PERSONAL. ITEM S

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2731, 28 March 1916, Page 5

PERSONAL. ITEM S

.■■'-.;■'-Ihb Hon. W. H. Herrics arrived l b Giisborue on Saturday, and. spent a . .busy day yesterday. -He ivill journey lip the East Coast to-day, and will re- .'■:•• turn on Sunday to.catch the. steamer .for the south.—Press Association. . . I ' Sir v Joseph Ward went, south last ■. '-. night. He is to'receive deputations today in Christchurch, and to-morrow be W'll go on to Dunedin and address a recruiting meeting to-morrow night. He will probably address another meeting '■;.' in the south before returning to Wellington. •■-■■'■ ..-'•' . The death occurred yesterday afternoon, after in illness, of Mr. E. J. Fitzgibbon, a well-known Wellington solicitor. The late Mr. Fitzgibbon, who was only 84 years of ago, was educated at the Marist Brothers' School, St. Pa— :■ trick's College, and the Victoria College University. He'bad talent beyond ■the ordinary, and won the Plunket Modal for oratory whilst attending the - University. ' He leaves a wife (nee Miss Gallagher) and three children (two boys and a girl). He waß at one time, in partnership with Mr. William Perry, but recently had practised on his own account. The death occurred from infantilo paralysis yesterday morning of Mr. Godfrey Hyams. of Messrs. Levin and Co.'s staff. The late Mr. Hyams, who was 17 years of age, was a brother of Messrs. V Hyams and P. Hyams (also of Messrs. Levin and Co.'s staff). He was .educated at the Terrace School and Wellington College, and had been in~ the employ of Messrs.Levin and Co. for about a year. The retirement of Mr. H. J. H. Blow, Under-Secretary for Mines and Works, from tlio Pub'lio Service oh su- ' perannuation will take effect from 'April 20.' . • Mr. A., L. Beattie, formerly Chief Locomotive Engineer of the Railway 1 Department, has been appointed to represent the Napier Borough Council on the Napier. Technical College Board. Mr. W. M. Kirkcaldy, of Dunedin, will leave Wellington for- Sydney, en route to England, by the' Manuka oh Thursday next. Mr. Kirkcaldy: has retired from the active duties of. management of the Provident Life Assurance, but.' will still retain his seat on the directorate. Ho also retains his connection, with Messrs. ' Kirkcaldy and (-'p., underwriters, of Dunedin, and dii rectors of the Yorkshire Company there. Mrs. Kirkcaldy has been in London for the past year or so, and since war broko out has been doing valuable work in connection therewith. Their son, Mr. Grange Kirkcaldy, . was at , Cambridge University when war broke ' out, undergoing military training, and on.the outbreak of ; war'at.'onco cnlist•ed.' He joined the ■ Cambridge University Brigade of the Royal Fusiliers, and in October, 1914, received a commission in the Army Service Corps, and has been in France ever sincb. . "-Sir. J. C. Nicholson,'solicitor, of New Plymouth, champion of the New "Plymouth Tennis Club since 1904, has en- ■,"■ Usted. ■':.■;• 'News has been received in Napier of, "the death of Mr, Edward Walker, who was a builder and contractor there in the '70's. His death occurred in Monmouth, England. ' v •. ■■' Mr.' John de Vere Mannion, chief en. gineer at the Auckland Electric Tramways Company's power-house in Hobson Street, has enlisted, and has been accepted for.active service. He was born in Canada, and has in the .-■North-West Mounted Police. Mr.' F. J. Mouat,_ solicitor, of' the lands and: Survoy Department, was nominated .yesterday as a candidate for ■ • ■' ■ election to the Public Service Appeal Board. The late Mr. John .Rutherfurd, formerly of "Wairere,". in the Wairarapa, who died at Hamilton on March, 20, at tlie.age of 81 years, was born in Lisieux, isorniaudy, l'rance, and was the fourth son of Mr. 'fhonias Rutherfurd, of Fairnington and > Wells, Roxburgh, shire, Scotland. He received his early education in France, but owing to the strong feeling against the English during- the French Revolution, headed by Louis Philippe, in 1848, his parents were-obliged 'to leave France, and took up their residence in Bideford, Devon. 'At the age of fifteen years he entered the service of the East. India- Cora- . ■ pauy as.a naval cadetl He saw active service ini China and the Persian Gulfj and was nresent in India in company 'with his**eMer brother, Lieut.-General .S. W. Rutherfurd, during the troublous times: of, the Indian Mutiny. After the abolition of the Indian Navy -he came put,.in 1863,■ to''New Zealand, and became engaged in sheep- ' farming in the Wairarapa. He was one of the earliest settlors to take, up land in the Forty Mile Bush, which had then been untouched by a ' from Masterton to Palmerston North. In those day's Masterton consisted of only four houses, and the settlers had to pack all their stores through the standing bush from Castlepoint, forty miles away. There were no flour mills and the settlers had to grow their own wheat and grind it by hand into flour. During his forty-five years' residence at "Wairoro" he saw.very great ohanges in the Wairarapa, as the unbroken virgin, forest has been replaced with a thriving district, and more than half a dozen progressive towns.' The late Mr. Rutherfurd leaves a widow,and five sons and three daughters. His three unmarried sous-are on active service in Egypt. A well-known , figure in • Auckland Shipping circles, in the person of Captain Thomas' Meyers, died at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital on Wednesday. For 16 years he had been in the service of the Northern Steamship Company, and was master of the Knnierl for several years, trading between Auckland and Whangarei. Captain Meyers was ill for six weeks before his death. He was 54 years of age. Mr. E. 'J. Gravestock, manager for Messrs. J. and N. Tait. arrived in Wellington yesterday from Sydney, to make arrangements for Mr. Ashmead Bartlett's New Zealand tour.' The death occurred at Dalefield on Saturday morning of Mr. W. J. Smith, a very old and highly-respected settler of the Wairarapa. Deccasod had been a resident of Dalefield for many years, where he followed fanning pursuits, until failing health compelled his ictirement. He had been an invalid formally i" months, and his death was • not unexpected. /His wife predeceased him several years ago. The .interment took -. place at-the Claroville cemetery yesterday afternoon, the service ' at the grave. ■:•• being conducted by tho Rev. R. Young, vicar of St. Mark's.