PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1922, Page 4

PERSONAL.

Mr. Morris Axford, of Dunedin, is on a (visit to New Plymouth.

A London cable says that Mr. H. H. Asquith has met with a slight accident and will not attend Parliament till Tuesday. Mr. D. C. Bates, the Dominion meteorologist, who has been on a visit to New Plymouth, leaves by the mail train this morning.

A London cable announces the death of James William Tate (“That”), composer and comedian, and partner in variety theatres and music halls with Clarice Mayne, his wife. It is officially announced by a London cable that Sir Victor Mackenzie will be Viscount Lascelles’ best man at his marriage to Princess Mary. Sir Victor Mackenzie is a captain in the Scots Guards and served in the war, winning the D.S.O. in 1916. Dr. A. H. Driver, of Dunedin, who completed his medical course at the Otago University two years ago, has been accepted by the London Missionary Society for medical work in India, and has been appointed to the society’s hospital at Jammalamadugu. He will catch the Orient steamer Ormonde at Sydney. , _

Mr. A. R. Ryder, who for the past twelve years has been associated with the New Plymouth Tennis Club, was the guest of the committee of the club on Monday evening, when Dr. Home (president) made/a small presentation on behalf of the \ club. Mr. Ryder was one of the club’s leading players. He left for Auckland by the Rarawa last night to take up duty next week as senior science master at the Auckland Boys’ Grammar School. There was a unique feature about the wedding which took place at Manaia last Wednesday, when Miss Dorothy M. Mead, of Manaia, was married to Mr. H. C. Hunter, of the staff of the Bank of Australasia, Hawera, writes a correspondent to' the Hawera Star. Mr. G. D. Hunter, who acted as best man, was the father of the bridegroom, but when one remembers that both father and son served in the Great war, tfye fitness of such an arrangement will be heartily approved by all. The death occurred at a private hospital on Tuesday of Dr. Athol William Purchas Brookfield, late of Papakura, at the early age of 36. Dr. Brookfield was an old boy of the Auckland Grammar School, and received his medical edcation at Otago University; where he graduated. He then took up practice at Papakura, where he remained until recently. After the inftuenza epidemic of 1918, during which he was very much overworked, the doctor suffered a breakdown, followed by a severe operation, from which be never really recovered. For several years he was a prominent member of the Papakura Town Board, and he took a keen interest in the progress of the district. In his school and university days, he was a good athlete. The deceased was a son of Mr. F. W. Brookfield, and grandson of the late Dr. A. G. Purchas. He leaves a widow and three children.

Captain Thomas M. Hunter has been appointed harbormaster at Lyttelton. Captain Hunter is a native of Scotland. Ho went vO sea at the age of 15 years. In 1897 he joined the service of the Union Steam Ship Company and served as an officer in a number of the company’s steamers, including the Moana, in the Vancouver service. In 1906 he was appointed to his first command, and was successively master of the Wainui, Rotoiti, and Rotomahana. During the whole of his sea-going career Captain Hunter did not have an accident and by his undoubted nerve and skill he achieved a reputation as an exceedingly capable commander.

A Chinaman who was charged at Wanganui this week with having a filthy backyard was appropriately named William Hum.”

The preliminaries of the draining of the Hikurangi Swamp are well in hand. Some thirty men are engaged, and now that the holidays are over the steam navvies are beginning work in earnest. “It’s the first time I’ve seen any of them in four years,” remarked a Te Awamutu contractor when alluding to the fact that two millers’ travellers had called on him last week. “All these years we’ve had to beg them to fulfil our orders for timber. Now it’s they who are doing the begging.”

“I know it is not a popular thing to advocate,” said Mr. Harold Beauchamp at Auckland last vfreek, “but I am satisfied New Zealand is not going to get any real benefit until we can effect a substantial reduction in the cost of transport as well as in the cost of production. This can be accomplished only by all descriptions of wage-earners cheerfully accepting lower rates of pay. It has been argued that the workers should not submit to any reduction until the cost of living appreciably fills. That, to my mind, is placing the cart before the horse. The cost of living unquestionably cannot drop until a reduction of the cost of production can be brought about, and this can be achieved only in the manner I have indicated. It should be borne in mind that if we are able to bring about a reduction in the cost of production this will place the worker in a better position than he enjoys to-day, owing to the lowering of the cost of living that will follow.’’

Speaking at Auckland last week, Mr. H. Beauchamp, chairman of the Bank of New Zealand, said: —“Unfortunately, owing to the policy followed by so many farmers in basing land values on the prices from time to time ruling for produce, many people are saddled to-day with properties on which they will have very great difficulty in making a living. Some”time ago I expressed the opinion that land values throughout the whole pf the Dominion should be reduced by something approximating 50 per cent., and the more I see of the farm lands the more impressed I am with the accuracy of that statement, It must be remembered that for practically the whole of our primary produce we are to-day receiving higher prices than those ruling in pre-war times, and were it not for the high prices paid for land, and the heavy cost of transport by land and sea, our producers would even now be in a most prosperous condition.” It was understood, he sakl. that the farmer would be receiving *s a lb for his butter-fat as from February 1, which would be an advance of 2d a lb on what he was getting. Mr. Beauchamp expressed the opinion that, given any thing like fair rates between New Sealand and the United Kingdom and a reduction of selling charges at the other end, the outlook for the sale of our products was distinctly good.

Stews, Soups, Gravies, are all the tastier for a dash of Sharland’s Tomato Sauce, which is made from the finest toxuatotf purest spices. 3