PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 34, 4 November 1918, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS

Mr. Justice Stringer returned to Wellington yesterday from.'the south.

Mrs Eric H. Our, Ashburton, has received' I'iroin the Director of Base Records a copy of the following extract trom the London Gazette giving particulars oi the action for which the D.S.O. was awarded to her husband, Major Eric Hamilton Q rl . —»ii' or conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duly in an attack. He showed' great determination and skill during n advance of ono and a half miles. O.t two occasions when the enemy piwcftl the line of the battalion en the left ho led forward a party under tense shell and machine-gun fire, closed the gap, and restored the situation." Major Orr lott with the Seventh Reinforcements,

Lieutenant A. B. Byrne, eon of Mr. F M. Byrne, Wellington, who has 'been awarded tho Military Cross, is a journalist by profession, and left New Zealand with the Fourteenth Reinforcements. After a few months' service on the \\ estera front he received his commission and was subsequently appointed musketry instructor nt Sling Camp.. At his- own request ho was transferred 10 France, and has since taken part in several sevore engagements. Another son, Lieutenant J' °R. Byrne, who left New Zealand with the Main Body, was recently selected to write up the New Zealand I'ielcl Artillery portion of the history of the war, and is at present engaged en that work in London.

Driver Lionel M'Douell, N.Z.F.R., of Porewamii, Bulls, has -eturncd to the Dominion on furlough, after over four years of active service. Driver M Donell was attached to the Wellington Mounted Rifles' but was later transferred to the N7, F.A. with which unit ho left Egypt for France. Driver M'Donoll, who was severely wounded at Gallipoli, has two toothers serving in France, i.ne of whom is returning invalided to New Zealand.

Sergeant, J. B. Condliffe, late of Canterbury College, has been appointed 6onior instructor in economics for all New Zealand camps in England, under the now N.Z.E.F., oducatiou scheme,

Sergeant J. D. Fraser, N.Z.S.C, who left New Zealand with the Mam Body, is at present enjoying his well-earned furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Fraser, of Fordcll. Sergeant l rnsor, who has seen service in Egypt, GaHipoli, and France, and lias been wounded three limes, leaves again for the front as soon as he has undergone 11. minor operation to his arm. .-Vinous the New Zealand soldier-press-men who are at present' at headquarters in London assisting in the compilation of the history of tho fcew Zealand I'apeditionnry Force in the present war is Private If. H. Skipwith, who was in, 0110 time on the "Referee" staft, and wa» Utterly handiMpper ior.several racing clubs in the North Island. Private ak pwith is engaged'on the Army Service Corps section of the work. Mr II G. Bttiivman, of ivohatu, Nelson (late of !Kcrth Canterbury), has received a cvbla message c rom bis eldest son, Lieut v.ai.t W. 0. Borryman, 12th Lancers, &tnfe tnat lie is coming homo, in January. Li-;-.:tcnant Berryman has been contimiousiy on service vnce' the In-, ginning of the war. He has recently been seriously ill. . ! •V letter received from France stales i that Mr. Jean Gcrardy, 'he famous cellist, is serving with the Belgian Army.. Mr Thomas O'Keefe, who recently died in Christchurch, was a Maori war veteran. He was born in Limerick, Ireland, 79 years a°o, and educated at the Grammar Sciiool there. He served his time as a compositor, .working on some ot.the principal Irish newspapers. In 18M he arrived in Melbourne, und after one year's stay there, during wlucn ho worked at his trade, left for Auckland, where he was employed as a compositor.. At this time there was considerable trouble with the Maoris, and when tho call came for volunteers to fight them. Mr. 0 Keefre iespondefi, and was enrolled in the Military Settlors' Brigade, where he speedily rose to the rank of sergeant. He took part in many of the principal fights m the Auckland district, and ,was later sent. to Taranaki, where lie further assisted •in quellaig the risings. While in this district ho and his family had a very narrow escape from being included in tho Whitecliil's massacre,-when Lieutenant Gascovnu' and his wife and family were done to death by the Maoris. Mr. O'Keeffe used to tell how, on the advice of a friendly native, he and his; three little children, one'a baby in arms, after, vainly urging Lieutenant Gascoyne to leave, travelled through tho bush at night to the nearest military settlement, and how they had to lie down among the scrub, while the armed warriors passed on Uie:r way.ti the little outlying settlement where the. Gascoynes lived. At the close of tho war, although granted a section by the Government, Mr. O'Keeffe decided to migrate to Canterbury, and on' arrival was placed m ohargc of tree-planting-in Hagley Park. Later he entered the service of the Christc'hurch Gas Company, where he was employed until he retired through an illness from which ho never recovered. He leaves a widow, two sons, and seven daughters, twenty-three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.