PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 300, 7 September 1918, Page 6

PERSONAL ITEMS

The Chief Justice (Sir Robert.Stout) will preside at the sittings of the Supremo Court at Masterton which begin ou .Tuesday. *■ Mr. Justice Chapman returned to Wellington Jrom Napier last evening, and will leave here on Monday for tbo West Coast, where, tfith Mr. Justice Sim, ht> will hear the Grey election'' petition.' Mr. Justice Hosking wilHeave Wclliugton on .Wednesday-next-for Gisborne, where be will bear the Supreme Court cases, and will afterwards go on t.i Auckland. The Hon. Sir Francis Bell, who was last evening re-elected president of the Star Boating Club, has been a member of that club since 1874, a period of 4-1 years." Lieutenant-Colonel 3. L. Sleeman, 1.G.5., Director of Military Training, returned to Wellington yesterday after a tour of inspection in the '-'out!) Island. While in the south ho examined som (lying cadets at Christchurch, inspected secondary school units in camp, and examined cadets of the Officers' Training Corps at the Otago Medical School. - ' ■ ■ -v. \ - 1 - .

A notification appears in the London Gazette to the effect that His-Majesty the King has been' pleased to allow Sir John Denniston to retain the title of Honourable on his retirement from the Supreme Court Bench.

Major F. D. Holdsworth, who for some two years past has been in charge of the postal branch of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force .it Home, and who was formerly Chief Postmaster at Auckland (from which position he retired on superannuation), has expressed a desire to retire, and Ins wifli has been acceded to. His place at Home will be taken by Mr. G. B. Call, at present one of two .assistant-secre-taries to the Post and Telegraph Department, and formerly inspector. Mr. Dall, who will be given the rank of major, will leave for England towards the end of the present month. Mr. Pall is one of the best'known officers in the postal service, and has been a familiar figure on the bowling greens of Wellington and elsewhere for over a quarter of a century. .

Mr. G. Rose, M.A., LL.B., who for the past eighteen months has lx-tn assistant solicitor to 111 p. Public Trust Office, has been appointed to succeed Mr.- E. P. , Hay as solicitor to that Department. Mr. Kose graduated in tiie Post and Telegraph Department (after leaving the Wellington College),_ and whilst there studied law, for which he had a particular bent, arid passed all ,his examinations iii a brilliant manner. As there was no.outlet for his talents ,in the postal branch of the service, he accepted an offer to transfer to the legal branch of the Public Trust Office. Mr. E. P.. Hay, lato solicitor to the Public Trust Office, has resigned from the Government service to enter into partnership with Mr. 0. C. Mazengarb', whose late partner, Mr. John Barton, has been appointed to the Magisterial Bench in Gisborne.

A pleasant little, ceremony took placein the office of the Director of Telephones (Mr. T. Buckley) at the GeneralPost Office yesterday morning) when Mr. James Orchiston, laic Chief Telegraph Engineer,'was'honoured by the bead office staff of tho Post and Telegraph Department. On behalf of the staff the Secretary (Mr. % .R. Morris) presented -Mr.' Orcliiston with a bookcaso, a whatnot, and an armchair, as mementoes of the esteem in which' he was held by those associated with him for so niaiiy years. He expressed ..tho hope that Mr. Orchiston's years (if retirement (which would, he-felt sure, bo many) would be spent happily, and profitably, which .would be the case if the wishes of his former associates in'the Department were realised. Mr. Buckley, as an old and close associate of Mr. Orchiston's in the telegraph engineering' branch, of 'the - - service, spnke interestingly ou the work of the Department, and drew retrospective pictures of expediences in fair weather and foul of the days when the transport ar-' rangements wer.o not so comfortable as they are now; :Mr. Orchiston replied feelingly, and reciprocated the kindly feelings which had been expressed.

At a meeting last evening of secretaries of tlio various bowline clubs, a resolution of sympathy was expressed to Mr. J. J.* Roberts, secretary of the 'cnntre, in the loss of his son at the battlefront. A motion of sympathy with Mr. Hendry, secretary of the Hataitai Club, in tho loss of his neDhoT was also passed.

Sergeant.- J. • W.- M'Rae, M.M., who died of wounds received in ' the recent ' fighting, left . Nef Zealand with the Seventh Reinforcements as a signaller in the N.Z.F.A., and had.seen continuous service since arriving in Frauce. For gallant conduct he recently received the Military Medal, and was promoted to sergeant. His mother resides in England. .

