PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2732, 29 March 1916, Page 5

PERSONAL ITEMS

': The Mayor (Mr. J. P. I/iike) and Mrs, Luko were to Mount Egniont yesterday,. '• , Mr. W. J. Lankshear, who went to England last year, 'is a passenger by the Maitai. due in Wellington from Sydney to-day. . : - . .Reference to the death of Mr. B. J Fitzgibbon, barrister and solicitor, was made, in the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning. Mr. -W. G. Riddell, S.M., aud-Mr. D. G. A. Cooper,'S.M., were both on the Bench, and a represented tive ; gathering of the filled' the solicitors' seats. Mr; 0. N.- Beere, on behalf of those present, referred to the kindly nature and genial manner of the deceased, whom they regarded as oiie likely to rise high in the profession. They all felt it very much that he should bo cut off at such an early age, and they sympathised deeply with his widow, his little children, and his mother.. Mr. Riddell said it was a fit and proper thing that members'on suph an occasion: should assemble to refer to the sad event. The Bench also desired to express regret at the death of Mr. Fitzgibbon—a young man of more than ordinary' promise, and one who was .always prepared to help those in need and to give the best advice and sympathy to clients. The Court then adjourned for a quarter of an hour, out of respeot to the memory of the deceased.

The following resignations of teachers were received by the Education Board yesterday:—-Mr. JY J. Stevenson, agricultural instructor; Miss Wiesner, sole teacher, Putara; Mr. W. H. Smith, sole teacher, Dyer; Miss Messenger, sole teacher, Judgeford; Miss G. Mont house, sole teacher, Pencarrow; Miss J. Rattray, sole teacher, Whakaponi; Miss I. M. Stace, assistant, Shannon; Miss. M. A. M'Kelvie, pupil teacher, Wadestown. . .

-. Out of numerous applicants, Mr. James R. Baillie, of Dunedin, has been selected to fill'the position'of commercial instructor at the Technical College, Invercargill (says the "Southland Times"). Mr. Baillie was formerly employed as an accountant at Invercargill, and has had very wide experience in his profession.

Mr. H. Harris has been . re-elected president of the Otago Rugby 'Union.

, Mr. W. F. Healey, of Brooklyn, who 'recently retired from the service of the Wellington Harbour Board, has left for England by the- Zedlandic.'

Mr. F. J. Mouat, solicitor, of the Lands and Survey Department, has been nominated as a candidate for electicu to the Public Service Appeal iDoard.

Mrs. Green, licensee of the Caledonian Hotel, Wellington,";has received a cable message stating that her thiro\ son. Warrant Officer Alfred Kerr, of the Field Ambulance Australian Light Horse; has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He. has recovered from his wounds, and.is now in good health again. He is a brother of Fred Kerr, feather-weight boxing champion of New Zealand, who went away with the Canterbury contingent of. the' Main Force, and was killed in the Dardanelles.

Mr. Edwin J. Wilson, M.A. (Cantab.), E.Sc. (N.Z.), has been appointed lecturer in modern languages at Perth University (W.A.). Mr. Wilson was educated at Nelson College, and went from there to Canterbury; College in 1904, completing his M.A. -course in English aud French. He then proceeded to Cambridge, going afterwards to the German school at Antwerp. Escaping frqm Belgium at the outbreak of the war, he became an assistant master at the Sydney Boys' High School.

■ Amongst the guests registered at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, are the following:—Mr. and Miss, Connolly, Greymonth; Mr. and Mrs. Lonnd, Dannevirke; Mr. Gilmour, Dannevirke; Mr, Duncan, Dannevirke; Mr. Pearman, Trentham; Mr. Smith, jun., Marton; Mr. J. Ross, Dunedin; Mrs; Battersby, Timaru; Miss Larkin, Timaru; Mr. Broderick, Christchurch; Mr. Kearins, Taihape; Mr. Raylon, Featherston; Mr. Lockwood, Featherston; Miss M'Vicar, AVestport.

Reports from the Motneka district, where hop-picking is going on at present, indicate that several hop gardens at Riwaka have been attacked by a, disease known to fruit farmers as the ■'spider." The disease appears in the form of a : rust, which attacks the hop plants and shrivels them up, rendering the hops practically useless for commercial purposes. When examined under the microscope, it is seei that the ■"rust" is ill'reality an immense number of minute organisms, wliich somewhat xewmUe 6mal) spiders.