PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 256, 8 March 1911, Page 4

PERSONAL.

llr. Dugald Thompson, formerly mine host of the Criterion Hotel, is re-visiting .New Plymouth. Lord Lansdownc is absent from the House of Lords through illness, hut his health is improving. The Crown Prince of Prussia has arrived at Cairo on his way homeward from his Eastern tour. Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Morris, of Uakura, will leave shortly on a trip to England, and will probably be absent for about twelve months. Captain Fletcher and Lieutenant Willis, of the Taranaki Rifles, have passed their examinations for captain and lieutenant respectively.

Mr, S. J. Jago, late chief postmaster at Wellington, died at Perth, Westralia, on March 2. He was chief postmaster at Napier from 1880 to 1002, and had been connected with the postal service for forty years. A Wellington telegram reports the death of Mr. Alfred Ashbolt, for 28 years foreman printer at the New Zealand Times Office, aged 03. He was a keen cricketer and at one time selector for the Wellington representative!. Mr. Charles E. W. Willeston, one of the early sottlers of Wellington, which he represented in Parliament for many years, and where he held many other public positions, died at Sydney the other day at the age of eighty years. Dr. Bell, late Director of Geological Survey in New Zealand, leaves New Zealand on Friday next. He proceeds to Sydney, and visits New Caledonia, en route "to England. From England he goes to Canada. Mr. Peter Clarke, of the Geological Survey office, accompanies Dr. Bell.

The cabled results in connection with the last University examinations announced that Mr. VV. Thomas, an expupil of the Stratford District High School, succeeded in taking his B.A. degree in repeated mathematics. At the teachers' examinations, held in January, Mr. Thomas was also successful in obtaining his Class B certificate. Writing on January 27 the London correspondent of the Wellington Times said:—Canon Ivens, Eural Dean of Halifax, and Vicar of Sowerby Bridge, has returned to his home after visiting New Zealand as one of the Anglican missioned. Altogether he travelled 30,000 miles, and all the time enjoyed the best of health. Canon Ivens, says the Yorkshire Post, has still under consideration the offer of the living of St. Mary's, New Plymouth. j

A London cablegram reports that thousands attended the funeral of the Right Hon. Robert Spence Watson, of Newcastle. Mr. Asquith sent a letter containing a warm tribute to his devotcdness to freedom and all great causes. Dr. Spence Watson was a well-known Newcastle solicitor, a member of the Society of Friends, and waspractically the head of the Liberal Party iu the northern counties, though he never entered Parliament. He was extremely active in all matters connected with the social welfare of the people, and wrote a number of books on these subjects. The death occurred at his home, Burford, Stanway, at 10 o'clock on Monday night of Mr. George Wheeler after an illness of a couple of months. Deceased was the first settler in the Manchester Block, having come from England in 1873. He was also the first man to introduce Romncy Marsh sheep into the Feilding district. He was instrumental in starting the New Zealand Flock Book and Hereford Stud Book. He has occupied the position of president of the New Zealand Sheepbreeders* Association, president of the Romncy Marsh Association, president of the Hereford Cattle-breeders' Association, president of the Manawatu A. and P. Association for twelve years, chairman of the Oroua County Council, trustee of the Wanganui Collegiate School, and director of the Wellington Meat Export Company. He was a- most useful citizen of the country and district. He leaves a widow and five children.