PERSONAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 94, 14 April 1914, Page 4

PERSONAL.

Count Okuaia has accepted the Premiership of Japan, states a cablegram from Tokio. Mr K. S. Williams will be the Reform party's candidate for the Bay of Plenty seat at the next general election. The death is announced of Lord Suffield, aged eighty-four, Lord of Waiting in Ordinary to His Majesty the King since 1901. Mrs Birdsall is Stratford's representative at the eighth annual convention of the National Association of Spiritualists now being held in Auckland. Mr Joseph McCluggage, being the only person nominated, has been declared by the Returning Officer, Mr 0. Penu, elected to represent the Stratford and Whangamomona County Councils on the New Plymouth Harbor Board. Dr. Te Rangihiroa, (lie present member for the Northern Maori District, has decided not to seek re-election. It is probable that Rawiri Te Ruru, chairman of the Maori Council, will be the Liberal candidate, Hauraki Manning standing in the interests of the present Government. The new Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr. Watts-Ditchfield, well-known in New Zealand, has been shorn of a special distinction. When elevated, to the bench of bishops, it was stated that he «ould be the only prelate in England wearing a moustache. The latest photograph in the London papers shows that this distinction is not his, as the moustache has gone.

. Sir George Reid, interviewed in London (state.s an Association cablegram) said he would be glad to be able to assist Mr Munro-Ferguson before his departure. Everyone in Australia would be pleased that a man of sucli ripe e\|,orienee, ability and independent mind was going to represent the King. His wife would find the most agreeable opportunities of doing good on an extensive scale in Australia. Sister Mary Francis M'Guigan, Mother-General of the Sisters of Charity in Australia, celebrates her golden jubilee as a religious on April 21, but the public celebrations will not he held until June. Mother Mary Francis was the first Austraian to become a Sister of Charity. She was elected Mother-General in 1882, and under her the Order has expanded and progressed.

A distinguished party of tourists, comprising the Duchess of D'Aosta, Miss Hicks-Beach (daughter of Viscount St. Aldwyn. better known as Sir Michael Hicks-Beach), and the Marquis Pisciella has arrived at Sydney by the A'ancloon from Batavia (states an Association cablegram to-day). The party will probably extend its tour to Xew Zealand and the South Sea Islands.

Members of the legal profession in Wellington have erected a monument in Karori Cemetery to the late Dr. M'Arthur, S.M. It has a cube base, and was executed in black granite. The inscription is as follows :—"ln memory of Alex. M'Arthur. M.A., LL.D., Stipendiary Magistrate. Aetat 60. Erected by members of the legal profession at Wellington. 'Oh for the touch of a vanished hand—the sound of a voice that is still.' "

The Rev. W. Lee, who has been fifty years in the Methodist ministry, preached his farewell sermon in the Sumner Church on Sunday, 4th inst. Mr Lee has been in the ministry in New Zealand for forty-nine years, his first appointment being at Christchurch, under the stipendiary of the late Rev. J. Bulled, one of the pioneers of Methodism in the Dominion. Mr Lee's next circuit was Blenheim, and he subsequently served in Oamarti, Timaru, Lyttelton, Wanganui, Nelson, New Plymouth, Wellington, Auckland, Palmerston North. St. Albans and Sydenham.

Mr J. McAllister was to-day reelected chairman of the Hospital Board. Mr Sole, in moving in that direction, said Mr McAllister had been an excellent chairman, and members who lived in town knew the great amount of time he devoted to the affairs of the Hospital. Other members spoke in similar strain. 3lr McAllister, in returning thanks, said it was particularly pleasing to receive the honor unanimously. His interest in the Hospital was perhaps no greater than that of other members, though, as he was resident in the town, probably more matters were brought before him than would be the case if he lived in the country. He congratulated the Board on the excellent state of the finances which compared favorably with the previous year and with those of other similar bodies. He trusted that there would be no change in the personnel of the Board during the coming year, and he felt sure that as members became more familiar with the work of the institution the Hospital would prosper still further.