John Chauner Williams (1819-1874) was a son of the noted missionary to the Pacific, employed by the London Missionary Society, Rev. John Williams. From 1857 to 1873, J.C. Williams was British Consul in Samoa. Other journals kept by Williams, and by his wife Amelia, have been microfilmed as PMB MS 24.

A daily journal covering the period from February 24, 1868, to March 20, 1872, describing events in Apia, Western Samoa. Also on the microfilm is Williams' letter of appointment as consul, dated September 28, 1857, and signed by the British Foreign Minister, Lord Clarendon.
See also the Bureau's newsletter, Pambu, August 1969:13 pp.6-8.

1. Journal (1898-1900) of Father J.B. Jamond, S.M., founder of the Roman Catholic Mission on Pentecost Island, New Hebrides (Vanuatu), describing the search for suitable sites and the establishment and early history of the mission stations at Wanour, Namaram and Melsisi on the island.
2. Journal (1902-1904) of Father R.P. Suas at Melsisi, Pentecost.
3. Official copy (1949) of Father J.P. Jamond's account of the establishment of the Catholic Mission on Pentecost Island.
4. Extracts from letters by priests at Melsisi mission (1898-1935).
5. An account of a voyage to Tanna in 1934, with an account of the founding of the Roman Catholic Mission on that island, by Father Laurent Durand-Vaugaron, S.M. (1879-1938).
6. Les Langues Oceaniennes, by Father Elie Tattevin, S.M. (1883-1949).
7. Papers on Pentecost by Father Pierre Gonnet, S.M. (1875-1935).
8. Reports on the Eruptions at Ambrym in 1927 by Father Pierre Bochu, S.M. and in 1929 by Father Louis Clenet, S.M.

Jai Ram Reddy (born on 12 May 1937 in Lautoka, Fiji) is an Indo-Fijian statesman who has had a distinguished career in both legislative and judicial branches of the Fijian government. He was admitted to the Bar in New Zealand in 1960 and in Fiji in 1961. Between 1966 and 1970 he was Crown Counsel and Principal Legal Officer in the Attorney-General’s Office. Between 1970 and 1997 he was a senior partner of a law firm.

Reddy entered politics when he was appointed to the Senate in 1972, by the then leader of the opposition Sidiqu Koya. In 1977 he became leader of the National Federation Party (NFP). In this role he was Leader of the Opposition in the Fijian Parliament between 1977 and 1984; and again between 1992 and 1999.

Judge Reddy briefly served as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice in the Bavadra Government until its overthrow in a military coup in 1987. Judge Reddy was a Member of the Constitutional Review Commission which reviewed the 1990 Constitution of Fiji and removed all discriminatory provisions against Indo-Fijians. In 1998 Judge Reddy was made a Companion of the Order of Fiji in recognition of his service to Fiji. In 2000 he was appointed President of the Fiji Court of Appeal but resigned his commission in August that year, following the overthrow of the lawfully elected government. He was re-appointed President of the Fiji Court of Appeal in January 2002, and retains his commission as Justice of Appeal (on leave).

Correspondence, 1989-1999 (reels 1-3)
Subject files (reels 4-6)
Constitution of Fiji (reels 6-9)
Filing systems (gaps) (reels 9-10)
National Federation Party and Elections (reels 10-12)
Speeches (reel 12)
Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Act (ALTA) (reels 12-15)
Files on Women's Issues (reels 15-17)
Other files (reels 17)
Printed material (reel 17-18)
Serials (reel 18)
See Finding aids for details.

The Introduction 'Courte biographie de Mademoiselle Eugenie Peter-Contesse' supplied in 1988 by Lydie Peter Contesse, shows that Eugenie Peter, as she was often known, was born in Switzerland in 1889 and died there in 1974 after having spent most of the years 1923-51 in New Caledonia. As a missionary teacher for the Societe des Missions Evangeliques (Paris) she was based chiefly at Bethanie in Lifou but made duty visits to the other Loyalty Islands (Mare, Ouvea and Tiga) and to Noumea, Do Neva (Houailou) and elsewhere on the Grande Terre often to attend the annual Protestant conferences. She was based in Do Neva for several months in 1939. Her letters are usually in fact 'letter-diaries'. They provide therefore a detailed record of life on the Loyalty Islands during the depression, World War II and immediate post-war years. They contain detailed accounts of relations with the Boula and Haeweng families on Lifou. Eugenie Peter and her colleagues (Maguerite Anker, Pierre Begninus, Etienne Bergeret, Marc Lacheret, Philippe Rey-Lescure and many others) contributed frequently to the Journal des Missions Evangeliques (PMB Doc.101-173). Their letters and articles are detailed on pages 241-245 of Patrick O'Reilly's Bibliographie ... de la Nouvelle Caledonie (Paris: Musee de L'Homme, 1955).

Eugenie Peter's letters begin in Marseille on 16 May 1923 and end in Noumea on 28 August 1951, with two interruptions, in 1929/30 and 1937/38, for visits to Europe. Her letters were typed and circulated to members of the large Peter-Contesse family. They were subsequently also photocopied. The present photocopied set, lent to the PMB by Mlle Therese Peter-Contesse, has been microfilmed regardless of the illegibility of some pages, as the originals and/or other sets were not available. Some of the letters are numbered, and there are occasionally gaps in the sequence. Others in the wartime series, have been censored.

Richard Parkinson (1846-1907) a German national of English descent, went to Samoa in 1878 to work for the trading company J.G. Godeffroy und Sohn. In 1879 he married Phoebe Coe, sister of Emma Coe (later known as 'Queen Emma') and joined 'Queen Emma' in New Britain in 1882. A successful coconut planter with botanical, entomological, ethnological and ornithological interests, he wrote Dreissig jahre in der Sudsee: land und leute, sitten und gebrauche im Bismarck archipel und auf den deutschen Salomoninseln, published in Stuttgart by Strecker & Schroder in 1907, the year of his accidental death. The published German original is widely available. Several unpublished English translations exist, among them the two microfilmed here. For further information see the Bureau's newsletter, Pambu Ser.3(3) 1989 and Ser.3(4) 1989.

Reel 1: Thirty years in the South Sea, the country and the people: habits and customs in the Bismarck Archipelago and on the German Solomon Islands, by R. Parkinson ... 1907, translated from the German by H.A. Thompson (1922) (viii, 102 pp.). Contents page, author's preface, editor's preface, text parts I-VII, separately paged typescript with corresponding page number of the original typed in margins.<BR>AND pp 1-515 of - Thirty years in the South Seas: The Bismarck Archipelago, natives and customs, by Richard Parkinson ... 1907, translated and edited by N.C. Barry, (n.d.) (1), 648, (10)pp. Typescript with contents page and unnumbered part IX in a typeface differing from the rest of the text. Part I = Part XI (Discovery and early history). Does not include prefaces. Corresponding page number of original pencilled at head of text.<P>Reel 2: N.C. Barry translation concluded. Pages 516 - 648, (10)pp.