A commemorative silver tray is being given to the Fiji High Commission after being found in a Napier second-hand shop by a sharp-eyed former political journalist while home on holiday from Canada.
Bill Alexander, who came to Napier with his parents during his intermediate school years in the 1950s andwent on to spend 10years in parliamentary press gallery broadcasting journalism, found the tray last week.
Although now 72 and retired, the intuitiveness of his years with the NZBC and TVNZ, coupled with a bit of knowledge from being married to a career diplomat, he was intrigued by the engraving, realising the trophy had been presented to late Fijian cabinet minister and diplomat Edward J (Ted) Beddoes, who also wrote popular music about his beloved Fiji.
The inscription read "To his Excellency Mr Edward J Beddoes from your Asia-Plus colleagues".
Made by Walker and Hall in England, it was presented in Wellington on October 15, 1992, in the name of L Aumua Ioana (Western Samoa), I Short (Cook Islands), A Jayanama (Thailand), E V Lammas (Philippines), V K Rajan (Singapore), T Iguchi (Japan), Y Y Yoon (Korea), S J Singh (India), L Jinhua (China), A Irsan (Indonesia), Tunku Dato' Nazihah (Malaysia) and B Rongap (Papua New Guinea).
Realising he "couldn't just let it slip out of sight", Mr Alexander bought the tray "for a song" - well, $10, actually - and made further inquiries via a search on the internet and learned Mr Beddoes retired to Hawke's Bay and died at Cranford Hospice, Hastings, on March 21, 2010, aged 78 years.
He had been a cabinet minister with multiple portfolios during 17 years in the government of Fiji Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.
