Deaths

Chirag All Shah In Wollongong, Australia, in De cember, aged 62.

A former National Federation Party MP, and one of the party’s founding fathers, Mr Shah had gone from Fiji to Australia for treatment for cancer.

Fiji’s former leader of the op position, Siddiq Koya, described the late Mr Shah as a humble and kind man who had served all segments of the community.

“He displayed his loyalty not only to his country but to the people, especially the farmers, and took a very active part in negotiations for Fiji’s independence.

“He attended the first con stitutional conference with his colleagues,” Mr Koya said.

“When we founded the Feder ation Party in 1963 he gave us all support and became one of the founder members of that party which later became known as the

Nfp.

“It is a sad day for me to think that the three main founder mem bers are gone,” Mr Koya said, referring to the late A. D. Patel, the late James Madhavan, and Mr Shah.

Desmond Tilley

In Sydney last October, Des Tilley first arrived in Suva in 1939 to join the Suva Fire Brigade as deputy chief fire of ficer and in 1942 was commis sioned by the Fiji Government to establish and organise fire brigades in the western area of Viti Levu, particularly Lautoka and Nadi, as part of the govern ment’s civil defence. Later these two organisations were incor porated into the respective local government bodies.

After several years service as chief fire officer, Lautoka, Mr Tilley joined the then Vacuum Oil Company in 1951 as sales representative based at Lautoka.

While living at Lautoka. Mr Tilley was appointed as special correspondent for the Fiji Times and Herald and in this capacity he wrote articles about the mak ing of the film Blue Lagoon in the Yasawa Group, and once interviewed the then British

Foreign Secretary, Sir Anthony

Eden.

Mr Tilley was transferred to Australia in 1958 by Vacuum

Oil, but returned to Fiji in 1962 to take up the post of sales representative in the South-West Pacific for Shell, from which company he retired in 1977.

During Des Tilley’s later years in Fiji, he was elected to the Suva City Council. He was pre sented to the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne during the Royal Tour of 1970.

He was also a Past Master of the Masonic Lodge of Fiji. C. C.

Bradnam.

Edouard Ventrillon In Noumea last year, aged 82.

Mr Ventrillon was one of New Caledonia’s leading businessmen from the 1930 s until after World War 11. With his brother George (now retired and living in Syd ney) and trading as Ventrillon Fferes, he conducted a large im port business with many agen cies, some of them exclusive to the firm. Among these were HMV, Columbia, Parlophone etc., Kodak Pathe, Rolleiflex, Zeiss Ikon, and others.

Though Edouard Ventrillon, a very modest man, would have been the last to claim the title of “cultural leader,” the fact is that until the outbreak of World War 11, almost the only “musical in strument” in New Caledonia was the portable phonograph. Messrs Ventrillon imported hundreds, if not thousands, of these. Ironical ly, up to the outbreak of the Pacific War, most of them came from Columbia of Japan.

In 1934 Ventrillon Freres took over the then defunct Central Cine Theatre, which they revived to live days of glory when US forces arrived in Noumea.

With the coming of peace, the Ventrillon brothers, in associa

tion with Edouard Pentecoste, built Noumea’s first multi-storey commercial building on the town’s finest business site at the corer of rue Alma and avenue

Georges Clemenceau. Designed

by an Australian architect, and built by a Newcastle, Australia, firm, the five-storey building is still the handsomest in town.

Special Correspondent in

Noumea.

Fala Fouvale In a traffic accident near Apia in October.

Fala Fouvale was the editor and publisher of the defunct Samoa Sun newspaper, and more recently chief reporter on the newspaper Samoana.

Both he and Tupufia Afamasa ga died almost instantly when the motor bike on which they were riding collided head on with a bus. According to the police the motor bike was travelling on the wrong side of the road.

Paul Mercier In Noumea late last year.

Paul Mercier was a member of one of the oldest French families in New Caledonia. He was a brother of the late Emile Mer cier, who won fame as a news paper cartoonist in Sydney.

For many years the Mercier

family ran Noumea’s biggest

baking firm.

A touching aspect of Paul Mercier’s big funeral was the call from the high chiefs of the Isle of Pines and southern New Caledonia for their subjects to join in the mourning. The Mer cier family has for many years owned a property on the Isle of Pines, the only Europeans to be

so privileged.

Paul Mercier was noted for his wry humor a family character istic which also broke out in brother Emile’s drawings.

Special Correspondent in

Noumea.

Chirag Ali Shah