transitions

Elected: Yapese John Haglel gam has been installed as Presi dent of the Federated States of Micronesia, following recent elections by the Micronesian National Congress in May. He emphasised the role of the Federated States of Micronesia as an independent nation and the importance of attracting in vestment.

Appointed: Samuel Thomsen has been appointed first US ambassador to the Marshall Is lands. Formerly deputy US rep resentative for Micronesian negotiations, he has also served in Asia and Africa.

Awarded: Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara has won the newly initi ated UNDRO-Sakakawa Dis aster Prevention and prepared ness in Fiji. The annual Award was established this year with the objective of encouraging disaster prevention and pre paredness activities throughout the world. It carried a prize of approximately SUSSO,OOO.

Awarded: Raphael Oimbari has been presented with the 10th Independence Anniversary Me dal for his contribution to the Allied Forces in Papua New Guinea during World War 2.

He was the subject of the famous “Fuzzy-wuzzy angel” photograph, taken by Damien Parer in 1942, as he and other local people were helping to evacuate the wounded Allied Forces at Buna.

Retires: Commander Stanley Bransin Brown has retired from the Fiji Naval Squadron after more than four decades of military service. He came to Fiji in 1940 and was made com mander of the Royal Fiji Navy Voluntary Reserve in 1956.

Lack of money led to the reserve being stood down, but the navy was revived in 1975, and Commander Brown was made responsible for its estab lishment and growth to its pre sent form of five ships and their fully trained staff. He will con tinue to live in Fiji after his retirement.

Appointed: Sonia Summer from New Zealand is Volunteer Service Abroad’s first recruit to Tokelau. She will be responsi

ble for the islands’ libraries and will encourage their use for both educational and commun ity purposes.

Appointed: Father Harry Moore has been appointed par ish priest of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Norfolk Island. He has been in the ministry for 23 years, working in Australia, Papua New Guinea, the United States and Mexico.

Dr Harry Bitmead died in Perth in February of cancer, aged 86. He first went to Papua New Guinea as a teacher in 1935. He then joined the colo nial administration as a travel ling medical assistant in 1939, later becoming principal of the medical training school at Idu bada. In 1952 he returned to his former vocation of teaching, retiring after 30 years in PNG in 1965. He moved to Perth in 1977.

Mr Turi Wari, a former South ern Highlands national par liamentarian, died of cancer on

April 24. He was one of the first men from the lalibu district to have contact with Europeans, and was appointed interpreter with the colonial administration in the fifties. In 1968 he won a seat in the House of Assembly which he held until 1977. He leaves two wives, children and grandchildren.

Richard (Eveni) Curruthers died suddenly of a heart attack on May 14, while attending a hearing at the Lands and Titles Court, Mulinuu, Western Samoa. Owner of I. H. Car ruthers Ltd., one of Apia’s oldest business houses, Eveni Carruthers was well-known for his civic work and support for various political causes. He was Western Samoa’s Honorary Consul to South Korea, and also a keen sportsman.

Appointed: George W. Proctor Jr has been appointed federal prosecutor in Saipan. He will be responsible for enforcing main land laws on corruption in the area. His appointment is the

latest of a series of signals that the US Justice Department is paying increased attention to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, especially since the conviction of Guam Governor Bordallo. (PIM April 87, p 9). From David North.

Graduated: Dr Torepai Tairea, the first Cook Islander to gain a Masters degree in Dental Scien ce, has returned home with his family after three years study at the University of Sydney in Australia. Dr Tairea’s speciality is in Preventive Dentistry and Dental Public Health. He started his basic training at the Fiji School of Medicine in 1967, becoming the first Cook Islan der to be awarded the Gold Medal in Clinical Dentistry in Fiji. He then became the first Cook Islander to gain a post graduate diploma in Dental Health in 1982, and is the only Pacific Islander to have gradu ated with a Masters degree in this field.

Honoured: lan Downs has been given the degree of hon orary Doctor of Letters by Deakin University in Australia for services to the country, community, learning and litera ture. He spent many years in Papua New Guinea, beginning his career as a patrol officer in 1936, then becoming a District Commissioner. He oversaw the first European and indigenous development in the eastern highlands district. He resigned from government service in 1956 to become a coffee plan ter, but continued to take an active interest in the country’s administration, becoming an elected member of the Legisla tive Council, then a member of the first House of Assembly. He has written a number of books on Papua New Guinea.

Commander Stanley Bransin Brown (centre) who has retired from the Fiji Naval Squadron. Photo taken August, 1961.

Mr Turi Wari.

Elected: leremia Tabai has been re-elected president of Kiribati, a position he has held since the country’s independ ence in 1979. He won the May election with 10,800 votes, his contestants polling 9100 votes for MP Teburoro Tito and 1000 votes for incumbent vice-presi dent Teatao Teanaki.

Appointment: The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Bill Hayden, M.P., today announced the appointment of Mr David O’Le ary as Australia’s Consul-Gen eral in New Caledonia, he will succeed Mr John Dauth, who was Consul-General in Noumea until February this year. Mr O’Leary’s area of responsibility will also include the French Pacific territories of French Polynesia and the Wallis and Futuna Islands. In announ cing Mr O’Leary’s appoint ment, Mr Hayden noted that New Caledonia was an impor tant regional neighbour with which Australia had enjoyed a long tradition of close contact, particularly in the areas of com merce and tourism. Mr Hayden recalled that Australia had been

represented in New Caledonia since 1940. Mr Hayden also expressed the Australian Gov ernment’s desire to maintain a constructive dialogue with all parties involved in the political evolution of New Caledonia, including the French Govern ment. Mr O’Leary joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1969 and has served in Brussels, Paris and New Delhi.

He is expected to take up his appointment in Noumea in July.

Visiting: Patterson Mae, mana ger of Solomon Islands Broad casting Corporation visited Aus tralia in May as a guest of the government. While in Australia Mr Mae toured broadcasting facilities to study operations.

Posted: Papua New Guinea’s new High Commissioner to Fiji was due to take up his post in late June. Mr Maimu Raku-Nou was today sworn in as High Commissioner-designate and is expected to arrive in Suva on June 26. Mr Raka-Nou replaces the late Mr Denis Kepore, who died after a heart attack in March this year.

Patterson Mae