PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 107, 13 January 1912, Page 4

PERSONAL.

ill'. G. M. Daly, of Okato, was a passenger for the' North last night. Mr. 11. Okey, M.P., and Mrs. Okey leave by the mail train this, morning for Auckland.

Mr. Geo. Fen wick, managing director of the Otago Daily Times, is on a short visit to New Plymouth. Mr. S. W. Fitzherbert, solicitor, lately of Feilding, has commenced the practice, of his profession at Te Kuiti.

Messrs. A. R. Standish and C. McAllum returned to New Plymouth on Thursday night after a short holiday in Sydney. Mr. C. H. Poole, ex-M.P. for Auckland. West, is at .present on a visit to Okato,. where he is the guest of Mr. S. Daly.. He leaves in about five weeks' time for. America.

Mr. Brandon Haughton, the biograph expert and camera artist .engaged for the new Empire Theatre, arrived in New Plymouth by the Rarawa yesterday morning.

Mr. Chas. E. Sligo; editor of the Pahiatua Herald, has reffigned his position in order to pay a visit for the benefit of Journalistic experience to England and the Continent.

The formal notice extending the appointment of the Hon. Wm. Hall-Jones, K.C.M.G., as High Commissioner for New Zealand from January 1 to March 31, 1912, appears in this week's Gazette. Mr. P. Griffiths, who was about two years ago transferred from the local branch of Messrs. Archibald Clark and Sons, on promotion to Napier, -has now ■been appointed manager of that branch. Mr. Roy Lee, who has been connected with the New Plymouth branch of Messrs. Archibald dark and Sons for the past two or three years, has received notice of transfer to the Napier branch.

Mr. H. J. Brown, chairman of the British Empire Oilfields, Ltd., left by the Rarawa last night for Auckland to meet Mr. Henry, who is due in Auckland on Tuesday. They will then proceed to Wellington.

Mr. Prank Teesdale, late of the Telegraph Department, who died at Dunedin on Sunday at the age of sixty-one years, was postmaster at Milton for a number of years, and left there in 1898 to take up work in the Dunedin telegraph office, where he .remained, until about se.veii years ago, when he retired on a pension. The following appointments in the Lands Department are gazetted: Mr. H. M. Skeet, to be Commissioner of Crown Lands at Auckland, vice Mr. E. C. Gold Smith; Mr. H. D. M. Haszard, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Westland, vice Mr. G. H. M. McClurej Mr. G. H. M. McClure, Commissioner of Crown Lands, Southland, vice Mr. H. M. Skeet; Mr. H. G. Price, Chief Draughtsman, Christchurch; Mr. P. A. Thompson, Chief Draughtsman, Napier. The death • is reported in Balclutha papers of Mr. Peter Whitelaw, who landed in Dunedin by the Chili on Christvmas Day, 1860. He had lived a most adventurous life, prior to that. As a whaler he had undergone many perils. He settled for some time on the Taieri Plain, and went to Clutha just prior to the, flood of 187$, and lived there ever since, and attained the age <>f eighty years when he died. He leaves a widow and daughter. Many stories ore told of his great personal strength and of his indomitable Scottish nature. 1 Mr. George Newton,-who died at the Grey . River hospital on Sunday last, at the age of 81 years, was an old resident of Bjrunner. He had taken ,a great deal of interest in Labor matters on the West Coast for a number of years. At the time of the big maritime strike, he was practically the leader of the Labor party on the coast, and took a prominent part in the dispute. For years he was president of the Grey Valley Miners' Union. Mr. James Newton, now Inspector of Mines for the West Coast, Nelson, and Marlborough, is a son of the deceased. Another son, Charles, died only last week.

Mr. William Charles Kensington, who has just retired from the. service of the country, .ig the eldest fion of Mr. Charles Jephson Kensington, of Pxincettin Worton, Wiltshire, England, and was born in Cricceth, Wales, in 1845. At the age of 18 Mr. Kensington came to Auckland in the. ship William Miles, and joining the militia, he served through the East Coast campaign of the Maori war as an ensign. He received the New Zealand medal in recognition of his services. In 1864 Mr. Kensington, entered the Lands and Survey Department, and steadily advanced in the service of the State to the position he now retires from.

Captain Edward Cain, who has relinquished command of the barquentine Alexa, can, we think, rightly claim to be the "Ancient Mariner" of the port of Wanganui (remarks the Chronicle). It is .between thirty-five and forty years since he brought his first ship, the threemasted schooner Frank Guy, to Wanganui from Batemah's Bay, with ironbark for bridge construction, and since then he? c has guided the ..destinies of many' * deep-sea craft with conspicuous success, between various Australian ports and Wanganui. Captain Cain left for Wefl r lington by the Arapawa, and continues his journey to Sydney by the Ulimaroa on Friday.

It is reported, on the best authority (says the Dominion), that Captain A. C. C. Stevens, of the New Zealand Staff Corps, has been appointed Commandant of the Junior Cadets, vice Major T W McDonald, who has gone to England for twelve months' training with the Imperial Forces. Captain Stevens was formerly in the Royal Field Artillery, but latterly left the service, and was for some time a member of J. C. Williamson's "Merry Widow" Comic Opera Co Subsequently he was appointed Staff Officer to Major McDonald, with the rank of lieutenant, and later on was given a commission in the New Zealand staff Corps with the rank of captain.