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Sir Harry Luke

• "Not an intelligent man" (Ron Gatty).
• 1940-41: The head of the WPHC was Governor of Fiji as well as of the Gilbert and Ellis Islands; there were two separate offices, even though one man wore both hats. There may not have been any separate "police force" for Fiji in those days.
• A quick look at the Civil Lists for 1942 shows that Sir Harry, VWTMcG, and DWH sat on the same Legislative committee. Lots of opportunities for unrecorded conversations about the bones, I imagine.
• I asked Jean Brown whether Sir Harry was recalled for failure to prepare the defense of the islands. She and Stan thought not. Sam Ellis wrote the government and said that if Sir Harry was not recalled, he would see him in court. Sir Harry's wife did not come with him to Fiji, and he was "a bit of a playboy. Very clever." It seems that he lived"the bachelor life."
• Parkinson: The press accounts said that Sir Harry was "stepping aside for a younger man who could better handle the burdens of the office in war." But Sir Harry had the same problem Solomon did.

• Left Suva on July 20, 1942.
• Sir Harry's successor, Mitchell, was a British General. "I came out here not to govern but to wage war." That's all he did. He didn't last long. They appointed another High Commissioner when the war moved away from Fiji.
• Major-General Sir Philip Even Mitchell, KCMG, MC, appointed
  Governor of Fiji July 22, 1942.
• Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham appointed Jan 1, 1945.
• Sir Leslie Brian Freeston, KCMG, OBE November 22, 1947 until Jan 29, 1952.
• Sir Ronald Herbert Garvey, KCMG, MBE. Governor-designate. Took office on February 5, 1952.