PERSONAL

Southland Times, Issue 24228, 11 September 1940, Page 4

PERSONAL

Mr W. F. Sturman, secretary of the Southland Provincial Patriotic Council, will leave for Wellington this morning to attend a conference of patriotic council secretaries.

Mr W. M. C. Denham, M.P., left yesterday for Wellington. The Hon. T. F. Doyle, M.L.C., was a passenger to Wellington by the express yesterday morning. Private J. R. Wesney, of the 4th Platoon of the Central District School of Instruction, who has been in Invercargill on leave, will return to Trentham by the express this morning.

Mr W. Jenkins returned to Invercargill by the express last night after spending a holiday in South Canterbury.

Mr Robert W. Moir, head master of the Murchison District High School, has been appointed head master of the Bluff public school. Cr E.’ J. McLauchlan, chairman of the Reserves and Town Planning Committee of the City Council, who will join the 4th Reinforcements, was bidden farewell at the meeting of the City Council last night. The Deputy-Mayor (Mr J. R. Martin) said Cr McLauchlan would be greatly missed from the meetings of the council. He had given a great deal of thought to the business of the council, and in the Reserves and Town Planning Committee he had been faced with many new and complicated problems. He had been an enthusiastic worker and had been popular with all the councillors. Similar tributes were offered by Crs W. J. Thomas, A. W. Jones, A. Wachner, R. T. Parsons, F. A. Webb, A. Scott and G. C. Broughton. The Deputy-Mayor presented Cr McLauchlan with a set of hair brushes and wished him success in the army and a safe and early return. Cr McLauchlan thanked the councillors for their gift and said his association with the council in the last five and a-half years had been happy and valuable. Mr N. A. Derbie, who is leaving soon for military camp, was met by members of the Invercargill Bowling Club and presented with a set of pipes. The president, Mr H. Semmens, in making the presentation, said that Mr ■ Derbie was a young player who had shown much natural aptitude for the game. Mr Derbie had joined in all the club activities and he had always been a willing, worker. He wished him the best of luck. Other speakers were Messrs E. Mills (vice-president), O. Grant and J. Holloway. Mr Derbie replied. Mr C. E. MacCormick, Chief Judge of the Native Land Court, who is to retire at the end of the month, has been a Judge of the Native Land Court since 1906. He was born in Sydney in 1862, and arrived at Auckland at the age of three. He was educated at the Auckland Grammar School and Auckland University College, and before his appointment to the Native Land Court Bench was in legal practice from 1887 to 1906. In addition to performing the duties of Judge and Chief Judge of the Court, Mr MacCormick was acting resident Commissioner, Cook Islands, 1912; chairman of the Native Military Service Board, 1918; and a member of the Royal Commission on Samoa, 1927. He represented Auckland at cricket, and at various periods was chairman of the Auckland Rugby Union, and president of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association. His son, Dr Kenneth MacCormick, is in England with the 2nd Echelon of the Expeditionary Force, ' with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.