PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2684, 2 February 1916, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS

The Hon. Jas. Allen returned from the south by the Mararoa at noon yesThe Hon. W. Fraser, Minister 'of Public Works, is touring the North Auckland district on Departmental busi-' ness. The Minister will roturn to Wellington at the end of the week. Dr. Hay, Inspector of Mental Hospitals, and the Rev. Father Hickson, of Christchurch, were among the passengers from the south by the Mararoa yesterday. Long service is • somewhat' ''general with the Wellington Trust and Loan Company. ■ The secretary, Mr. R. 13. Rawnsley, lias occupied liis position for 35 years; it is 34 years ago since Mr. C. 1\ Ponies was appointed an auditoF for tho company; and the chairman of directors, Mr. J. P. Maxwell,'has done 21 years' service on the directorate. Lieut. Kay Strang, who has been mentioned in Sir lan Hamilton's dispatches, is a son of Mv. John Strang, tlie wellknown settler of "Glenside," Wairnrapa. slr.' Llewellyn W. P. Reeves, of the Bank of New Zealand, Petone, has enlisted, and has passed the medical .test. Staff-Sergeant Keith Little, of Wellington, who was stricken with enterio at Anzac, was when the last mail left confined to the military hospital at Tooting, London, where he was making rapid progress towards recovery. At Silvorstream on Saturday a presentation was made to ten of the Valley residetnts who have joined the forces and shortly proceed to tho front. 'Vt the farewell gathering, at which Mr. N. J. Bennington presided, -six out of the ten soldiers wero present, namely, Sergt. A. Hamilton, Corpl. E. Gard, and Ptes, F. Palmer; R. Surties, and W. Edwards, and Driver W. Russell, to whom the residents of Whitemnn's Valley the previous evening had given a social evening, besides presenting him with a wristlet watch. Those unable to attend were S. Raper, J. Pearse, and S. and H. Wilkins. Mr. Bennington, on/behalf of the committee, 1 presented five of the men present with a silv#.'niountcd pipe each, and a money belt to the only non-smoker among the number.

Private J. J. O'Neill, of Timaru, who returned to the South Island this .week, was a member of the Wellington Battalion, Third Reinforcements. He was hit 'by a bullet in the thigh at Cape Holies on Slay 8, and sent to Malta. ;He was back 'again in the trenches at 'the end of June, but on August 10 was invalided with enteric. He participated in the big fight in August. Mr. J. Lazarus has been appointed temporary assistant town, clerk Lower Hutt during the absence of Mr. L. Gwilliam, who has been granted three months' leave of absence. ,

The friends of Rifleman J. H. Dixon, Ist. Battalion New Zealand Rifle Brigade, who was reported severely wounded on Christmas Day in the fight against the Senussi at Merso, Matruh, will bo pleased to know that Mr. M. H. Dixon, assistant-master at Wellington College, received a cablegram on Monday afternoon, stating that his son's wounds are healing splendidly, and that his son has accordingly been transfer-! red from the 21st General Hospital, Alexandria, to the New Zealand Hos* pial (Hohipera), at Cairo. Sergeant Claude Brooke, formerly of Wellington, and now a member of tha New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, has written, stating that he had been in hospital at Taunton, and was about to leave for active service in Egypt, This is Sergeant Brooke's- third "go," after having recovered from wounds;