A. S. Frater, MD

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  • Frater followed Hoodless as Principal of CMS (appointed December 31, 1946).
  • A Presbyterian minister and the son of a Presbyterian missionary (Rev. Maurice Frater).
  • Fergus Clunie: Frater died young. He had been in a prison camp during the war. Just dropped dead.
From Margaret Guthrie, daughter of Dr. Hoodless, via e-mail in 2013:
Yes, Dr. Frater was taken prisoner, as was his wife, when the Japanese occupied the area where he was a doctor at a mission hospital in the Solomons. Mrs. Frater was appointed temporary Assistant Principal to teach the basic science subjects [Chemistry, Physics, Physiology, etc.] when finally some funding became available to separate that aspect out from the administrative side. She only wished to hold that post until a substantive appointment could be made, but then her husband's health deteriorated. Her husband did manage to retire in 1953 because of ill health, and a Dr. Doran acted as Principal until Dr. Edmonds was appointed. As Clunie mentioned, Dr. Frater died not long after retirement. Dr. Edmonds was there when I visited my parents in 1954.
  • The position was vacant in the Civil List for 1954.
  • Imre Waibuca, the archivist at Fiji School of Medicine said that an acting Principal in the 1950s threw away a large number of records. It is likely that she was referring to Dr. Doran. If Hoodless left the bones at FSM, they could have been discarded during this purge of the archives--if so, they are gone without a trace.