Deaths Of Islands People

Mrs. R. A. Crompton The death on April 6 in Suva War Memorial Hospital of Mrs R. A. Crompton, after a long illness removed a pioneer citizen who was widely known and much esteemed.

Mrs. Crompton was the second daughter of the late Sir Maynard Hedstrom, and she therefore was the sister of Mr. James Maynard Hedstrom, of Suva, and Mr. Keith Hedstrom, of Lautoka. A sister, Mrs J. Chapman, resides in Christchurch NZ.

Sir Maynard Hedstrom was born in Levuka in 1872, and he married Miss Grace Eastgate, also a mem ber of a well known Fiji pioneer family.

Mrs. Crompton married R. A.

Crompton—also a member of a Fiji pioneer family—when Mr. Cromp ton was a Fiji District Commis sioner, and before he went to Eng land to take his law examinations, and qualify to join his father (the late Mr. Robert Crompton, KC) in the well known Suva law firm.

Philip Mackenzie

With the death in Papeete of Philip Mackenzie, at the age of 60, the South Pacific lost one of its most competent professional photo graphers. Studio Mackenzie, Papeete, has been an honoured name since the war and one that has done more than any other to publicise the charms of Tahiti.

Mr. Mackenzie, who originally cams from Vermont, USA, visited Papeete with his wife, Hazel, before the war as a tourist. After two trips they both returned to Papeete per manently in 1947, where he set up his photographic business.

“This is it,” he told his wife at the time. “This is where I’m going to stay and where I would like to die.”

Mr. Mackenzie was ill for some months before his death, and he was buried at Punaauia, a spot where he loved to take pictures.

Mrs. Mackenzie is continuing the business with the help of three Tahitian girls.

Mrs. Jenny Lotomua Gaudin

Mrs. Lotomua Gaudin (nee Kron feld), wife of the late Walter J.

Gaudin, died in Auckland on March 22, following a long illness.

Born in Tonga, and with Tongan noble blood on her mother’s side, Mrs. Gaudin was a daughter of the well-known Kronfeld family of Tonga and Samoa. She is survived by a son and daughter in New Zea land.

Queen Salote gave a traditional mat for the burial and also sent a beautiful hibiscus wreath.

Adi Susu Adi Susu, widow of the late Tui Cakau and mother of the present Tui Cakau (Ratu Josefa Lalabalabu) of Taveuni, died in Suva on April 5, after a long period of ill-health.

Adi Susu was a well-known mem ber of the leading chiefly families of Fiji.