W R Carpenter & Company Limited was registered in Sydney in 1914. It was involved in buying and selling island produce including copra, cocoa, trochus, beche-de-mer, green snail shell and Fijian bananas. The company later developed shipping and pioneered an airline. Having built its trading strength in New Guinea and Fiji, the Company extended its operations to the Solomon Islands in 1922 where it established a Branch at Tulagi. The Branch was abandoned in 1942, but after the War some of the Tulagi Branch papers fell into the hands of Tom Elkington whose widow passed them on to Dr Judy Bennett.

Inward correspondence, 23 Sep 1925- 5 Jan 1931<BR>Outward correspondence, 19 Oct 1925-3 Jul 1929<BR>14-15 Dec 1930<BR>Inspection reports and related papers, 1930-1932<BR>Legal papers, 1925-1931<BR>Undated and fragmentary papers, [nd]

The administration of the Methodist Mission in the Solomon Islands, including Bougainville and Buka, was the particular concern of the Methodist Church of New Zealand from 1922 till January 1968 when formal independence was granted to the Methodist Church in the Solomon Islands. The correspondence documents policy, personnel, resource and many other matters relating to the administration of the Solomon Islands District. This series is a continuation of correspondence Between the Chairman of the Solomon Islands District, Rev Metcalfe and the General Secretary of the Foreign Missions Department, 1934-1952, microfilmed by at PMB 927.

Letters-in from Chairman of the Solomon Islands District to the General Secretary of the Overseas Missions Department, Dec 1952-Dec 1965. Copies of letters-out from the General Secretary of the Overseas Missions Department to the Chairman of the Solomon Islands District, Jan 1953-Dec 1965. Indexed. <P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

The Methodist Church in New Zealand sent its missionaries to the Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. From 1922 till 1968 the administration of the Methodist Mission in the Solomon Islands, including Bougainville and Buka, was the particular concern of the Methodist Church of New Zealand. The Overseas Mission Board (originally named, the Foreign Missions Board, and renamed in 1961) administered the activities of New Zealand Methodist missionaries in those territories. These minutes continue the series covering the period 1903-1955 which have already been microfilmed at PMB 520-525.

Index to Methodist Foreign Mission Board minutes, Dec 1955-Dec 1963<BR>Methodist Foreign Mission Board minutes, Dec 1955-Dec 1963<BR>Methodist Foreign Mission Board minutes, Feb 1964-Nov 1972<P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

Ogden (1873-1948) was a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The journal and papers relate to Ogden's missionary work in Samoa. The papers include: missionary call, certificate of ordination, missionary certificate and blessing, letters from Samoan mission president.

Ishmael Ngatu was a leading figure in the Marovo Lagoon, Western Solomon Islands from 1914 to his death in 1955. He was probably about 70 years of age at the time of his death. The translations from Roviana were made by a variety of people, mainly Rev. E. C. Leadley, under the editorship of Rev. G. G. Carter. The original diaries were kept in the Western Pacific Archives and apart from the two microfilmed here have since been transfered to the Solomon Islands National Archives.

Reel 1 Original diaries, 1938 & 1952.<BR>Ms. English translations of the diaries, 1927-1928, 1929-1931, 1933, 1935-1936, 1938-1941.<BR>Reel 2 Ms. English translations of the Ngatu diaries, 1942, 1945-1948, 1950-1954.<BR>Ts. English translation of the Ngatu diaries, 1929, 1931, 1938, 1952<BR>Notes on the Ngatu diaries.<BR>Further notes on 1933 and 1935 diaries.<BR>File of Rev. George Carter's correspondence re the Ngatu diaries, 1976-1978.<P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

Rev Vincent Le Cornu Binet came from the Channel Islands in 1916 to Choiseul where he served from 1917 till 1932 as a Methodist Minister, following in the footsteps of S. R. Rooney. Dr Clifford S. James was a medical missionary who served at Choiseul from 1928-1931. Well known in medical circles in the Pacific, he later served at the Anglican Hospital at Fauambu on Malaita. He died in New Zealand in 1967.

Letters to the government, Dec 1926-Sep 1931. Correspondence with Dr Clifford James on clothes, 1931.<P><b>See reel list for further details</b>

Sister Merle Carter, a cousin of Rev George Carter, was a Methodist Missionary nursing Sister in the Solomon Islands from 1946 till 1961. She was stationed at Torokina on Bougainville, then went to Buka and was finally stationed at Keop on Bougainville.

• Diaries (original), 18 Dec 1946-27 Mar 1947, 28 Jul 1947-5 Oct 1947, 6 Nov 1947-1 Dec 1947, 23 Feb-17 Sep 1948, 1 Dec 1948-4 Jan 1949
• Diaries (transcripts), 18 Mar 1947-17 Sep 1948, 17 Nov 1948-13 Jan 1949
• Correspondence, Nov 1947-Oct 1950 (7 Nov 1947, 19 Dec 1947, 20 Jan 1948, 29 Mar 1948, 21 Apr 1948, 6 Jul 1948, 9 Aug 1948, 21 Sep 1948, 26 Oct 1948, 21 Aug 1950, 4 Sep 1950, 5 Oct 1950, 19 Oct 1950).

See reel list for further details.

Sister Merle Farland (1906?-1988) trained at Auckland Hospital. In 1938 she was appointed to a nursing position at NZ Methodist Mission's Helena Goldie Hospital at Bilua, Vella Lavella. Most of the missionaries left the Solomon Islands in January 1942 when the Japanese first attacked Rabaul, however Sister Farland refused to leave on the grounds that a nurse was necessary to attend to the needs of Solomon Islanders and that, as she had just returned from furlough, she was the right person to stay. From Bilua she visited New Georgia, Simbo and Choiseul which were occupied by the Japanese at the time. For a time, Miss Farland ran a coast watching station herself. Travelling a good 100 miles by canoe through enemy lines she was eventually evacuated by Catalina from Sege at the south end of New Georgia. After the War Sister Farland became a tutor sister at Lautoka Hospital where she was presented with a MBE for her services on 12 May 1947. (Fiji Times, 14 May 1947)

Sister Merle Farland: diary, 1938-1940, 1941-Feb 1943(photocopy of the original); index to Sister Farland's diary; The Gizo Scuttle, by Rev. J. R. Metcalfe; press cuttings, 1942-1988; correspondence, 1942-1944. <P><b>See reel list for further details</b>