.

He died there during World War I and his children now are living m Brisbane, or somewhere m Aus tralia—others were taken care of by the Catholic Mission at Vunapope.

They Were Working

On The Railroad

In May we were speculating about Nukualofa’s Railway Road and how it got its name. Now we have an answer from old Tonga-hand Mi. j D. Whitcombe, of Auckland; .

“When Shirley Baker was Premier (1880-1890) the prison plantation was near the (inner) lagoon and a good quantity of bananas and other produce shipped to New Zealand in those days came from this planta tion and others by the lagoon.

“So Shirley Baker had a line laid from the Government wharf to the lagoon. The trucks were pushed by prison labour but horses were also US “This line was still in use when our family arrived at Nukualofa in 1890. It was done away with alter King George Tubou II came to the throne, except for that portion of the line from ship’s side to Customs shed at the shore end of the wharf.

It Was Probably Two

Other Stations

PlM’s Noumea correspondent, Fred Dunn, who happens to be an Aus tralian, writes a chastened note to

sav that Radio Australia has been blowing its top oyer a paragraph Se sent to PIM m April (£18).

That paragraph rePfted that a French radio inspectorhad turnea up in New Caledonia to do some thing about the reception of Radio Noumea in country distncts, wmch seemingly is subject to interference by Radio Australia .

Fred Dunn says Radio Australia cajd through local consular channels ’no less th^ t 5'i ch A u s traiia a wls ta l er “al b^^iTbiU^ tr and that Australia isn’t the radio cul P Comments Fred; “Some station is causing interference, and the local naner definitely claimed it was an Kalian station. But apologies to Radio Australia.”

That History in a

Scots Church Yard

Two American readers. Captain Fred Klebingat, of Cali fornia, whose name often appears in PIM, and Mr. George Darsie, of San Marino, California, supply us this month with some facts on Princess Titaua, the . Tahitian princess whose grave is in a Scots church yard.

Mr W. R. M. Low, a Honiara reader, sent us a photograph of the grave in March and inquired if any body knew the story.

Captain Klebingat Quotes from the old book, A Ladys Crmse /w a French Man o’War, by Miss C F.

Gordon Gumming, who wrote from Tahiti in the 1870’s that Princess Titaua was the eldest of a family of three sons and five comely daughters half whites, who were the children of young Queen Marau Pomare of Tahiti. Titaua was her seTa high chieftess of Tahiti and Moorea, and at 14 married a/wealthy Scots merchant, Mr. Brander, and had three children, including p|lomaT Brander died in 1877 and in 1880 the beautiful princess married Mr. George Darsie, who according to Miss humming, was manager of her Tahiti store, and they went off to Anstruther, in 1894. She died there in 1898.

PI M’s correspondent, George Darsie, who doesn’t make it clear what his own relationship is, says the original George Darsie was a blown -away Scot who his marriage to the princess came into his own title of Lord Holderness and Earl of Liermonth.

He says there were three children of the Darsie marriage, two of them still alive Mr. Tuteru Tepau Darsie, of Minnesota, and Mrs.

Georgina Darsie Murray, of Brazil.

Nobody seems to think there was anything to prevent the princess from going back to Tahiti at any time if she had wanted to.