Deaths Of Islands People

Mr. Colin Gordon Carpenter Mr. Colin Gordon Carpenter, son if the late W. H. Carpenter and a lephew of the late Sir Walter Carpenter founder of W. R, 'arpenter and Co. Ltd., died in a re at his house at Popondetta, ’apua, recently.

He was born on Thursday Island i 1910 and he first went to Rabaul i 1939 to work on Carpenter planta ons in New Britain.

He enlisted in the AIF during /orld War II and in 1946 went to ar Kar Island, off Madang on the G mainland, to re-open Carpenter’s .ul Kul Plantation, which had been Dandoned before the Japanese in ision.

In 1960 he took up an Ex rvicemen’s block of land at Girua, apondetta, where he managed to art a small cocoa plantation despite ;st ravages. Mr. Carpenter is irvived by his wife, Mrs. Doris arpenter, of Lindfield, Sydney.

Mr. Peter Reid, Sr.

Mr. Peter Reid, Sr., one of Ameri n Samoa’s leading businessmen, has ed in Pago Pago, aged 61. He had rived back in American Samoa a w weeks previously after a long iy in the US. He was admitted the Lyndon B. Johnson Medical mter and then the Fagaalu Medical inter.

He is survived by his son, Peter, io is currently general manager r the trading firm, G. H. C. Reid, d a daughter, Mabel, who works r Air New Zealand in Pago Pago.

Mr. Max Ford Mr. Max Evan Ford, who had irked for the Administration of MG since 1951 and had played an ive part in local theatre produc ns, died in Port Moresby on No- Tiber 2, aged 55.

He leaves a widow, Peggy, and aghter, Narelle.

Mr. E. V. "Wally" Smythe Vlr. E. V. Smythe, a resident of for over 20 years, who took big part in restoring telephone vices in Rabaul after World War died recently in Port Moresby, id 77. ■le gained the Military Cross and ' in France during World War I I attained the rank of major dur the NG campaign in World r 11. Mr. Smythe joined the De tment of Posts and Telegraphs

in Rabaul shortly after 1945 and he remained in his job until his “retire ment” in 1962.

Wally—as he was known to his friends—didn’t retire and three years later he rejoined the department as a temporary telephone technician.

His interests included encouraging dramatic groups, and tennis.

Mrs. Isabella Catherine Thompson Mrs. Isabella Catherine Thompson, one of Lord Howe Island’s oldest residents, died on October 25, aged 83.

She arrived at Lord Howe in 1899, aged 14, and soon after married the late John Thompson. They lived in the island’s first timber house (earlier houses were “thatched”).

“Aunty Bella” became either directly or by marriage related to most island families. She is survived by five daughters and a son, and her brother, William, who is 86 and another popular local identity.

Mr. Theo Mason Mr. Theo Mason, who spent about 45 years in the Solomons and NG, died in the ANGAU Hospital, Lae, on November 7, aged 70. A bachelor, Mr. Mason is survived by a niece in Rabaul and a sister-in-law in Sydney, Doris Fitton.

He went to the Solomons in the early 1920’s and ran a coconut plantation and skippered an inter island trader for about 10 years.

“Gold fever” bit Mr. Mason in the early 1930’s and he moved to Wewak, NG, and spent about seven years prospecting.

Caught in Wewak by the Japanese invasion in 1942 he and several other prospectors made a memorable six month walk across NG via the Sepik and Fly Rivers to Port Moresby to reach safety.

He then moved to Australia where he spent some time with the Army’s Geographical Section in Sydney and Brisbane before returning to NG soon after 1945.

Mr. Mason spent most of his post war days running a 2,400-acre peanut farm at Erap, near Lae.

About two years ago he retired, and moved to Lae.

Mr. S. E. Furley Mr. Stuart E. Furley, for many years a senior executive of Burns Philp and Co. Ltd., died in Sydney on October 23, aged 80.

He joined the Burns Philp staff in 1918 and retired through ill-health only two years ago.

Mr. Furley served first with Burns Philp as an accountant, and later he became chief inspector of the com pany’s branches in Papua and New Guinea.

In this capacity he made many visits to the territory and over the years he became very well known there.

While holding the appointment of chief inspector he was also respon sible to the board for the activities of the company’s retail stores in New South Wales.

He was a director of several terri tory companies, including Bums Philp (New Guinea) Ltd., Port Moresby Freezing Co. Ltd., and the BNG Trading Co. Ltd.

