Deaths Of Islands People

Mr. Rene Petibon The death occurred in Paris on February 2 of Mr. Rene Petibon, Governor of French Polynesia from 1950 to 1954, who is looked on as one of the chief builders of modem Tahiti.

During his four-year term in the Pacific, he was responsible for several important improvements to shipping facilities in Papeete, the bitumenising of the road around Tahiti, and the building of bridges on this road at Taharuu and Punaruu.

Le Journal de Tahiti said in a tribute that when Mr. Petibon left Tahiti to become Governor of French Somaliland, he left only friends be hind.

Mr. Petibon was 62 at the time of his death.

Father Ernest Sabatier, MBE Father Ernest Sabatier, MBE, a Sacred Heart Missionary in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony since 1912, died on Tarawa on February 13.

Father Sabatier, who was born in France in 1886, spent 53 years as a missionary in the GEIC. He was first stationed at Abemama, but moved to Tarawa at the end of the war.

He wrote two books on the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, and compiled a Gilbertese dictionary and grammar.

Mr. D. Columbus Mr. David Columbus, who devoted much of his life to the development of soccer in Fiji, died in Suva on February 3, aged 52. In his younger days he was one of the outstanding players in the Colony.

Mr. Columbus was in the employ of the Suva City Council when he died.

He leaves a widow, a son and a daughter.

Sister Marie Othilde The death occurred in Noumea in February, of Sister Marie Othilde, of Jesus, who spent 32 years in New Caledonia nursing lepers. (See p. 9 for tribute).

Mr. I. E. Ambler Mr. Lloyd Edward Ambler, ISO, who died suddenly at Auckland on December 28 at the age of 70, served in the Fiji Public Service for many years.

He was bora at Suva and after

education at the Suva Public School joined the Colonial Service in Fiji in 1909.

He transferred to the Western Pacific High Commission, Suva, in 1921, and later went to the BSIP.

He retired in 1949 and went to live in New Zealand.

In World War I, Mr. Ambler went overseas with the Ist Fiji reinforce ments and served in France with the Ist Battalion, KRRA. He later served in Baluchistan with the Indian Army.

In world War II he was a major in the BSIP Defence Force.

Mr. Ambler, is survived by a daughter, Mrs. J. Mackley, and a son, Brian, both of whom live in New Zealand. His wife, Dorothy, died on November 6 last year.

Mr. Cecil McCoy Mr. Cecil McCoy, a well-known member of the British community in the New Hebrides, died in the French hospital in Vila on February 9 after a short illness.

Mr. McCoy, who was 65, managed a trading business on Nguna, a small island off the coast of Efate.

Mr. McCoy was a descendant of the Bounty mutineer, William McCoy, and a member of the McCoy family of Norfolk Island. He came to the New Hebrides soon after World War I and had lived there for more than 40 years. j Mr. I. A. Quintal A popular Norfolk Islander, Mr.

Thomas Augustine Quintal, was accidentally killed by a falling log during logging operations at Norfolk Island on February 11. Mr. Quintal, a farmer, was the son of Atkins Quintal. He was 58. i Mr. J. W. Cox Mr. John Wesley Cox, a friendly Irishman, who served the P-NG Ad ministration in many parts of New Guinea as a road master, died at Rosemount Repatriation Hospital, Brisbane, on February 10. He had been sent to Brisbane from Madang about six months previously for treat ment for a broken leg.

Mr. Cox, who was 78, served as a non-commissioned officer in the British Army before going to New Guinea. In World War 11, he fought with distinction as a guerilla against the Japanese in Borneo, He had five decorations—DCM, MM and Bar, Mons Star and Croix de Guerre.

Mr. Victor Wallace Mr. Victor Wallace, well-known to pre-war NG Territorians, died at the Royal Newcastle Hospital on Jan uary. He was 67.

Mr. Wallace, a Victorian, was in charge of the native constabulary in Rabaul for many years before return ing to Australia about 20 years ago to educate his children. He became Chief Ranger of Kuringai Chase, on the outskirts of Sydney’s North Shore, and retired to Cooranbong in the Newcastle district in 1963.

He left a widow and a daughter.

Mr. V. R. Abrahams Mr. Vivian Rudolph Abrahams, son of a European pioneer in Fiji, died in Suva on February 3.

Mr. Abrahams worked for the CSR Co. Ltd. for many years, and on his retirement from the post of mill overseer at Rarawai, in 1949, he went to Suva to become secretary of the Destitutes’ Relief Committee.

He is survived by Mrs. Abrahams and a son.

Mrs. M. H. Jessop-Yandali The death occurred in Apia in January of Mrs. Margaret Heathering ton Jessop-Yandali, an active social worker, founder of the local Mothers’

Club, and a recently-elected member of Aleisa Council. She was 73.

Mr. L. P. Fay The death occurred in New Guinea on February 18 of Mr. Louis Patrick Fay, a long time resident of P-NG.

He was 74. Mr. Fay collapsed while on his way to Rabaul, where he was to have a medical check to see if he was fit enough to attend the 50th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing with an RSL contingent which is to visit there in April. Mr. Fay was a World War I veteran who was at Gallipoli and who also trained air men in Britain.

He went to the Territory after that war and for many years was on Gilli Gilli plantation, Milne Bay, then owned by Levers. He later went across to the New Guinea islands. He served in the RAAF, in Australia, in World War 11. Old New Guinea residents regarded him as “one of those who was always a gentleman”.

Mrs. J. M. Smith The American flier, Mrs. Joan Merriam Smith, 28, who last year became the first woman to fly solo around the world, was killed in a plane crash in Los Angeles on Feb ruary 17. Mrs. Smith, who made her record flight in a twin-engine Piper Apache, made stops at Port Moresby, Lae and Guam.