PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2407, 12 March 1915, Page 5

PERSONAL ITEMS

Vice-Hegai.. On Excellency tho Governor and Lady Liverpool yesterday afternoon opened a carnival which is being held in Timaru in aid of tho Belgians. ,

The Hon. A. L. jHerdman has returned from an extensive tour from tho Kaingaroa Plains to 'Wairoa,; Hawke b Bay through the Urowcra Country.

The Hon. .W. H. Ilerrics will reach Wellington to-night by the Now Plymouth mail train. This morning lie mil bo at Hunterville. where a number of deputations are to" wait upon him.

' The Hon. W. Fraser,returns from Paeroa this morning.

The Hon. J. Allen was to liave left for Gisborne this morning, but ho has had to abandon tho trip on account of urgent' business requiring his presence in Wellington. He will probably leave on Saturday or Sunday for Auckland, where he proposes to consider some new proposal for a university site. He is ■also trying to arrange to oome down from Auckland by the East Coast, calling at Gisborne on the voyage. Messrs.'Vincent and-Gladstone Ward, sons of Sir Joseph Ward, will leave today by the Ruahtne for London. Mr. Gladstone Ward intends to go to the front.

Mr. C. E. Statham,. M.P., for Dune'din Central, was a visitor to Wellington yesterday. ~ Advice received in Wellington thiß week states that Lieutenant W. J. Clachan, who left New Zealand with tho Main Expeditionary Force, enrouto for England, has now joined his regiment (Middlesex) in France.

Mr; W. T. Hildreth will be a oandiidato for the Wellington City Council as well,as for the mayoralty of. Karon. v .. .. '/■

The death is announced of Sir James Donaldson, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of St. Andrews since 1886, aged 84. —Press Association. . Mr. F. W. Nicholson, who has for the past five months- been acting-manager for. the National Mutual Life Associa* tion, has now been appointed as general manager for New Zealand. Prior to coming to the Dominion, Mr. Nicholson was connected with the_ New South "\yales branch of the association, •for twenty-seven years,. during which period he filled many important positions.

Mr. Stanley Rankin left on Wednesday night for Christchurch, where he has been appointed dental surgeon of the Christchurch Hospital.

' At a meeting of the Wairarapa Presbytery, the Rev. G. K\ Stowell was appointed chaplain to the Territorial.camp 'to be held on the Opaki racecourse during April. .

Mr. R. Soundy, of. the Dannevirke School, who has been teaohing for the past 40 years, retires at the end of the current year, and the Hawke's Bay Education Board, has . recorded its appreciation of his long and* taithful seryices.

Mr. C. R. Brown, of Christchurch, Has been appointed .wood-work and drawing instructor for the Hawke's Bay Education Board in the Gisborne district. i Mr. T. E. Cross, of Hastings, is .visiting Wellington. . -

' Mr. and Mrs. P. Griffin, who have 'sold out their interest in the Pier Hotel, were presented with a solid silver cake dish by the staff last evening. /

Lieutenant Cyril . Edmund Parker, whose death at the front on New Year's Day was recorded in "The Times" of January 12, was ' the first officer _ of' l a Canadian regiment to fall in action during the present war. For some years he lived :in'Vancouver, British Columbia,- and on the outbreak of the war he obtained a commission in the 6th Regiment, the Duke of Connaught's .o»vn Rines.-.Vancouver, and proceeded to Valcartier with the detachment from that regiment, which,; with detachments Irom othei\ regiments from the/same, province, eventually formed the Ist British Columbia Regiment, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Lieutenant Parker qualified for the .rank of lieutenant while at Valcartier, but owing to there being a surplus of officers in the regiment he could not be placed, all the others being senior ,to' him.'. On arrival in England he made arrangements to become attached to-one of the reserve battalions of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, from, which he .was drafted out to the front in December. The late Lieutenant Parker, who was 30 years of age, was the eldest son of the Hon. Edmund. W. Parker and Mrs. Parker, of -Westfield House, Rugby, England. The Hon. E. W. Parker .was formerly manager for Messrs. Dalgety and Co., in , Christ-, church. ; 1

Dr. H. T. D. Acland, of Christchurch, who recently offered lis services to the War Office, has received notification that his offer has been accepted, and he T?ill leave on March 20 in order to join the' Niagara at Auckland. Dr. Acland, '■whose work will be in 'connection with the military hospitals, will proceed to London, where he will receive instructions as to where he /will be stationed. He is a native of Christchurch, and was educated at Christ's College, Otago University, and St. Thomas's Hospital, London. In the South African War he served as a civilian officer for twelve months.

'A Shannon settler was astonished one day this week by the arrival on his farm of a boy wearing two,coats. One was in the customary position for wear; the other where the ' trousers should have been but were not,. The extra coat filled their place. As a matter of fact the trousers had been left for safety in the Boys' Training Farm, it being the manager's wise custom to remove from the bedrooms the lads' nether garments every night. This discourages the matutinal excursions amongst newly-com-mitted pupils of nomadic instincts. The Shannon farmer notified the farm authorities and in the afternoon the lad had his trousers restored to him, his extra coat hung over his- arm, and his lower extremities in comfortable caso of proper tweed.

Wellington Labour candidates at the last general elections, Messrs. A. H. Hindmarsh, M.P., D. M'Laren, and ?! T. Moore, will entertain tlie members of the Labour Representation Committee at a smoke concert this evening.

The Welsh Regiment rejoices in the pcssession of a mascot in the 6hape of a raven, which takes.his morniri? bath with the troops, and cries "Halt!" with all the vigour of a seasoned sentry.