"Uncle Harry" Had

No Time For

Bureaucrats

From Gerald Rousseau

in Noumea Those who had the memorable opportunity of knowing Afoafouvale were speedily conquered by his sense of humour and readiness to recount the most hilarious stories, often belying a marvellous shrewdness and appreciation of human character.

These qualities no doubt aided him considerably as an Islands leader and diplomat, particularly in recent times: He managed to get on equally well with the metropolitan French (never an easy lot to handle) and the Caledonians, though the two uphold two different conceptions of the “Pacific”.

Islanders thinking of “Uncle Harry”, as he was affectionately called, would be prompted to de scribe him as a most “colourful figure”. But those who have seen him at various South Pacific Con ferences, particularly the one held in Noumea in 1968, must remember him for his colourful shirts.

It was in 1968 that Islands dele gates were first debating the possi bility of the SPC having its own flag.

Some rather ordinary designs had been proposed, when the UK Com missioner, Mr. Webber, suggested humorously that a fine flag could be made from the large, colourful shirt of the delegate from Western Samoa . . .

The next day, a large parcel was handed to the conference chairman, who opened it in hushed silence to find it contained Afoafouvale’s colourful shirt, with a note hoping that if it became the flag of the SPC “may it fly over us for Webber and Webber”.

The many friends Afoafouvale leaves after his year in Noumea will share the sorrow of his family, par ticularly his wife, Faletua Taualofa, and young children, Johnny and Stella, who had settled in well at Anse Vata.

Uncle Harry had been a man of action who had little time for lengthy bureaucratic talk that had no mean ing to convey. The many friends who honour his memory in Noumea must be inspired to remember him as the kind of man a growing Pacific needs.