OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 22491, 28 January 1935, Page 7

OBITUARY

ADMIRAL COONTZ. FORMER AMERICAN COMMANDER. (United Press Assn. —Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) Washington, Jan. 26. The death is announced of Admiral Coontz, a former commander of the United States Fleet. Admiral Robert Edward Coontz graduated, from the United States Naval Academy in 1885, and was commissioned as an ensign in 1887. He was promoted through the grades to rearadmiral in 1917, and to admiral in 1919. Admiral Coontz was in the.Alashan service for six years, becoming proficient as a pilot in those waters. In 1918 he was appointed to command the Seventh Division of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. In 1919 the Senate confirmed his appointment as Chief of Naval Operations. On the Hawaiian-Australian-New Zealand cruise in 1925 he was in command, and his retirement came three years later. His decorations . include medals in the Spanish-American War, the Phillipine Insurrection, Vera Cruz and the Great War, and the American Legion D.S.M. MR ALEXANDER LEEPER. (United Press Assn.— Telegraph Copyright.) London, January 25. The death is announced of Mr Alexander Wigram Leeper.

Mr A. W. Leeper was bom in Melbourne in 1887. He served on the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference and Lausanne. He was second secretary in the Foreign Office in 1920, and assistant private secretary to the late Lord Curzon from 1920 to 1924. At the time of his death he was a Counsellor in the Foreign Office.