PERSONAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 9, 8 December 1926, Page 9

PERSONAL.

Tho Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, and party arrived at Thames on Monday evening (states a Press Association message). They were accorded a civic reception by the local bodies. Yesterday visited the schools and the hospital, and also the Hauraki Plains.

The death is announced from Sydney of Mr T. Ai. Stirton, a prominent sportsman and racehorse owner. Mrs and Mrs G. H. Bennett and the Misses Bennett, who have been absent abroad for some 10 months, returned home last evening. The party toured England, Scotland and Wales, returning via the Continent. A Wellington telegram states that Mr It. E. Hayes, 1.5.0., secretary to the Treasury, will leave Auckland by the Tainui on the 15th inst. on an official visit to London and will be absent from the Dominion for about five months.

The death occurred recently at Hornchurch, England, of Mrs F. A.. Dennis, mother of Mrs Harry Cooper, of Palmerston North. Mrs Dennis will be well remembered as a hostess by many members of the N.Z.E.F. who were convalescing at “Grey Towers” during the Great Wap.

Among the passengers en route to Australia on the Niagara, which arrived at Auckland this week,, is Mr W. L. Bftillieu, one of the Commonwealth’s foremost financiers, who started life as a bank clerk, “passing rich on £SO a year,” as he says. Mr Baillieu was for several years leader of the Legislative Council of Victoria. He retired three or four years ago to devote himself to business and private interests. He is returning to Australia after a lengthy holiday abroad with his two daughters. A Press Association message from London announces the death of Mr Ferdinand Faithfull Begg at the age of 78, one of the early settlers of Otago. Bom in Edinburgh in 1847, the son of the Rev. James Begg, D.D., Mr Begg emigrated to New Zealand in 1863, and returned to Scotland ten years later. He entered the stockbroking business, retiring in 1913. He was M.P. for/the Rollox division of Glasgow from 1895-1900, and chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce, 1912-1915. He married, in 1873, the daughter of Mr F. A. Cargill, of Dunedin.

Tho Minister of Lands (Hon. A. D. McLeod) will leave Wellington for Wanganui to-morrow to attend a meeting of farmers which proposes to discuss the difficulties under which farming is carried on. The Minister of Agriculture (Hon. 0. J. Hawken) will also attend the gathering. On Friday Mr McLeod will proceed to Gisborne, where, in company with the Under-Secretary of Lands (Mr J. B. Thompson), he is to make an inspection of the Te Wera block, which was purchased by the Government some time ago for closer settlement purposes.

The death took place at the Palmerston North Hospital yesterday morning of Mr Andrew Johnson at the age of 71 years. The deceased was born in Oslo, Sweden, and came to New Zealand 45 years ago taking up his residence in Dannevirke. He had been a resident of Shannon for the past 11 years, and for 10 years was employed by the Horowhenua County Council. His wife predeceased him in 1918. He leaves five sons and two daughters to mourn their loss, namely, Mr Jack Johnson (Plimmerton), Mr Frederick Johnson (Waikanae), Mr Leonard Johnson (Tauranga), Messrs Charles and Alfred Johnson (Shannon), Mrs S. Pedersen and Miss Elsie , Johnson (Shannon). —Shannon correspondent.