Islands People

Deaths of Islands People

Mr W. T. McCoy Mr William Tilly (Willy Phil) McCoy, a former member of the Norfolk Island Council, died recently, aged 74. He spent most of his life farming Steele’s Point, a property which was part of an original grant to his grandfather. He was recog nised as a leading horticulturist and agriculturist. He always took a keen interest in Norfolk Island affairs, and not long before he died he was pre paring a submission for the Royal Commission, proposing a referendum to allow the islanders to decide their own fate.

Mrs M. H. Savage Mrs Mabel Helen Savage, who went to live in Rabaul more than 50 years ago, died at Maidenhead, Eng land, on September 19. She was 91.

Mrs Savage was born in Norfolk, England, and went to Rabaul in 1920, where her husband was serving with the government.

Mr Savage fought in World War I, and was in the landing at Gallipoli.

Mrs Savage left New Guinea in 1941 because of ill-health, and went to live in Sydney. Her husband worked for the Ministry of Supply in Sydney and Hobart; he died suddenly in 1947.

Mrs Savage returned to England in 1947. She is survived by her only

daughter, Mrs A. de G. Best, a grandchild and three great-grand children.

Colonel J. E. Workman Colonel John Edward Workman, Commissioner of Police in Fiji from 1937 to 1946, died recently in Eng land. During a long career in the Colonial Police Service, he served in a number of colonies and protecto rates. While he was in Fiji, the first Fijian was promoted to commissioned rank; Indians became commissioned officers soon after. He also recruited the first Fiji-born Indians into the Royal Fiji Police Force or Fiji Con stabulary, as it was then known, fly ing in the face of much public criti cism. He set up the first fingerprint bureau in Fiji and introduced new training and administrative methods.