PERSONAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 791, 14 April 1910, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS.

' Ministers outof town to-day are: The Prime Minister, who is at Gisborne,- Hon. J -A. Millar in Australia; Hon. A. Ngnta, in Hawke's Bay; and Hon. J. Carroll at Gisborne.- - .';'.,. ' The.Hon.'G. Fowlds, Minister for Education, has returned from: his visit to Auckland and' Gisborne. .. "The Hon. T. ; Mackenzie, Minister for Agriculture, returned to Wellington from the south yesterday morning. Mr. J. Penny, of Blenheim, returned to Wellington yesterday after a holiday visit : to Australia; . Mr. W. Dnnlop, who has been a member of the Selwyn County Council for twenty-eight years, lately.- .chairman of that.body, was yesterday presented with an illuminated address by members and ex-members of the ' council. •■ Mr. Dunlop ■is retiring because the Selwyu County has been divided, •. and his, district is in the new county.'—Press Association. ... . .'.■.- Dr. Crooke, who has been medical superintendent at the Cbrisbohurch Hospital for: eleven years, yesterday tendered his resignation, owing to the state of Mrs. Crooke's health, which has necessitated a' change of climate. Tho board accepted the resignation with expressions of regret.—Press Association. Mr. J. ■H. Fairbairn, proprietor of the Now Occidental Hotel, who has been on a health recruiting trip to Australia, returned to Wellington yesterday by the Ulimaroa. Constable Gates, the ex-New Zealander, Who was awarded the. King's Medal for bravery in Sydney, arrived from that city by the TJliin'aroa .yesterday, on a visit to friends and relatives. ~.'.""• Dr. and Mrs. Morico, of Grcymoufli, who have been in. England for over a year past, returned to Wellington yesterday by the TJlimaroa, and received a hearty welcome.from a number of friends who awaited their, arrival on the wharf.

-Among those who have been spending the Easter, holidays.in Sydney, and who returned yesterday by the TJlimaroa, were Messrs. Mitchell and. King, the wellknown contractors; Mr. D. 11. Findlay, solicitor; Mr. and Mrs. Norman Eeid; Mri Thomas Munt, of Munt, Cottrell, and Co.; and Mrs. and tho Misses Gear, of Porirua. . -.'■'''■

Mr. K. M. §impson, manager of tho Phoenix Assurance Company,: who has been visiting. Sidney, Melbourne, and Ballarat, on business and pleasure combined, arrived baok yesterday by the TJlimaroa. ; ■ Mr. Samuel Kobinson, formerly in business in Wellington .as a Customs and shipping agent, and who has resided in Australia for severaTyeaTC, arrived here from Sydney by the Uliniaroa yesterday. Mr.. S. Gilmer, of the staff of Messrs. Skerro+t, Wylie, Chapman, and Tripp, was made the 'recipient of a handsome smoker's companion, prior to his departure fox the Old Country on an extended tour of the Continent. The presentation was made by Mr. A. Wiren on behalf of the staff. Mr. Gilmer travels to. Ensland by the V. and 0. steamer Morea, in company with his father. Mr. C. E. Richardson returned by the Ulimaroa yesterday from .a business trip to Australia. The late Sergeant Wm. Hedge, < who died at the Wellington Hospital on Monday, was accorded a military' funeral yesterday. Deceased took part in operations on the north-west frontier of India. He had for some years been a member of the Royal New Zealand Association of Sis' Majesty's Veterans. The R.N.Z.A. provided the gun carriage and firing party for tho funeral, Mhioh took placo at Karori. ■ After over 30 year's in tho service of the Union Steam Ship Company, of which he was. superintending engineer, Mr. Da-vid M'Caig has retired, and is about to leave for tho United Kingdom.; On April 8 he was entertained at a diwner in Sydney. Mr. Franki, manager of Mort's Dock and Engineering Company, Ltd., presided, and among thoso present were Captains Crawshaw, Cromarty, Green, and Sp'nks, Messrs. Bell (North Coast Company) and Jackson (Illawarra Company). Mr. Shirra (chief engineering surveyor of the Department of Navigation.) proposed the health of Mr. M'Caig, and presented him on behalf of his Melbourne friends with a pair of sleeve-links shaped like a ship's propeller at one end and a, doublo-onded 6panner at tho other. Mr. Wm. Irving, on behalf of the company assembled, presonted Mt. M'Caig with a silver' cigar _ case. ] Mr. M'Caig was recently entertained in Wellington by the lnstituto of Marine Engineers,