OBITUARY.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18413, 20 June 1925, Page 16

OBITUARY.

SENATOR LA FOLLETTE.

(BY .CABLE—PSESS ASSOCIATION —COJTBIGBT.) (aUSTEAXIAN AXD N.Z. CABLE AS3OCIATIOK.) - WASHINGTON, June IS. Senator Robert Marion La Follette died'this-afternoon from' heart 'failure induced by a general breakdown and an attack of bronchial asthma'. Senator La Follette. who was 70 years of age, started life on a Wisconsin farm. He climbed his w;iy through most State offices to that of Senator of the United States, a portion which he held for 20 years. The climax of his career was reached when he entered the last nresidenti tl campaign. polling 5,C00,C00 vot< s against Mr Coolidse and Mr ,1. >•'.

Davis as an Independent, for which *s was later ousted'from the Republican Party and deprived of seniority honours.

Since then .his health has gradually failed. It is-believed that the strenuous campaign hastened the end. Senator La Follette was the instigator of the sensational Teapot 3>ome investigation.

MR PETER GAINES. Mr Peter Gaines, of the Railways, who died on Tuesday after a short illness, and was buried yesterday at Bromley Cemetery, came to New Zealand in his youth, and settled in Otautau, Southland, with his parents. lie joined the Railways in 1894, and in 1910 was elected to represent the Otago district of the A.S.R.S., and two years later was elected vice-president of the Societv. He represented the Society for nine years, and also served on the Superannuation and Appeals Boards. In 1922 he was promoted goods foreman at Lyttclton. The late Mr. Gaines was an ardent Freemason, and was,W.M. of the Lod"e Clutha in 1912. On coming to Christchurch he joined the Crown Lodge. He was also a member of tho Oddfellows' Society. The late Mr Gaines was held in great esteem by members of the craft and by his fellow-workers in the Kailways. Mr Gaines, who was 52 years of age, leaves a- widow and two sons, both of whom are married. The elder,- Peter Frederick, lives in Wellington, and the younger, W. Albert, in Eivertou. Canon Mutter officiated at the graYesde, and the Masonic ritual was read by the Worshipful Master, S. Baird, of Crown Lodge. There was a large attendance of brethren and members of the A.S.R.S. There we*e a number of beautiful wreaths from the railway and the lodges with which Mr Gaines was connected.

The. death is announced of Captain G. J. R. Dormor, who was prominent some years ago in. volunteer times in Auckland. Ho was the eldest s6n of the late Captain G. J. Dbrmor, onetime sergeant-major and' musketry instructor of the 14th .Regiment. Captain Dormor was born at Wanganui in 1865, and was educated in England, returning to New Zealand in.lecfci. lor many years ho.was bandmaster of the Garrisoni Baud, latei becoming actively associated- with the volunteer movement as Jieutenant of No. 3 Native Rifles. On the formation, of the Ist Auckland Infantry. Battalion he was appointed captain and quarter-master, serving in a similar capacity at Narrow Neck camp duaing tho great war. He was also well, known in Masonic circles, being past-master of Lod <e Wairoa, also of Newton Mask E.G. '

Mr George Alfred Buttle, for many years the esteemed president of tiio Auckland Stock Exchange died at Auckland on Monday, aged 7G. Mr Buttle, who had been ill for some time, was a son of the Rev. Georgo Butt.e, orje of the early Methodist- missionaries of New Zealand, who came to this country in 1839, and .laboured principally in the Taranaki and Waikato districts. Mr G. A. Buttle was bom at the mission station of. Te Kopua, on the _ AVaina Itiyer, and was one of a family of- eight. In the late .'seventies Mr G. A. Buttle went to the Thames, where ho married a daughter of MiMark Sommerville, a well-known Auck-. land resident of the early days. Returning to Auckland in the early 'eighties, Mr Buttle becainc associated with Mr: J. C. Firth's flourmill, and when the business was'formed into the Northern Roller Milling Company, under tho management of Mr.McCorquodale, Mr Buttle stayed with it for some time. Then he became connected with the sharebroking business whi.h had been established in 1869 by his uncle, Mr Joseph Newman. In' 1812, when Mr Newmun retired, Mr Buttle became the owner of the chair on the Stock. Exchange. Since then his had been one of.the most familiar figures, and for. several years he had Ire an chairman of the institution.