PERSONAL ITEMS DUNEDIN CENTRAL SEAT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2379, 8 February 1915, Page 5

PERSONAL ITEMS

DUNEDIN CENTRAL SEAT

Mr. W. H. Cooker, son of the Rev. J. Cocker, of Christchurcb, has been appointed associate to His Honour the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout. Mr. Leslie H. Beauchamp and Mr. ' T. Higgin6on, of Wellington, Lave arrived in London. Mr. C. Herbert Thompson, a recent graduate of the Otago Kcliool of' Mines, has been appointed manager of tlio Mount Radiant Mining Company, Westport. Mr. A. Matthews lias been re-elected chairman, and Mr. Q. Donald re-elected to the office of treasurer of the South Wairarapa River Board. The R-ev. S. J. Campbell has accepted the pastorate', of the Onehunga Congregational Church, and was to take up v his duties there yesterday. News has been received in Masterton of the death in Auckland of Mrs. R. U. Galloway, one of the early residents of Masterton, and mother of Mrs... R. A. Scott, of Wellington. During the course of a lecture at Waimate on Wednesday, Deaii llegnault stated (says the -"Times") that he had two brothers and. six nephews <it the front, and in conversation the pansu priest at Fairlie told him that ho Lad three nephews, with the colours. , . Mr. Charles MacMabon returned from Auckland by the first express on Saturday.' . Letters received by Mr. H. H. Pitcher, of Fort Street, Auckland/ show that.his brother, Captain D. L. Pitcher 1 , an ,'aviator, went 'with the British troops to France in August. He flew from England to Boulogne and Brussels, and-was engaged in the fighting. at Mons, the Marne, and the Aisne.' Captain Pitcher has been fired at by French; • Germans, and British, but, so far, has not been injured. He has now been promoted to be flag-commander, and has been sent Home to organise an aerial squadron of 18 officers.Mr. F. Fraser MacKenzie, of the Auokland office of the Valuation Department, accompanied by Mrs. Mackenzie, will join the steamer Makarihi at Wellington for England. Mr. MacKenzie is on twelve months' furlough, and proposes'. to spend the greater-part of that time in Britain. . Captain' G. B. Banks, of the New Zefu Jand'Staff Corps, who , was in charge of the Balclutha Defence Office for some ''years, has been ordered to Trentham to'join the Army Service Corps Depart' ment in the reinforcements. Captain Banks Has been resident at Milton for some time, and is recognised by military officers as one of the smartest officers in tke Otago district.—""Clutha Leader."- - . ■ ; ' Mrs. Colin_ Winchester, an old aad respected resident of' Masterton, died on Saturday afternoon at; the age of 58 .years. . - Miss M. C. Duncan, senior ward sister at the Greymouth Hospital, has reoeived intimation from the Defence Department that she has'been selected as one of the fifty'nurses to be 6ent from New, Zealand for service at the front. Captain. Hi B. Pelly, ,who is in command of H.M.S. Tiger, one of the ships that'sent'the German warship Blucher to the bottom lately, whs a junior lieutenant in H.M.S. Tauranga, when that ship was in commission in' Australasian waters some years ago. After leaving the Tauranga, Captain Pelly was appointed to Queen Victoria's yaoht. Mr; and Mrs. Ales M'Kenzie, who have been residents of Featherston for many years, and who are well-known throughout the Wairarapa, are about to take their departure from the district, having decided to make their home in Feuding;-;-Mr. M'Kenzie has been agent for some'' of the_ leading stock-buying companies, and will carry on the same business in Feilding. " Mr. William Stichbury, of Epsom, and family, 'states'the Auckland "Star." have a good record for defending the flag. Mr. Stichbury himself was a mem<ber of the Armed Constabulary, which served in the Waikato in the 'sixties,, and with two brothers and a cousin saw, several years' service. One of _ Mr. Sticbbury's sons saw activei service in South Africa, and three son's and two nephews are with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

A party of some 30 prisoners serving indeterminate sentences is camped on the Waimarino Plains, some five miles from .the 'Waimarino Railway Station, and is at. work on the formation of the new tourist road from the Main Trunk railway,'to Tokaanu. The work is laid out by engineers of the Public Works' Department, and supervised by warders.

MR. STATHAM'S MAJORITY • INCREASED. « . ' . (By TeleerraDh —Prese Aoaocfation.) Dunedin, February 6. The official count increases Mr. Statham's majority for Dunedin Central seat to 103, the figures being:— Statham.. 4027 Munro 3924 Only a dozen absent votes are still to eome.