Islands

Deaths Of

People

Mr. M. McColm Mr. Malcolm McColm, a former Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives, died in New Guinea on May 2, three weeks after his marriage.

Mr. McColm, who was 51, arrived in the Territory earlier in the year to take up the position of general manager of Rabaul Investments.

He was Liberal MP for the Bowman electorate of Queensland from 1949 until his defeat in the 1961 election. He then worked for transport and insurance companies in Brisbane.

He is survived by his wife, formerly Miss Nell Carroll, and his father, Mr. W. E. McColm, aged 85, and brother Mr. Don McColm, both of Sogeri, near Port Moresby.

Mr. R. Ricketts Mr. Ronald Ricketts, a prominent Fiji planter, died at Suva in April, aged 65. He arrived in Fiji from New Zealand in 1930, and was the owner of Matana Estate, on Koro Island, in the Lomaiviti Group, for many years.

He leaves a widow, four sons and a daughter.

Ratu W. B. Ritova Ratu Viliame Baleilevuka Ritova, a descendant of a Macuata chief who signed the Deed of Cession at Levuka in 1874, died at Labasa recently, aged 61.

Mrs. Mary Ross Mrs. Mary Ross, a well-known resident of the Rewa district of Fiji, died at Suva in April, aged 93. She was born at Navua, the daughter of the pioneering Miller family.

She is survived by three sons and a daughter.

Mrs. H. M. Byrne Mrs. Helena Mary Byrne, a well known Port Moresby resident, died in the Port Moresby General Hos pital in May, aged 66.

She went to the Territory in 1920.

She was the widow of a former Chief Collector of Customs, Mr. T. P.

M. Byrne.

She is survived by two daughters and a son.