•• Among those killed in the big advance on the Western front on August ; 22- was Rifleman J. W.'Witt, son of Mr. ; T. W. Witt, .of. the soft goods firm- of Wright, Dixon, and Witt, Victoria Stree't. Rifleman Witt was. farming near Feilding until-last year. He wont forward with the Thirty-third lloirJforcements some eight months ago, and had only been in France a few months when bo received his fatal wound. Much sympathy will be expressed with the members of the family. ' ■ ;

Bombardier John- Roberts, died of wounds, was the youngest son 'of' Mr. J. J. Roberts, general manager of the Provident Life Assurance Company. The late Bombardier Roberts, who was >about-.21 years of : age, left with .the N.Z.A. Seventh Reinforcements. He was an."old boy" of Wellington CoP lege. ■ ■: : .■•>■.•:■■■

Cable 'ndyico has) been received that Surgeon-Captain j. E. L. Simcox is daiigerously ill from the result of £unsliof wounds' received while * serving with the N.Z.M.C. in France, states the "Hawke's Bay Herald. ,, . He left with the Sixteenth Reinforcemeuts, and for' nearlv two years he has been in'the firing line, wherever the New Zealand Division has been engaged, in charge of advanced dressing stations and regimental aid posts.

Private F. Jones, reported wounded, is a son of the Hon. George Jones, M.L.C., of Oamaru. Prior to his enlistment, for active Private Jones was editor of .the Oahiaru "Mail." He was a leading cricketer and tennis ulavnr. in tho district. Another son of the Hon. George Junes, Lieutenant Frank Jones, was killed in action in France about a year ago.

Second-Lieutenant F. Clarke, who is reported to have been killed on August 24. was born at Nottingham, and camewith his parents to New Zealand when he was eight years old. He attended the Kilbirnie School, under Mr. Morton, headmaster, and later on in life carried on business as a builder in Wellington. His first military experience was at the outbreak of this war, when ho joined tho Lyall Bay. section of tlio National Reserve, and was selected bv his comrades as their lieutenant. Ho ■enlisted in the N.Z.E.F. on'Maroh 17, 1916, mid jninpfl. up with the n.c.o. camp of the Twentieth Reinforcements, gaining his commission at Trentliain on Anvil 2G, 1917. leaving Now Zealand with tin; Twmitv-fifth Reinforcements, being post'-d second-lieutenant in B Company, Ist "Wellington Bsittnlion. l-l" was wourded in Clio Pnsseliofulaolri light, and returned to duty at tlio front in .April last. LieutenanhCjp.rko leaves n widow, residing at 25 Boiirko Street. Kilhirniiv and n. widowd mothor. at Paekakiiviki; His only brotlier is Captain Claude H. Clarke, qf (ho New i Zealand Forces; ■ ■'■• ■•

The Hon. G. W. Russell, Minister of Internal Affairs,'who has taken uo the town-planning movement so enthusiastically, will bo present and speak : at Mr. S. Hurst Seagor's lecture on tho subject at the Town Hall to-night.

Word has been received that Mr Reo Chambers, son of Mr. J. G. Chambers, formerly of Wellington, but now residing in Pahiat.ua, has received a commission in the Royal Navy. He served his apprenticeship as an en-, gineer in Cable's foundry, and ; at the expiration of that term entered the service of the New Zealand Shipping Co., and went Home on .the s.s. Tongariro. He subsequently joined the engineering staff of the Admiralty transport Philadelphia, and was on duty in the , engine-room when that vessel was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel some months a«o. .

2nd Lieutenant Harry Lawson (wounded) is the- second son of Mr. Alex. Lawson, of Bidwell' Street, and a native of Wellington. After leaving The Terrace School, lie entered the offico of ■ iloswi. Chapman, Skerrctt, Tripp, and Blair, ami was with the firm just before lie went into canip. He has passed the solicitor's examination. Mr. Paul Coffev. of Oriental Boy. has received "advico from the' Hisrh Commissioner that' his son, Private Paul Coffev, who was wounded, while on the .Western front, ii in die Ist New Zealand G-sinrol Hospital at Brockenhurst, suffering from inflammation of the con.nective tissue of ll'nleft ha. and is improving slowly. Pr'vnte Coffay, who was in the'emuloy of Messrs. Thomas Ballingcr and Co., Ltd.. before he went into camp, was. buried in the trenches, and was attended to by .tho"American Red Cross for some time after his rescue.

