Lady Loewen Describes Tiger Hunt In Nepal With Elephants

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27877, 27 January 1956, Page 2

Lady Loewen Describes Tiger Hunt In Nepal With Elephants

Seated behind her husband in a howdah on the back of an elephant, Lady Loewen, wife of the commander of British Land Forces in the Far East, General Sir Charles Loewen, had her movie camera in readiness to film him shooting a tiger in Nepal during a recent visit there, but the hunt became so exciting that she forgot to take the picture.

“Oh, I’ve been with him on tiger hunts before. We did a lot of tiger hunting in India, but this particular hunt in Nepal was interesting because there were about 34 or 35 elephants engaged in it,” said Lady Loewen. The skin of the particular tiger she mentioned was being cured at present. Her busband had shot* many timers on various hunts, said Lady Loewen. Both Sir Charles Loewen and Lady Loewen are Canadians. Sir Charles Loewen comes from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Lady Loewen from the capital of British Columbia, Victoria, on Vancouver Island. Lady Loewen accompanies her husband on many of his travel. Recent travels have taken them to India, Pakistan and Nepal, and they go to Hong Kong about once every three months. Lady Loewen spent the Canadian summer months of June and July in British Columbia. Last month they were in India, which was almost like going home, as Sir Charles Loewen was stationed there for 18 years. Lady Loewen went there as a bride, and lived there for 10 years. They returned to England in 1939. They have two sons. Charles, aged 23, who is at Harvard University, taking a business administration course, and John, aged 21. is taking an engineering course at the University of British Columbia. In Singapore, where Sir Charles

Loewen and Lady Loewen have been stationed for a little more than two years. Lady Loewen is chairman of the Far East Committee of S.S.A.F.A.— Sailors’, Soldiers’ and Air Force Association—which looks after the welfare of families of servicemen. She is also president of the nursing division of St. John Ambulance in Singapore, and as a member of the division works in a clinic attached to a school for Chinese and Tamils.

The work is not part of her duty as president of the division, it is something that she specially wants to do. “I like to do something that is real,” she said. During World War II she worked as a V.A.D. in a big hospital near Birmingham, in England. In Victoria, British Columbia, where the homes are noted for their beautiful English-type gardens and topiary; Lady Loewen is a keen gardener. In Singapore, however, one can garden only in a limited way because of tropical conditions, she said. Her many activities did not leave her time for gardening there. Gardeners were employed in the grounds of the home they had in a suburban area of Singaport. There, she and her husband entertained many British officials who passed through Singapore. Officers’ wives had many interests in Singapore. In the tropical climate they had more servants than they would have in their own homelands, and were freer to go about anef entertain, she said.

This is the first visit Sir Charles Loewen and Lady Loewen have made to New Zealand. "We always felt it was a country we would like to see.” said Lady Loewen. They began their 11-day visit to New Zealand yesterday, accompanied by Sir Charles Loewen’s aide-de-camp, Captain A. D. Pritchard.