DEATHS of Islands People

Margaret Titcomb At Honolulu, Hawaii, In Au gust, aged 91.

For over half a century the Ber nice P. Bishop Museum has been the Mecca of scholars engaged in the study of the Polynesian peo ples, many of whom come to browse through its collections, or to consult with the outstanding Pacific specialists on its staff, but most to work in its superb library.

This unique repository of seemingly everything on Polyne sian studies, and to a lesser ex tent on the rest of Oceania, is a monument to the lifelong labours of Margaret Titcomb, chief libra rian from 1931 to 1969, and later Librarian Emeritus until her death. She never had enough money, never enough staff, yet by working long hours, at times single-handed, she built up, largely by exchange and corres

pondence with an ever-widening

circle of colleagues and friends, a collection which is still in many sections unrivalled.

Her extensive reading and warm personal interest in what everyone was doing in island studies enabled her to compile over the years a Museum library catalogue which was a model of

analytic bibliography: and as

such was published by G. K.

Hall in nine volumes and two supplements between 1964 and 1969. Many of us can testify with gratitude that our prized personal stock of regional exper-

tise was obtained in large mea sure from Margaret’s treasure house of geographical and sub ject listings.

In addition Margaret Titcomb was a writer and scholar in her own right. Her early trial in children’s fiction The Voyage of Ka Manu Lele (1954) was fol lowed by the more ambitious Voyage of the Flying Bird 1963, a delightful story which won an American literary award and was reprinted. But she will be best remembered for her works on Hawaiian culture, written in col laboration with her friend the Hawaiin authority Mary Kawena Pukui: the Native Use of Fish in Hawaii (1952, republished 1972), Dog and Man in the An cient Pacific (1969), and the Na tive Use of Marine Invertebrates in Old Hawaii (1978); while her translation (with Harold St.

John) of Gaudichard-Beaupre’s observations on the vegetation of Hawaii in 1819 is to be published this year.

Margaret Titcomb will be sad ly missed by hundreds of aspir ing Pacific students whom she helped so freely from her unique fund of knowledge on the islands and islanders, past and present,

and even more by those who braved that hair-raising drive to her eyrie on the top of Mount Tantalus, with one of the finest views in all Hawaii, where she kept open house for her many friends from the South Seas.

Harry Maude.

Asgar All In Suva in November, aged 66.

A retired Ministry of Health accountant, Mr Ali began his career in the government service at the age of 13 as a messenger.

He became a founder member and first manager of Lautoka Muslim School, and served for many years as general secretary of the Muslim Sports Association of Fiji. He was also general secretary of the Fiji Muslim League.

John (Jack) Price In Savusavu in October, aged 70.

Jack Price came to Savusavu 54 years ago with his family. Until 1943 he worked for the Mt Kasi

goldmine, then at Whan’s saw mill, until he took up a seafaring career. He was a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Savusavu West Rural Advisory Council.

Lawrence Pillay In Suva in November in a car accident.

The operations manager of Fi ji’s domestic airline, Fiji Air, Mr Pillay and another company em ployee were killed when the car in which they were travelling went off the road and smashed into a tree.

Rev Mikaele Dreu In Suva in November, aged 75.

A senior Methodist Church minister, the Rev Mikaele Dreu began his career as a teacher, joining the Methodist Ministry in 1952. He became secretary to the Methodist Church Conference and represented the Fiji Church with distinction at the general conference of the Methodist Church in Australasia, and the

Margaret Titcomb

World Methodist Conference in the USA. The Rev Dreu was also involved in preparing the revised translation of the Fiji Bible, and served as a Suva City councillor.

Donald Seaton Reynolds In Gosford, NSW, on Octob er 1, aged 65.

Donald Reynolds first went to Norfolk over 40 years ago, and was the first person to introduce shorthorn cattle to the island. He also ran a butter factory for a time. He married Violet Chris tian and moved to Australia in 1950, but remained a frequent visitor to Norfolk.

Garth Postlewaight

In Suva on October 7 aged 57.

A co-founder and managing di rector of the Coral See Cruises, Garth Postlewaight came to Fiji from New Zealand in 1957 as a motion picture engineer to set up movie equipment at the Phoenix Theatre in Suva. He married Noelene White and later went into partnership with his father in-law to establish Tropic Cruises Ltd.

Mrs Amy Tololi In Auckland in October, aged 75 Mrs Tololi was the last surviv ing child of Tosotagi Seumanuta fa Pua’aefu’s, the paramount chief in Western Samoa at the beginning of this century. She had lived in New Zealand for 33 years, having previously lived in

Fiji.

Helmut Horace Hendon In Suva on October 26, aged 63 Mr Hendon was the proprietor of the Fisherman’s Lodge near Suva. He came to Fiji in the late 19605, and was responsible for reclaiming much of the land on which Fisherman’s Lodge stands. He designed and built most of the lodge himself.

Mrs Ram Kuar In Lautoka, Fiji on Septem ber 12.

Mrs Ram Kuar was the mother of Alliance MP and bus prop rietor, K.R. Latchan. She and her husband inaugurated a bus service in 1949 which grew into one of the largest bus companies in Fiji, K.R. Latchan Bus Ltd.