PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 1, 23 September 1918, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS

Mr. J. 11. P. Strang, of Palmcrstnn North, who has been awarded thcCroix do Giior'ro for his services in France, has been a member of the committee of thq Manawahi Racing Club, for a number of years, and was in his third year as president when lie left lor J'lnglnntl in November, 1915, for the purIKise of taking on war work, immediately on arrival in England he joined up as an honorary ambulance driver on tbo West front, and has continued the work ever sinco with little intermission. His eldest son, Lieutenant Alexander Strang, left with the Main Body and served in Gallipoli, where he was wounded, and was transferred to England. On his recovery ho entered the British Army, and eventually joined the Flying Corps as lieutenant, serving in Egypt, and -was instructor in England for two' years, and eventually asked to bo sent to the Italian front, where he was missing 'for some time, but it is now ascertained that he is a prisoner of war. The second son, .Lieutenant Geoffrey Strang, has just passed his examinations with credit into the British Army, and hag been transferred to India. Mr. W. G. Adkin, of Levin, has re r ceived advice that his second son, Private Gilbert Denton Adkin, died .of wounds in the Honen Base Hospital. France, on September 10. The deceased soldier, who was very well known in the Levin district, was 26 years of age, and was educated at the Levin District High School and Wellington College, after which be followed fanning pursuits and established himself on a small holding at Arapaepae. In October, 1916. he. volunteered for active service, and left in April of last year for the front, being attached to the Twenty-fourth Reinforcements. For nine months Private Adkin passed through all the dangers and vicissitudes of the greatest of wars in France, haying many narrow escapes. He was m the great advance on the Somme at the end of August, and was dangerously wounded on August 29. For a fortnight he lay in Rouen Base Hospital, and died there on September. 10. The late Private Adkin was married prior to leaving New Zealand. Ho was a mem'her of "the Levin Methodist Church from bis boyhood days, ■ and was widely known and .highly respected. Writing from London on July 26, Lieutenant Leslie Harris, a member or the Otago University Council, advised that he is attached to the Inlard Waterways and Docks Section of the Royal Engineers. His probable duties will be superintending tbo embarkation and disembarkation cJf officers, men, and cargo at Taranto, Italy, whither be expected to proceed in the middle of August. Mr. W. W. Corbett, architect and artist, of Kilbimie, has received a cablegram stating that his youngest Gon, (J. H. S. Corbett, has been wounded again Ranting with the sth Australian Division in France, and is now in the Bristol Hospital, England. Mr. James Steele, of the Oania'ru branch of the New Zealand Insurance Company, is under orders to transfer to tho Wellington office. Mr. .Walter Fuller, general niaii'aqw for Fullers' vaudeville enterprises, le.it, for Auckland by Saturday's express. Mr. John Farrell, who%ill manage tho New Zealand tour of "The Thirteenth Chair" Company, has returned from the- soutlf, where he and Mrs. Farrell have been enjoying . a brief holiday. The members of the company are diie to arrive here from Sydney ( to-day, and will commence a- season at tho Opera House to-morrow evening.