In 1960, an attempt was made to murder the Commissioner Western, H.G.R. McAlpine, outside his house in Natabua, approximately two miles from Lautoka, around 11 PM.
This incident was reported in The Fiji Times on Thursday, July 4, 1960.
The assailant fired two rounds from a shotgun, striking Mr. McAlpine in the lower part of his body, hand, and groin.
Initially, police could not determine whether pellets from the first shot had hit Mr. McAlpine. Later on the day of the shooting, his condition was described as “no longer serious.”
Mr. and Mrs. McAlpine were returning from Nadi when the incident occurred. Mr. McAlpine had driven the car into the garage after dropping off Mrs. McAlpine near the house.
The first shot was fired when he got out of the car.
Mrs. McAlpine thought a tyre had burst.
When the second shot was fired, Mr. McAlpine collapsed.
A report from Lautoka indicated that the shots were believed to have been fired from a distance of at least 50 feet.
Mrs. McAlpine switched on the garage light and, with the help of her cook who had been awakened by the shots, attended to her husband’s wounds.
The police in Lautoka were immediately notified of the shooting by telephone.
A doctor traveled to Natabua and accompanied Mr. McAlpine to the hospital, by which time he had lost a significant amount of blood.
He was operated on and received two blood transfusions.
A PRO report indicated that Mr. McAlpine’s condition was “serious” but “not critical.”
The officer in charge of crime in Suva, Superintendent S.E. Gullidge, and three CID officers left Suva to assist in the investigations.
The Commissioner of Police, R.H.T. Beaumont, also left Suva in connection with the shooting.