PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 July 1920, Page 4

PERSONAL.

Mr. A.. N. Williams, of the Patea Farmers' Co-op. Free2ing Co.'s staff, has left for the Old Country. General and Lady Birdwood and Mr. Gavin Hamilton (late private secretary to the Earl of Liverpool) left for England, via Panama, by the Argyllshire on Wednesday. , Mr. R. M. Boyne, of the Loan and Mercantile Co.'s Hawera staff, has taken Mr. Beech's place as agent for the company at Patea. Mr. Beech will in future be on the Hawera staff of the firm. Mr. R. Holland, foreman printer of the Patea Press, is leaving for Sydney shortly to enter into business on his own account. Mr. J. Rose, an old pioneer of the West Coast, died last week, aged 92. Mr. Rose came to New Zealand in 1864, settling in Hokitika, and was the last of the band of old miners who worked at Welshman's Terrace. Greymouth reports the death of Mr Edmond A. Wickers, a native of Greymouth, who was closely associated with the timber industry on the West Coast, and among the foremost to open up negotiations for the export of red pine and other timber to Australia. At the annual meeting of the Rahotu Dairy Company yesterday, the chairman took the opportunity of making a presentation, on behalf of the directors, to Mr. W. A. Phillips, who is shortly leaving the company and the district to reside in Otabuhu. Mr. John McKee, who had reached the age of 96 years, died at Te Puke recently at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. P. Donovan. The deceased came from the! North of Ireland. Mr. W. J. McKee, of Hamilton, and Mr. James McKee, now. on a visit to England, are his sons. Mr. George Fraser, of Remuera, whose death took place last week, was one of the early settlers at Auckland. Born at Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland,.in October, 1831, he served his apprenticeship as a pharmaceutical chemist in Aberdeen. At the age of 21 ho sailed for New Zealand, arriving at Auckland in 1854. For many years Mr. Fraser followed the profession of accountancy at Auckland, and during the Maori war in the early 'sixties he served as a volunteer.

Mr. James Cowan, who is writing up the early history of the North Island, and particularly events connected with the Maori wars of the sixties, is on a visit to Hawera in this connection (says the Star), Yesterday, in company with Mr. J. 6. Beamish (the only survivor of Turuturu-Mokai), he paid a visit to the scene of the night attack in 186.8, and was able tp glean further information for his work. When completed, the history should be a valuable addition to the literature of New Zealand, and Mr. Cowan thinks it should (be of great value in instructing the younger generation in the doings of the early days. One volume of the work has already been completed, and will be put into the printer's hands at an early date. The London correspondent of the Wellington Post writes that Mr. W. A. Parkinson, of the Hawera Star Proprietary, has been staying at Hastings, with his son, Dr. W. R. Parkinson, of the Nigerian Medical Service, who is in England on six months' furlough. Mr. Parkinson hopes to return to New Zealand well before Christmas if he is able to secure a passage. Another son, the Rev. C. T. Parkinson, is a chaplain and master at the famous Blue Coat School, Horsham. Mr. Parkinson came to England in 1900, and took a second-class in Modern History at Oxford. In 1911 he was ordained, and ho held a curacy in Manchester before the war. During the war he served as chaplain, attached to the Royal Artillery, He is probably tjic .first New Zealander to lie attached to the staff of the Blue Coat School.