WOMAN'S WORLD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3128, 5 July 1917, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Continued frpm page 2.) ■The Oldest New Zealand-Born. : The death of Mrs/ Caroline iilimbeth ■Bedlington, who at Paiha, Bay of Islands, nearly ninety years ago, has just occurred at Whaiigarei. Mrs. Bedliugton is said to be the oldest New Kealand-born, having been born qn October) K, 1828.' She-was-,the eldest of twelve children of tho late Mr. Gilbert Hair, who was one of the earliest Bay of Islands settlers, and who settled permanently in-Whangarei near the , end of 1842. ,

. Having the distinction of being the first white child born in the Bay of Mantis ■settlement, and probably in the wholo of/the Dominion, Mrs. Bedlington was alflo to call up many a personal reminiscence of the very early days wlten New Zealand first became a colony >of theEmpire. When a'young girl of 11 years Bhe was present at the laiiding of Captain Hobson, the .first Governor of New Zealand,, and she was with her parents to witness flie signing of the famous Treaty of Waitangi in 1840'. Mrs. Bedlington also carried a distinct, recollec-* tiori of the arrival in the northern settlement of Bishop Selwyn, the first missionary bishop in this country.

Mrs. Bedlington attended the Marsden Centenary in 19l'i, and on that occasion ' she was introduced to Hie representatives . 'of tlie family—Mr. &. W. Betts, a grandson, a grandaughter, and a niece.

The deceased lady was married in 1861, and her husband passed away thirty years later, leaving her with three sons and one daughter.—Auckland "Herald."

Mrs. Austin Elder,' of Wellington,'.who is at the present time in England, waiting to a Masterton friend from Torquay, says that her son, Mr. Kenneth Elder, who was wounded in> France, is rapidly recovering, but will not be able to go back to the firing lino.for some weeks yet. At the time of writing they were both staying- at Torquay.

News' has recently boon received in Wellington-of- the marriage in London of , Mr. John Fairchild ■ (who is_with the Dental Corps at the front) to Miss Ethel Boyer, a Canadian nurse, in Egypt. Mr. James Coa'tes gave the bride away, apd Dr. Elnei , , staff-surgeon at the Admiralty, was best' man. Colonel Hunter ■was groomsman. Sister Edith! Tairehild-. was present 'at the ceremony,' and- after■warde Mr. Coates entertained the party at the Langham Hotel.

Boys and girls, try stationers and*' for the Thinker" school exercise books and* penny, notebooks. Best for all schools. Bannatyne- and Hunter, wholesale agents for' "Thinker." -Advi ■ ' - .