Gunner Fred. William Johnson, who is reDorted wounded, is a son of Mr. AV. F. Johnson, of No. 8 Broadway Terrace. Gunner Johnson, , who was a member of. the 8.Nf1.A.. volu'^e.pm l . on the outbreak of the wai'j and went away with the Main Body. He saw service at Gallipoli, and has been with the 'New Zealand Forces ever ■ since they went, to France. This is the fir , - occasion on which he lias been wounded.

News-has been received rf the death in action-of Rifleman W; Bridger, of Worser Bay, Wellington. Private Bridger was for several years engaged as a carrier between the city and Seatoun and Knraka Bay,\ and was held in great respect by the residents' of tho suburbs he served.

Captain A. B. Sievwright, who. has been three summers in France, and was seconded last jear for duty as commandant'of a Trench Mortar School of Training, was recalled for servico with the New Zealand Division in the; field in July. . Sergeant A. H. Tockor, who left with the Twenty-ninth Reinforcements, has been appointed one of the instructors in 'economics and history at Hornchurch. This appointment is under the schem? for the education of New Zealand, soldiers in England. , Prix-ate v crnon Haydon.of, iho AmCorps, who han been gassed, and is-'iiow. in hospital, was at tiro time he enlisted a member of the staff of the "Manawatu Daily Times." Ho is a nephew of Mr. and Mrs. David Dalton, of Barrett's Hotel. Lieutenant-Colonel R. St. J. Beere, reported wounded, was, prior to leaving on service with'ah early draft, a member of tho legal firm of 0. and R. Beere. In the volunteer days he commanded the Victoria College Officers' Tfainvng Corps, and when tho Territorial system w>s inaugurated- was an officer of the fit'x (Wellington) Regimert. . ■ :

The Baptist minister at Hastings, the Rev. H. E. Edridge, .who has completed a jour years' ministry there, was tho recipient of a travelling bag, accompanied by a cheque for £20, from his ..church and congregation at a rirent social The unusual course was adopted of recognising service rendered before.the closo of a ministry, :and a desire was expressed that another four years' work might be accomplished with as happy and successful an issue as had narked the past. .*,'

■ Sergeant Basil Kingdon, of the -New Zealand Hiflo Brigade, who left New Zealand with the Tenth Reinforcements, lias been awarded tho Meritorious Service Medal for valuable services on the field in France. .'. He is at present at Kcble College, Oxford, sitting for.his commission. Sergeant Kingdon is the second boii of tho lato .Mr. Roger- Kingdon, solicitor, .of Nelson, and was at Nelson College from 1901 till 1903. .'-.•-

The flag was flown at' half-mast at the Brooklyn School on Thursday, in honour and memory of Private Stuart Westwood, an ex-pupil, who was reported to have died of .wounds on August 26.' Private Westvood was. 'a most popular young man, and was an enthusiast in all matters pertaining to motor-cycling. He left New Zealand with -the Thirty-second Reinforcement. An elder, brothor, Private James Albert Westwood, joined ?up with the Eighteenth Reinforcements, and sailed with the Twenty-eighths', and is now on active duty at .the front.

Mr. J. G. Mackenzie, curator of the Qaniaru Public Gardens, has been appointed by the City Council to fill tho post of Director of City Reserves and Parks, in succession to Mr. G. Glen!. The N position carries with it asalary'of £400 and a free house. The new di.rector is thirty-seven* years of age, a married man, and a native of New Zealand. His experience both on the theoretical' and practical side of horticulture and gardening extends over twenty years. He designed l and supervised the work of improving Oamaru, done- by the Oamaru. Borough Council, in conjunction'with tho local Beautifying Society. Ho was also respon-' sible for the laying out of tho grounds' of the Waitaki- High School. Native flor v a is ono of his particular hobbies, in which regard his. collection at Oamaru isrfaid to ho ono of the best in New Zealand. Mr. Mackenzie will take up his new duties as soon as he is able to got away from Oamaru.

Mr. Stuart Duncan," a returned soldier, has been appointed master of the Education Board's new school'at Seatoiin'. i ■ ■ '

The death occurred on Tuesday of, a very old business man of Auckland, in (■ho person oi Mr. EdwdrdM'Keown. The late Mr. M'Keown was horn, at Chatham Barracks in IS4<5; his father beins in the old 65th , Regiment, and lw landed with the regiment at Wellington in 1848, and after /the Taranaki campaign accompanied it to Auckland in 1864. ■ ■ ■

Charles Gaze, of Auckland, died on Wednesday afternoon at the age of 86 years. Deceased landed in Auckland from ■ the ship Lord : Burleigh fifty-eight years ago, and was called in the militia during the Maori war. .He, however, remained on home service. '