PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2206, 20 July 1914, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS

. —| —: _ ■ ■ Mr. John Smith,, Grand Master of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows in Now Zealand, leaves,for Auckland today to attend a big meeting of the Orditr to bo 'held in. the. northern city to-morrow. The death occurred, on' Friday at Hastings of Mr. Charles M'Kirdy, formerly a well-known contractor in Wellington, where he was resident for the greater portion of his life. The deceased, who was 75 years of age, -arrived in New Zealand when a young man, and during the last fifty years has been associated with some fairly large works. These included the building of the tunnels in connection with the railway line over the' Riihutaka and tho erection of the quarantine hospital on Somes Island. _ It is only a few years since ho superintended the erection of large harbour works at.Pateai In 1873 ho.' wns elected a member.of the " City Council, and held his 6eatfor two years, when' he resigned and was succeeded by the late Mr. E. ■ T... Gillon! A little time ago he went to (Hastings; to reside with his _ son-in-law, having:prior to that sustained a paralytic stroke. The deceased is survived . by his son, Mr. Charles M'Kirdy (engineer to the Wellington Hospital), and : 'four daughters, Mesdames C. Hamilton (Hastings), and Wm. Gibson, and the■' Misses M'Kirdy." ' ' .. ■■■'•■'. Mr. Robert Burbidge, of. Wellington, has received a letter .from his eldest daughter, who is a nurse in England, Btating that her brother, Mr. ' Percy Burbidge, a brilliant student at the Wellington College and Victoria University, now pursuing scientific studies at Cambridge University, has !been seriously ill with appendicitis and peritonitis. As she .has not cabled! since sho wrote, it is taken that young Burbidge has pulled through. Only two years ago Mr. Burbidge, jun.,v won the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship, which entitled him to take the scientific course at Cambridge. :"■ , '■ : '."■■' ■Mr. James Nixon, of Onehunga, died on Friday in his 82nd-year. The deceased arrived in Now Zealand in 1848, in the ship Ranley. He participated in the gold rushes on the West Coast, and at the' Thames. He leaves a widow, four sons, 19 grandchildren,-and, five ' great-grandchildren. Mr. Nixon was married 62 years ago on tho site of tho house in which he died. . '. f| Mr. John Cock, retiring superintendent of, the Ross Goldfields Reconstructed, Ltd., was at a: banquet at Ross on Friday evening. .A large assemblage of prominent residents of tho district attended. Mr. ; Hewitt, warden, presided,, and the Mayor occupied"' the vice-chair.; '-Eulogistic speeches were made as to Mr. Cock's capabilities as manager, and regret was expressed at his impending departure. A presentation was made during the evening. • Mr. Cock leaves to return to 'Australia.—Press Association. ': Mr. R. A. Armstrong has severed his connection with the Now Zealand Employers' Federation to take up the work of organiser to • the Moderate League, the recently-formed body which takes up a non-party position between the No-License Party on the one hand and "tho Trade" on the other. ■'■.• Mr. W. G. Taylor, M.R.C.V.S., who has been down at Ashburton for the last five months, returned to his homo in Wellington by the ferry steamer Wahino yesterday morning.) Mr. W. E: H. Knowles, representing Messrs. H. L. Young, Ltd:, returned from the Christchurch district yesterday morning. : '- V V