SAMOAN PIONEER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 236, 5 October 1936, Page 5

SAMOAN PIONEER.

MR. PAUL HOEFLICH. HIS EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY. LINK WITH EARLIER TIMES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) APIA, September 23. One of the best known and most respected citizens of Apia, Mr. Paul Hoeflich, a resident of 45 years' standing, who will celebrate his 80th birthday o,i October 1, is still healthy and vigorous. Born in the small Prussian town of Sonnenburg, in Brandenburg, young Hoeflich, after leaving school, was apprenticed to follow 7 the trade of his father, a furrier. Finding the trado ar.d life in a country town generally too monotonous and dull, he left home, at the age of 17, and went to sea, first joining a German brig, the Helios, which was leaving for the States, as a ship s boy. Endowed with an adventurous spirit, he found the strenuous life and hard work on board a sailing vessel to his liking, and sailed for four years on the Western Ocean on various ships and under many flags. In 1879 he arrived at Melbourne, .and sailed on snips on the colonial and the China coast for a further four years. In 1883 he car.ie to ■Taluit, on the Marshall Islands, whence he later proceeded to the Gilbert Is'auds. at that time a little-known group and not yet annexed by Great Britain. In Tarawa he became acquainted with Mr. McMurdoch, and took up trading in partnership with hi• n. The Gilberts at this period were the gathering-place of many adventurous characters and fugitives from the law. Mr. Hoeflich gradually gained the respect and confidence of the natives, and for over six years did a flourishing trade under the special protection of influential chiefs. One of these was the famous Iv'ng Tinbinoka, of Apainama, the "Napoleon of the South Seas," the despotic ruler of an island kingdom, who was immortalised by Robert Louis,

Stevenson, ill'. Hoeflich met the famous writer in 1889 at Apamama, and sailed with Stevenson to Apia. Much impressed by the attractions of life 111 Samoa, he decided to liquidate his business in the Gilberts. Having done so, lie returned to Apia in 1891 to settle permanently in Apia. Soon after his arrival Mr. Hoeflich acquired considerable property and also started in business as an aerated water manufacturer, gradually building up his business and gaining a. reputation for honest and straightforward dealing. During the stirring times of civil wars and political troubles under the Samoan kingdom, the three-Power regime, comprising the German and the New Zealand military and civil Administrations, Mr. Hoeflich lived and worked, making friends with the prominent personalities for over 4"> years. Many ar3 the tales and anecdotes iie relates of those historical days, he being one of the last few remaining links with old Samoa. "Genial Paul," as he is called by his numerous friends, is popular and everywhere respected. He has taken great interest in civic and social affairs, as well as in sport, especially horse racing. One of the founders of the old German Concordia Club in 1893, he is at present president of honour of the Concordia. Shortly after his arrival in Samoa Mr. Hoeflich married, and his home life is a very happy one. Of his five children, two sons live in Suva, Fiji, while his only daughter is married in America. His eldest son, Mr. Otto Hoeflich, is managing the business.