181. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Harry Sir / Lukach, Harry] Arthur Richards, 1st Baron Milverton.

Eight – page – Manuscript letter (MLS) to Sir Harry together with a 27-page manuscript-evaluation of local personnell at Government House (Fiji) as well as local politicians and possible agitators in Fiji and the British Western Pacific Territories from Arthur Richards, 1st Baron Milverton, in his capacity as Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner of the British Western Pacific Territories. This letter and the manuscript evaluations were sent by Richards on July 10th, 1938, on Stationery from Government House (Fiji) in order to inform Luke of the special situation of the posting before Sir Harry would take over the post (from 1938 – 1942). Very intriguing insights into colonial portraiture of possible troublemakers in the colonial service, excellent service men, clerks, and also recommendations for promotions etc. Arthur Richards evaluation of Sir Alport Barker, owner of ‘The Fiji Times & Herald’ is exemplary for the opinionated report to Sir Harry and one of the remarkable reports on ‘European Members of the Legislative Council on Fiji and the British Western Pacific Territories: ‘Aplort Barker – Has been an elected member for about twelve years, ex-mayor of Suva, owns the Fiji Times = Herald – Member of Executive Council / Has a small-minded, narrow outlook partly the result of physical disability. Lame from early days owing to infantile paralysis. Very anxious to get a knighthood. He has an intimate knowledge of local affairs and is often useful. He could be more useful if he were not so petty and spiteful.Very sensitive of slights, real on imaginary. / Apolosi [that was Apolosi Nawai] – Arthur Richards describes him as follows: ‘Apolosi – A man of the people. Fijian agitator & leader. The John the Baptist of a possible future. An ignorant misguided man with a great natural flair for speaking. Can sway words + is to some extent feared by the Chiefs because of his influence. The papers on him are worth reading. He is at present banished to Rotuma but the term expires at the end of 1939, when despite filaria + increasing age (he is well over 50) he will be a man to be watched. / Arthur Richards goes on to report on the ‘Council of Chiefs (Fiji)’’ where matters of interest to the Fijian people are discussed, resolutions are passed and answers are given’ – He informs Sir Harry that ‘The Council has been postponed until Oct. 18th [1938] to enable you to preside. The position of Governor carries immense prestige with the Fijians’. Richards also informs Luke that ‘no ladies, except the Governor’s wife should be present at the opeimus’. In total Arthur Richards talks about c. 32 people in his evaluations and he also gives Sir Harry Luke some information on the Coconut Estates on Fiji, Mines, Suva Yacht Club etc. He goes on to talk about Sir Harry Luke’s arrival and swearing in as governor and taking the oath ‘the whole being relayed over the wireless’ / ‘I assure you that the whole of Fiji + much of the Western Pacific will be listening in, so make a good speech.’ / Magnificent, confidential report between two important representatives of the British Empire during a very sensitive period of world history.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva (Fiji), Government House, 1938. Octavo / Quarto From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

182. [Pacific Content] – Luke, Sir Harry

Omnibus-Letters on the British Pacific Colonies with a multitude of severe Manuscript-Annotations in working-copies of these Omnibus-Letters. These very rare, printed (!) personal and confidential situation-reports from Fiji, Trinidad and Barbados are dated between December 1940 – June 1946, when Luke sent “probably my last ‘omnibus letter’ from the West Indies, as my work here comes to an end in the autumn”. These omnibus letters were all marked “Private and Personal” and are full of details about Luke’s work during his position as “Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner in the Western Pacific” as well as touching on his experiences during his role as “Chief Representative of the British Council in the Caribbean”. See a Full List of the Omnibus – Letters below.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Suva (Fiji) / Barbados / Port-of-Spain (Trinidad) /, Government Printing Office etc., 1940 – 1946. Octavo. Original Softcover pamphlets, stapled, loosely inserted in pouch titled: “His Excellency the Governor”. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal working copies. Very good condition.

183. [Pacific Content] – Luke, Sir Harry.

People of the Solomon Islands [Essay published in “The Listener”, this being Harry Luke’s personal copy with a minor manuscript correction in his hand].

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. BBC, The Listener, 1942. Folio. 4 pages with several photographic illustrations (by H.A.Bernatzik etc.). Stapled. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal working copy. Very good condition.

184. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / Arthur Frederick Richards, 1st Baron Milverton (High Commissioner for the Western Pacific 1936 – 1938) / Dawe, A.J. (Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office (also operating from Downing Street)) / Kennedy, Donald Gilbert] / J.C. Barley [R.C. (Resident Commissioner on Ocean Island)].

Four Original, Typed Letters from A.F.Richards [that was Arthur Frederick Richards, 1st Baron Milverton] in his capacity of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific during the years 1936 – 1938. These four letters were compiled as Memorandum of the British Western Pacific Islands, particularly the Gilbert Islands and were compiled by Richards for A.J.Dawe, then Under Secretary of State for the Colonial Office, who sent them on to Sir Harry Luke in an official envelope “On His Majesty’s Service” , stamped with the seal of the Secretary of State – Colonial Department. The letters with manuscript annotations and markings bear manuscript annotations and markings by Sir Harry Luke in pencil. The four letters stretch over 44 Folio-pages and are a detailed “Situation-Report” of nearly all the islands in the realm of the Gilberts and some other Islands. Richards reports for example about Ocean Island, Tarawa, Nauru, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Rotuma and Taveuni, Marshall Islands and Butaritari, Beru, Nanumanga, Vaitupu, Samoa, Fiji, Apolosi, etc. etc. which was forwarded by the Secretary of State-Office to Sir Harry Luke, who succeeded A.F.Richards as High Commissioner for the Western Pacific in 1938, after a brief period in which Sir Cecil Barton was installed as actiong High Commissioner only. The Letters / Memorandum are very detailed and strikingly honest in its assessment of certain colonial officers in charge of their stations. Richards does not hold back in criticism for the lack of style and efficiency in running their stations.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [Pacific], June 1937 – August 1937. Slim Folio. 44 pages, stapled. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal working copy. Very good condition.

185. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry / Lukach, Harry].

Drafted letter by Sir Harry Luke regarding his appointment in 1938 [as Governor of Fiji]. On St.James Club – stationery and with a calling card of Luke. / With a later note from 1945 on the letterhead.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, 1938 / 1945. Octavo. From the private collection / library of colonial governor, diplomat and historian, Sir Harry Luke.

186. [Pacific Content] – [Luke, Sir Harry] / McKay, C.G.R. (Compiler – Secretary of Native Affairs) / [Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton].

A Chronology of Western Samoa – Being principally a Record of Chief Events since its First European Discovery in 1722. [Sir Harry Luke’s personal copy with his ownership-signature and ‘Apia 1938’ on endpapers. Interesting annotations, markings and comments in Luke’s hand throughout the Volume. With a Typed Letter (TLS) on the stationery of Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton, signed ‘Alan’ (i.e. “The Rt. Hon. Viscount Boyd of Merton. Secretary of State for the Colonies 1954-59”): “My Dear Harry, I hoped that our paths would have crossed since my letter to you nearly a year ago……” (plus in manuscript hand added: “I often think of you my dear Friend – Your Ever Alan” 16th February 1961)]. Compiled by C.G.R. McKay (Secretary of Native Affairs).

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. Apia (Western Samoa), J.W.Liston, 1937. Octavo. XII, 47 pages with two maps. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket. From the library of Sir Harry Luke.

187. [Pacific Content] – Luke, Sir Harry / [Queen Salote of Tonga].

Original, very large ceremonial Tapa (″ngatu”), awarded to Sir Harry Luke directly by Queen Salote when he visited Tonga at the beginning of December 1938 during his time as Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner in the Western Pacific. – With a Prayer painted on the tapa, invoking Gods protection for the island of Tugua: “Koe Lube OSA Bua I He Lagi I Tugua”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. [Tonga / Tugua], c.1938. From Sir Harry Luke’s personal Library & Collection.

188. [Pacific Content] – Luke, Sir Harry / Queen Salote Tupou.

Queen Salote and her Kingdom. [With some woodcut-illustrations by Robert Gibbings, taken with permission from “A True Tale of Love in Tonga” and “Over the Reefs”].

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Putnam, 1954. Octavo. Frontispiece – Portrait, 136 pages with numerous photographs (14) throughout the Volume. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket. From the library of Sir Harry Luke.

189. [Pacific Content / Gardner Island] – Luke, Harry Charles.

From a South Seas Diary: 1938-1942. [Personal Working copy Number Two, now with the added Index and a six-page manuscript notepad for a lecture by Luke in the year 1957 at the British Embassy in Oslo “Islands of the Caribbean” (four of the manuscript-pages on stationery of St.James Club, Piccadilly)] / This second working copy is an actual printed version of the final book but Luke immediately used it as his personal Review copy with some occasional annotations and corrections, for a possible new edition].

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Nicholson & Watson, 1945. 19 cm x 12,5 cm. 255 pages, illustrated throughout with 185 photographs by the author. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective Mylar. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. Tearing to dustjacket, bumping to boards. Otherwise in good condition.

190. [Pacific Content / Gardner Island] – Luke, Harry Charles / Sir Harry Luke / [Gerald Gallagher on Nikumaroro (Gardner Island) / Patrick Jay Hurley – United States Minister to New Zealand].

From a South Seas Diary: 1938-1942. [Personal Working copy Number One without Index / “Review copy” of Sir Harry Luke – with very many annotations, additions and corrections which led to the ultimate finished print (this working copy has no Index yet) / With Three (3) Letters loosely inserted of which one is regarding funds for a bronze plaque for Gerald Gallaghaer’s grave on Nikumaroro (Gardner Island) / With Two (2) manuscript notes loosely inserted / With one handmade and handpainted bookmark signed and gifted Christmas 1941 by Cottrell-Dormer, Cox of the Iririki Hospital (Cottrell-Dormer is also mentioned in the Preface) / With a tipped-in Typescript on page 233, regarding the unannounced visit to Suva by United States Minister to New Zealand, Patrick Jay Hurley, on his way to take office. This typescript was clearly written to be included in the book but, for obvious reasons of diplomatic tact, never made it into the final publication. The typescript includes manuscript annotations by Luke and is a fine character-study of Patrick Hurley and his tendency to greet people with “an ear-piercing Indian war whoop or yell [Choctaw war crie, by Luke wrongly remembered as Osage Indian] / Luke rememberes in the typescript the spring of 1942: “About this time I was asked by Washington to look out for and put up, among many American military and naval notabilities who used to pass through Suva….crossing and recrossing the Pacific….So whenever a Catalina was sighted as being about to alight in Suva Harbour, my A.D.C. would hurry down to meet her…..One afternoon in 1942, Mungo dashed off to meet such an aircraft and did not return empty. Into the drawing-room of Government House strode a tall….flamboyant figure…General Hurley soon gave me to understand that in his private opinion Oklahoma was the only State in the Union that really mattered, an opinion which in the circumstances seemed an entirely proper one for him to cherish”.

[This item is part of the Sir Harry Luke – Archive / Collection]. London, Nicholson & Watson, 1945. 19 cm x 12,5 cm. 252 pages with 185 photographs by the author. Original Softcover with original dustjacket in protective Mylar. Harry Luke’s (Lukach) personal copy. With annotations and markings by Harry Luke. Split hinge, almost detached. Otherwise in fair condition.