After his retirement he retained a lively interest in those companies and visited the Burns Philp office in Bridge Street each week right up till the day before his death.

He leaves a widow, two daughters and two sons.

Mr. E. D. Horton Fiji-born Mr. Eric Devonport Horton, who served with the Fiji Government for about 30 years, died at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva on November 11, aged 51.

Mr. Horton, who was one of the early members of the Royal Suva Yacht Club and a strong supporter of all yachting activities, joined gov ernment service in 1935 as a clerk in the Stores Department, and from 1940 to 1954 was on the staff of the Western Pacific High Commission

The late Mr. S. E. Furley.

as an Assistant Secretary for Com munications, Works and Tourism. At the time of his death, Mr. Horton was office superintendent in the office of the Chief Secretary.

During the war Mr. Horton served with the FRNVR and after anti submarine training in New Zealand, he saw service in Fiji waters as one of the crew of the Viti.

He leaves a widow, Patricia, and a son and a daughter. His mother, Mrs. Amy Horton, lives in Suva.

Mr. Dick Marsters Mr. Dick Marsters, one of the famous Marsters clan of Palmerston, Cook Islands, died recently on Palmerston aged 78.

Without formal training of any kind, Mr. Marsters took a big hand in community activities on the island, acting as “doctor” for many island births and working as pastor and assistant pastor in the island London Missionary Church.

He had a family of 14 children.

Mr. H. W. Forrester Sometimes an Islands oldhand fades away without us hearing of it at the time, and such a one is Hugo William (“Bill”) Forrester, once of New Guinea, who died in Queensland earlier this year.

He was a true citizen of the world.

Born in England, he settled in Canada with his family and became a Canadian citizen. In World War I, he served with the Canadian artillery and was awarded the Military Medal.

Between the wars, he lived in Paris, Sydney (where he worked for several years as a reporter on The Sun) and NG. During the war he served with the PNGVR.

He left NG after the war, and bought a property at Rocky Point on the Mossman Baintree road in north Queensland. He named it “Beach combers”.

“Beachcombers” became open house for his friends from the ter ritory—and from other parts of the world. He died peacefully at Rocky Point on March 24.

Mr. Reg Neate A well-known Papuan oldhand, Reg Neate, died in Charters Towers, Queensland, in October. He was 74.

He arrived in Port Moresby in 1919 (during World War I he had served with the Australian Fifth Light Horse in Sinai and Gallipoli, and with the Royal Australian Flying Corps in France), and worked for the Papuan Administration on the construction of the Rouna Road

and the track to Buna which became the famed Kokoda Trail.

Then, in 1923, he went to Wood lark Island where he spent the next 40 years.

When the island was evacuated in 1942, Reg saw his family off but remained on the island as a coast watcher, to maintain the radio link with Port Moresby. He reported on the regular surveillance of the island by Japanese flying boats.

Later, when the remaining mining labour was evacuated from Wood lark Island, he and a friend took a launch to Moresby.

Reg Neate returned to Woodlark after the war, where he established a trading and mining business, and spent a lot of time trying to revive interest in the gold, copper and iron deposits on Woodlark. He retired to Queensland some time ago.

Mr. J. R. Halligan James Reginald Halligan, OBE, a longtime Australian public servant and a former Senior Commissioner of the South Pacific Commission, died in Canberra in November, aged 74.

In 1911, Mr. Halligan joined the Commonwealth Public Service, and between that date and 1929 he served with the Department of External Affairs, the Home and Ter ritories Department and the Prime Minister’s Department.

From 1937 to 1941 he was District Administrator and Magistrate on Norfolk Island, and in 1939 was Australian representative at the Permanent Mandates Commission in respect of New Guinea and Nauru, He was secretary to the Depart ment of External Territories from 1944 to 1951, and was special adviser to the Minister for Territories from 1951 to 1959. He was a represen tative at the UN Trusteeship Council in 1948, 1949 and 1952.

From 1948 to 1959 he was Senior Commissioner with the South Pacific Commission. In 1959 he retired from that post and from the Common wealth Public Service. He was awarded the OBE in 1960 for “valuable public service”.

Mr. Halligan was, until 1962, Aus tralian Commissioner with the British Phosphate Commission and Com missioner for Christmas Island.

Mr, Halligan leaves a and a son, John, who lives in Darwin.

Mrs. Katharine Belgrave Mrs. Katharine Margaret Belgrave, who at one time lived in Fiji, has died in England aged 86. She was the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Berkeley, Chief Justice of Fiji to wards the end of the last century.