PERSONAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1505, 30 July 1912, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS.

i —> S Vioe-Eeoal. e _ His Excellency the Governor has invit- ' ed the delegates to the Municipal AssoL ciation Conference to take tea at Governv nient House to-morrow afternoon. f Mr. Allan Wallace, of Auckland, Rhodes e Scholar for New Zealand for the year e 1911-1912, leaves Wellington for London •-I by the Rotorua to-day. e ' Mt. A. E: Caddick, M.A., at present on the teaching staff of Nowtown School, and t Mt. G. W. Morice, M.A. (Teachers' Training College), have been appointed to the teaching etaff at Wellington College. A presentation was made to Mr. F. do Castro, secretary to the Education Commission yesterday, .consisting of two entree dishes and a set of fruit knives and forks. The chairman of the Commission and all tho other members spoke highly of the industry, tact, and ability display- " ■ ed by the recipient in the porformanos of his duties, and the indebtedness of tho commissioners personally to him for the i- arrangements he had made throughout it the tour of the Dominion. Mr. de Castro d thanked the commissioners for their kindy ness, and said that it had been a pleasure to be associated with them all. '-. Archdeacon Brodie, whose serious illa ness lias been causing grave concern, n showed slight improvement on Friday i. (telegraphs the Wnihi correspondent of e the Auckland "Herald"), and his many ■s friends avo noriv moie hopeful of his ret covery. { The to the conference of tho n Municipal Association are to be entor--0 taiued at tea oil Wednesday evening by (_ his Excellency the Governor. 6 Mr. E. W. Marriner, of tho local Post Office Money Order aud Savings Bank (1 staff, <vas -presented by members of tho o branch with a token of estwm prior to n leaving for Dunedin on transfer last el evening. 0 Mr. John Halliday, engineer for tho n Melbourne Harbour Trust, who was well known in New Zealand, and had gained a much distinction in his profession, died n recently from pneumonia. Mr. Halliday t- was born iu tho North of Ireland, and as f- a young man went to New Zealand, whero :s he was employed as an engineer in connection with the Brogden railway contract's. In the early eighties ho went , to Melbourne, and received appointment ""„ as town engineer at Footscray. Later ho ° returned to Now Zealand as engineer for "J InvercargiU, and there carried out tho t . water supply works, for which- he received a a considerable nmount of credit. Prior to ,{ his appointment as engineer for the Melj bourne Harbour Trust ho was identified IC with tho building of tho Richmond (VicI] toria) tramway. He was the officer who r . supervised the construction of tho Vic's toria Dock, and after its completion was appointed chief engineer of. the Melbourne Harbour Trust. During his conL : nectiou with tho trust, Mr. Halliday 11 supervised works which cost obout lC .£1,500,000. This month Mr. T. A. Dibbs completes his sixty-fifth year of service in tho 1 Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, 1 and his forty-fifth. year as general '* manager. This is probably a record in ■}' tho banking profession in Australasia. n Mt. A. E. Harrison. Traffio Manager of e Railways, Auckland, lias been selected bv ?. tho City Council out of thirty-nino npr plicants for tho position of chief adininisa trative clerk in the city engineer's departd m<v.it. |f Arrangements wore made by tho late .' Government for the appoiiltmeut of a suc,i cessor to Colonel Bnrnet!-St\iart, who re- ' cently resigned the position of Director of Military Operations. Tho name of the successor is not yet tivnilablu, but ho will ■ be appointed for" only two" years, the bal- ■ anco of tho term for which Colonel Bur--0 nett-Stuart was appointed. When the " two vears havo expired the. position will s be filled by a New Zealand officer. Tho Government intends to adopt a similar n policy in regard fo other positions in the p Nciv Zonlnnd IMiMicn IVcc, now held by imperial ottiucrs-

Rather a little- prodigy in tho art of elocution is a boy &ix years old, Cecil Harris (a pupil of Mrs. Martyn Williams), who earned the distinction of winning finst prize at tho Mastertqn competitions tho other day in the recitation of Tennyson's "Break, Break, Break," for which tno ago limit was 10, and also third prize for tho recitation "My Shiulow," in a, competition for children, under 10 years. Another of the now small baud of pioneers ol the Dominion passed away at Judgctord, near l'aliautanui, on baturday last, in tho person of Mr. Charles Stuart. The deceased gentleman was born iu Staffordshire, England, in 18"i(i, and arrived in Wellington with his par-! euts by the ship Birman, iu 1842. Ho went to Victoria on the outbreak of gold iu that colony, aud niter spending a lew years on the goldiields, during which timo tho Eureka Stockade incident happened, and of which ho was an cyc-witiiess, ho returned to New Zealand, taking part in tho Maori war of that time. lio then turned his attention to surveying, and was engaged in a party in which tho lato Mr. Burling, of Waikaiiae, was a member, and alter n few years' farming in tho Rangilikoi district, he finally settled in Judgeford, where ho has resided for the past fifty-three years. His early association with.the Maoris during the war and afterwards gavo him an opportunity of studying their language, which he spoko fluently. Until late years he took an active interest in the welfare of the district, and his kindly nature and cheerful disposition endeared him to all who knew him. His wifo predeceased him by six months, and of a family of fourteen, threo sons and six daughters survive him. Tho sons nro: Mr. liiehard Stnart, of Feilding; Mr. David Stuart, of Pahautaliuij and Mr. Charles Stuart, of Lycll. Tho daughters arc: Mrs. W. Jones, of Wellington; Mrs. S. Flighty, of Pahautanui; Mrs. A. Morgan, of Johnsonville; Mrs. C. O'Connel, Hutt; Mrs. W. M'Creadie, of Glasgow (Scotland); and Mrs. H. M'Manaway, of Hiinterville. Tho death took place at Parramatta, a few days ago of Monsignor Ahorn, one of the pioneer priests of tko north coast of Now South Wales. Ho was CI years of age. A native of Ireland, he crossed over to Amorica. Four years' energetic work in Ohio impaired his health, and he returned to Ireland, but in 1880 he agreed to give seven years' service in New Zenlana. Eight years later he came to New South _Wales, and entered upon work on the Richmond River. Some yecrs later Monsiguor Ahem returned to* New Zealand, whero ho spent seven moro year.?, but in 1002 ho resumed work in New South Wales, lie has been described as a very intellectual priest, with a wonderful command of the English language, and n good knowledge of French, German, and Irish. Ho was ah=o an accomplished musician.