PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2403, 8 March 1915, Page 5

PERSONAL ITEMS

The Hon. James Allen, Minister of Defence, arrived from the south yesterday morning. The Prime Minister (the ;Hon. W. F. Massey) left for Auckland' last evening.. ■ . Mr. L. G. Blundell has been elected chairman of the New Zealand Press 'Association for the current year. Captain Bone, marina superintendent for the New Zealand Shipping Company, returned from the south oil Saturday . morning, « The Dunedin correspondent of the "Lyttelton Times" states that private advice reports that Mr. William Manson, son of Mrs. Isabella Manson, a well-known ex-Dunedin vocalist, has • been appointed Professor of Harmony at- the Royal Academy of Musio. NotWithstanding that he is onlj; eighteen years of age, Mr. Manson gained three medals at the close'of the year for harmony, pieces at sight and singing. Yesterday being the anniversary of the death of the late Rev. A. Thomson, the unveiling of a memorial tablet at St. David's Presbyterian Church, Petone, took place beforo a large congregation, and an impressive sermon was delivered by the Rev. J. Kennedy Elliot, D.D. Mr. Harold Beauchamp (chairman) has been appointed by the Government a director of the Bank of New Zealand for two years from Maroh 31,1915, the date at which his present office expires. It is also understood that Mr. J. H. Upton, of Auckland, who retires ■ with Mr. Beaiiohamp, has been reappointed ' for two yeara, as from Match 31 nest. Mr. J. H. jrAlister, private secretary to the Minister' of Public Works, Mr. A". Millier, of" the\ Marine Department. arid Lieutenant 1 Crotwell, R.N., who has come out from Home for the benefit of his health, returned to Wellington on Friday afternoon, having ' rouiid trip in the Government steamer'Hinemoa. . • ; Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont Smith left fov Ohristohurch. on Saturday evening. Constable F. Whitehouse, of the . Manners Street Police Station,, has been appointed court orderly at the Magistrate's Court in place of Constable R. • Miller. Sergeant J. W. ! Davison, of the Canterbury Expeditionary Force now in Egypt, who has received a commission in the Imperial. Army, originally belonged 1 to the 13th (North Canterbury and Westland) Regiment, but was (says the Ohristchurch "Press") transferred to the machine-gun section of the Canterbury Infantry Battalion while the force was in camp at .Sockburn.

. Captain Stansell, of the Railway Engineers, at Timaru, was presented with a. case of pipes and, a gold-mounted fountain pen on the occasion of his de- , parture. for the Trontham camp. He leaves Timaru to-morrow. The presentation was from the members ofnis com- - pany. . Of Mr. Francis Arkwright, ex-M.L.C., •whose death occurred in England on March 1, the Rangitikei "Advocate" says—"A great lover of sport, the Old Country held out such' temptations in fishing and shooting, to which he was devoted, that some years ago he left New Zealand and lived'at Bournemouth, ' making yearly journeys to the Scotch .sporting districts. _ To .the: younger people of the district his name is not familiar, but those Who were his intimates regarded him highly, as an able man, but his reserved disposition caused . him to be less known than the position he took in the district' warranted, though he was greatly, respeoted by one and all. He is survived by the Hon. ■ Mrs'. Arkwright (daughter of the late Lord Sidmouth), and his only daughter, Mrs. Whit Monckton, who lately also left New Zealand to live in England."

M. Claude Couturier, the French aviator, who spent some weeks at Rolleston with' a Bleriot monoplane, and ■who went to France on the-outbreak of war, writes to a member of the "Press" staff that he was appointed to a position in that portion of the Frenoh army stationed at. Verdun. 'At the end of December M. Couturier was leav. •ing Verdun to join the aviation corps in Lyons.