PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 299, 14 June 1912, Page 4

PERSONAL.

!A Brisbane cablegram reports the death of Mr. Rankin, the police magia- , trate who reported on the effects of / prohibition in New Zealand. I An old pioneer in the person of Mr J. W. Thurston died at Waverley on Wednesday morning. He had a lengthy and interesting military career. He is survived by a family of eight sons and fou» da ughters. Mr. R. H. Ferguson, school teacher, formerly of Canterbury and late of Hawke's Bay, has been appointed assistant to the Director of ElementaryAgricultural Education at Ontario, under whose control there are 5000 schools. Mr. Reynolds Denniston, of the Plim-mer-Denniston Comedy Company, is reported to be seriously ill. His father, Mr. G, L. Denniston, of Dunedin, received a cable message last Wednesday to the effect that he was suffering from rheumatic fever. j The death occurred in Auckland on j Tuesday of Mr. Healy, an octogenarian, and a well-known schoolmaster in the Auckland province, his last school being the Grafton Road institution. He was a B.A. (London University), and has had a splendid record of scholarship winners. The Right Hon. Jus. Brvce, British; Ambassador at Washington, was the guest of the New Zealand Club at luncheon yesterday. Mr. and Mrs. Bryce left for the south at night and will visit the cold lakes and Otira and Buller gorges before returning to Wellington on June 20. On June 28 they will leave for Sydney. Archbishop Redwood leaves Auckland next Monday for Tonga, to be present at the consecration of Bishop Joseph Blanc the new Catholic Bishop of the Island diocese, who succeeds the late Right Rey. Bishop Oliver. The new bishop is quite a young man, having been born in France in 1872. He is a son of Admiral Blanc, of the French Navy, and after a brilliant career proceeded to the islands as missionary becoming coadjutor to Bishop Oliver; who died some six months ago. Colonel John Edward Bernard Seely. the new Secretary of State for War 'i* the youngest son of Sir Charles Seely, and is now' in his 43rd year. He was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge; he was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple eleven years ago. He is a lieutenant-colonel comniandmg the Hampshire Carbineers, and r^ffwV- 1 * 11 t , he Im P erial Yeomanry in South Africa when, in May, 1900, Sir Juehard Webster was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England, and raised to the peerage as Lord Alverstone, & va«nnyJ rt ° T Co , urri c n S in «* represents ton of the Isle of Wight. In spite of is absence and with the help of hi* wife. Colonel Seely won the seat as a Conservative with a four-figure majority. On returning from the war and taking his seat in the House of Commons ne soon quarrelled with the Unionists, and crossed over to the Liberal benches, and it was a 8 a Liberal that he was returned for the Abercromby division of Liverpool at the general election, defeating the old Conservative member bv a narrow majority of 100. His last mn'joi-: «y was 4044. For his services in the war Colonel Seely was several times mentioned in dispatches. His first Ministerial post was Under Secretary for the Colonies but later, when LordHaldane accepted a peerage, he exchanged with Lord Lucas to the Undcr-Socretnrvship for War. ' '