Daughter denies M. M. Witts had store

MRS. B. L. TYLER, of Berrima Road, Moss Vale, New South Wales, told PIM in April that her father, the late Mr. Maurice Myles Witts, never at any time owned or managed a store at Big Bay, Espiritu Santo.

Mrs. Tyler was commenting on a statement by Mr. E. W. Lamberty, of Santo, who said in a letter to PIM that the ruins discovered in the iouth-east corner of Big Bay in January were the remains of a trading store built by the Compagnie Coloniale des lies Pacific in 1902 or 1903, and that the manager of the store was “a certain Mr. Witts or similar name” (PIM, April, p. 40).

Mr. Brian Kidney, of Santo, has also told PIM by telegram that he has supported Mr. Lamberty’s trade store story, and that he is “awaiting :onfirmation” of the names of the owner and manager, who “may be M. M. Witts, possibly living Bowral or Moss Vale area”.

Mrs. Tyler told PIM that her father, who died last year at the age nf 89, went to the New Hebrides just after the Boer War (about 1901 nr 1902) and left there after his marriage about 14 years later.

In partnership with two cousins, Arthur and Theo Thomas, and a friend, Ewen Corlette, he established a plantation at Hog Harbour.

Mrs. Tyler said she was certain that her father never owned or managed a store anywhere in the New Hebrides.