PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 224, 20 March 1912, Page 4

PERSONAL.

Mr. A. Weller, managing editor of the Taihape Daily Times, is at present on a visit to New Plymouth. Mr. Jennings, ex-M.P. for Taumaranui, was a passenger by the mail train for Wellington yesterday morning. Mr. William R. Robinson, one time' manager of tlu- Bank of New South AVales at Christchurch, died at Torquay, England, last month, aged 80 years. The Hon. T. Mackenzie, Minister for Agriculture, who has been spending afew days in his constituency, returned to Wellington yesterday. He expects to be back again shortly. Mr. A, V. Cooper, of Rahotu, leaves for Wellington by the mail train thismorning to join a steamer for England, which he is visiting after an absence of three years. He expects to return in about a year. •■"■■ : The Rev. J. G. Chapman, the quarry of j;he very latest heresy .hunt, is a brainy and advanced and very popular Methodist parson. For the last three years he has been in charge of Wesley Church, Taranaki street. Prior to that he was the boss of the AVesleyan Bethel at Devonport, the big northern waterside suburb of Mr. Glover's Queen City of the North. A less narrow-minded man- than Mr. Chapman would be hard to xinearth in any church. Nevertheless he is a true son of his own particular brand of religion; the Methodist Conference itself has said it, and it's greatly to its credit that it has refused to sustain the charges. Mr. Chapman wasn't sound enough on Hell and Damnation to please some of the Old Lights, beneath ecclesiastical prosecution—which probably ought to be spelled persecution. The Methodists have shown good sense in declining to hound a good and earnest man out of the Church Free Lance. Colonel M. Noake, the veteran soldier, who was on this coast in the early days, is still alive and well (says the'Manawatu Standard), and in a letter written on his 83rd birthday to ex-Color-Sergeant S. T. Hunt, wished to be remembered to all his old comrades in this district. jColonel Noake, who had a very interesting military career, was born m Ireland, and took part with the troops in the South O'Brien riots in Tipperary. in 1847. He was right through the Crimean war, and was present at the famous Balaclava charge, and received the distinguished conduct medal for his action in the fight. He next saw service with the King's Dragoon Guards, in India, and retired on sick leave, in 1862, and came to New Zealand in 1863, and, on the war breaking out, offered his services to the Government, and was appointed to take charge of the militia in the Rangitikei district. He was appointed Resident Magistrate in the Upper Wanganui district about the same time, and during bis connection with the forces took part in the Telief of Pipiriki and the capture of the Pukehoe tribe and their chief Tauroa, for which services he received the thanks of the Government. He took part in the Parihaka campaign, and was in charge of the Wanganui contingent.