PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1920, Page 4

PERSONAL.

Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P., has not gone to Wellington yet, and is leaving next Monday for the sessi»n.

At a social held in the Tariki Hall on June 19th, Mr. A. Langman was farewelled, and presented with a silver cigavette case, suitably engraved. Items were contributed by nearly all present, and an enjoyable evening was spent.

Mr. H. Dempsey, formerly headmaster of the Central School, lias accepted nomination for the vacancy in the New Plymouth urban area's representation on the Taranaki Education Board.

Mr. D'Estere, editor of the Auckland Weekly News, is a visitor to New Plymouth. Mr. D'Estere is a keen member of the Legion of Frontiersmen, in which he holds the rank of captain, and he is a delegate at the annual conference now sitting in New Plymouth.

Mrs. Rachel Wilmhurst, an old colonist, widow of the late John Wilmhurst, passed away at her son's residence on Tuesday evening, at the ripe age of 5)0 years. Mrs. Wilmhurst -was born in Kent, England, and arrived in Wellington with her parents (Mudgways) by the ship Catherine Stewart Forbes in May, 1841. Mrs. Wilmhurst was a devoted adherent of the Methodist Church, and her kind disposition made for her many friends. Her family consisted of four sons and four daughters. Those surviving are Henry (of Masterton), William and John (of Petone), and Charles (of New Plymouth, with whom she has lived for the last ten years); the only surviving daughter is Mrs. F. Webb, of Palmerston North. There are 05 grandchildren and 80 great-grand-children.

At Tuna on Monday evening, June 14th, between twenty-five and thirty settlers made a surprise visit to Mr. and Mrs. Wright, to bid them farewell, and to present a travelling rug to Mr. Wright and a silver teapot to Mrs. Wright, who are leaving for Pukekohe. Mr. Wright has had very poor health for the last two years, and has been advised to go North. He has been a director of the Midhirst Dairy Company and the Tuna cheese factory during tho nine years he has resided here, and the place will not be easily filled. The farewell social advertised to take place, on June 10th couid not take place, Mrs. Wright having received the .sad news of tils death of her brother, Captain W. G Smith, of Palmerston North, Ist Veterinary Corps of the Mounted Brigade, i EgyptMr. John Grigg, F.E.A.S., one of the pioneers of the Thames, died on Monday at the age of S2. Deceased" was born at the Isle of Thanet in 1838, and after receiving a musical and scientific education left England by the ship Annie Wilson in ISB3, and went to Thames in 180 S. For ten years he was employed as a singing teacher under the Board of Education, and wrote and composed a number of songs, including the well-known "My ] Own New Zealand Home," sung in al! schools. His observations on the trail sits and planets and photographs of cornets earned him a fellowship in tlw Royal Astronomical Society, and ho discovered a comet in 1902, a second in 1003, and a third in 1907, and was awarded two medals for this by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. He secured the only successful photograph in th? world of; the 1901 comet, and copies of this were being used as a record by tlw Astronomical Society for some years. He was organist for several Thames churches, and. conductor- of tte Thames Choral §.«£»*#' ' "' *