Deaths of Islands People

Mr. W. J. Hughes President of the PNG State branch of the RSL, Mr. William John Hughes died suddenly in Lae on December 3, aged 58.

Born in NSW, Mr, Hughes, as a member of the 2/33 Battalion in World War II took part in the Kokoda campaign. He was with the battalion when it returned to fight its way into Lae and, when the war ended, he decided to stay in Lae.

He joined the police force but later became manager of the government’s Bubia agricultural station, retiring in 1969 through ill-health. He was state vice-president of the RSL from 1963 to 1970 when he became presi dent. He was also chairman of the territory’s Churchill Trust, and in 1968 was awarded the MBE for his services to the RSL and the com munity.

There was a large crowd of mour ners at the funeral service held with military honours and conducted by the Lutheran Bishop of New Guinea, Dr, John Kuder.

Mrs. E. A. M. Kilbourne A Known to all Norfolk Islanders as unt Mrs *~ Il^ abe , th nel A a Mary Kilbourne died in the islands hospital on December 2 after collaps ing at her home in Steele’s Point two weeks before. She was aged 75.

The daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Patterson Quintal, she married M r. Charles Kilbourne in 1928. He predeceased her and there are a son John and three daughters, Mrs. Mary Selby, Mrs. Win King and Mrs. Edith Christian, Mr R J Christoffersen A retil . ed Fiji civil servant, Mr.

Richard John Christoffersen has died at his home in Woy W oy, New South Wales at the age of 68 .

A New Zealander, Mr. Christof fersen joined the Fiji civil Service - n 1924 and served most of his time in the Posts and Telegraph Depart ment, including a period as Post master at Suva. From 1941 to 1946 he was in the Post Office Savings Bank and from 1946 until his retire ment in 1952 on health grounds fol

lowing an accident he was in the Government Audit Office, Since his retirement, he has lived mainly in Australia, first in Sydney, then at Bowral and later at Woy Woy.

In 1927 he married Jessie Viti Williams, daughter of Captain and Mrs. Frank Williams, of Suva. She will continue to live at Woy Woy.

There are two sons, Richard, who is with the Australian Overseas Tele communications Commission, and Ken, who is with Air Pacific and lives in Suva.

Mrs. P. Ralston Mrs. Pat Ralston, wife of Mr. Ted Ralston, Administration Accountant on Norfolk Island, died in hospital in Sydney on November 25.

A Norfolk Island resident for many years, Mrs. Ralston played an active part in island affairs and was one of the founders of the Norfolk Island Flora and Fauna Society of which she was president.

Mr. John Metuatini The cousin of Cook Islands Premier Mr. Albert Henry, 50-year-old Mr.

John Metuatini, of Rarotonga, died in Vaiola Hospital, Tonga in Nov ember while on his way home from New Zealand.

Mr. Metuatini was a passenger in the Lorena when she broke down on the voyage from Auckland to Raro tonga and was towed into Nukualofa by the Tonga tug Hifofua. He had a heart attack on board the Lorena on November 10 and died the fol lowing day.

He was returning to the Cook

Islands at the request of his cousin, the Premier, who asked that he should be buried in the Kingdom. He was buried in Telekava Cemetery on November 12.

Mr. Metuatini, who was unmarried, had lived in Auckland for 20 years.

Mr. V. G. H. N. Edwards Norfolk Island lost one of its “old timers” with the death on November 19 after a brief illness of Mr. Vic tor Gustav Hunn Nobbs Edwards, who was in his 71st year.

The second son of Robert and Emily Edwards, Mr. Edwards, known to all as Mate, was sexton of the island’s cemetery at Kingston for 40 years, a task he took over from his father. He was also caretaker of the Administration offices. In his younger days he sailed with the whaling boats.

Mate was best known for his mode of transport—the horse—and he and his horse were among the island’s best known residents.

His wife, Lully, died in 1964 and he is survived by his brothers Ted and Bill (Ike) and sisters Julia, lima and Elsie.

Mrs. N. A. Ferrier-Watson Mrs. Norma Athol Ferrier-Watson, a descendant of a pioneer European family in western Viti Levu, Fiji,

died on November 27, aged 58. She was the daughter of Charles Kennedy, whose family settled at Sigawa, on the banks of the Ba River in 1864.

Mrs. Ferrier-Watson was active in community life in Nadi, as a JP, in the Red Cross, as a member of the Board of Visitors of Nadi Hospital and a member of the Nadi Township Board.

Miss J. Beglen Miss Joan Beglen, education adviser to the Diocese of Melanesia in 1970, died in Sydney in October.

Her association with the diocese began 21 years ago when she began a teaching career in the Solomons and spent 18 years at St. Mary’s School in Pamua, becoming head mistress on the retirement of Miss Nellie Stead.

Mrs. Tereora Chaplin Mrs. A. E. Tereora Chaplin died in Essex, England, in November, aged 82. She was born in Rarotonga, the daughter of Rev. J. J. K. Hutchin of the London Missionary Society, who is said to have been the first head master of the LMS secondary school established in Rarotonga in 1895, and named after his daughter, Tereora, This school was closed in 1911, but about 1964, Tereora Col lege was re-established on Rarotonga.

Writing from England, Mrs. Tereora Chaplin’s son-in-law, Mr. H. W.

Pethick, said that Tereora Chaplin “was a most lovable woman who retained all her interest in, and thoughts for, the people of Raro tonga.”

Captain L C. Boulton One of the Islands’ best-known and popular skippers, Captain L. C. Boul ton, OBE, has died in the Auckland Sailors’ Home at the age of 84. He was 14 when he first went to sea.

He was a familiar figure in the Cook Islands as master of the Islands trader, Maui Pomare, joining the ser vice in the 19305. His last appearance on the Cook Islands run was in 1955 but he made one last trip in the Maui Pomare in 1961 when he was 74. He captained her on her delivery voyage to Hong Kong after she had been bought by the Australian Pacific Shipping Company and placed on the Hong Kong service.

Ashore, Captain Boulton had two hobbies, music and languages, and he amassed a great deal of knowledge about both, being fluent in several languages including some of the Island dialects.

He had been living at the Sailors’

Home in Auckland for about five years.