PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1922, Page 4

PERSONAL.

Sir James Coaites has returned to Wellington from Rotorua, where he has been residing for the past two months. Sir James Coates may go to Brisbane for health reasons, but should he decide to remain in the Dominion he will probably return to Rotorua for the remainder of the winter.

There passed away at Ashburton on July 9 an old pioneer in the person of John Aurora Prebble. He was born at sea, landing at Petone beach with his parents in the Aurora,' one of the first four ships, in January, 1840. After a few years, spent in the North Island, they proceeded to Canterbury, .vhere his father took up land in the township of Prebbleton, being named after the family. Like all the early settlers, he had a hard time, going through all the hardships of the early days. He was of a quiet, unassuming nature, and never married. He was in his 83rd year. At the parade of the Mounted Group, held at Manaia on Tuesday, Lieutenant Colonel Sutherland, who has been associated with the company for a period of 20 years, was presented by Colonel Munro, officer commanding the district, with two long service medals —one for 12 years’ and the other for 20 years’ service. The officer spoke of the splendid record of Colonel Sutherland and the excellent work he had done during that long period. He also eulogised the great work Colonel Sutherland had done in training the men during the (European war.—’Star.

Messrs Newton King and C. H. Burgess, in moving the re-election of Mr. T. C. List to the presidency of the Chamber of Commerce last evening, made eulogistic reference to his work during the eighteen months he had occupied the position. Mr. List said he had been looking forward to a spell after his term of office. He believed the position should be a rolling one, and he had no desire to continue in office. He had been endeavoring to secure the services of two other suitable members to take his place, but both had intimated business and other ties would not permit them to do so for a few months. In these circumstances he was prepared to carry on for a few months longer on condition that he was permitted to retire a little later on in favor of one of these gentlemen. The man upon whom the eyes of all scientists are closely fixed at the moment is Sir Ernest Rutherford, whose investigations into the-structure of the atom have aroused world-wide interest (says an English paper). It is generally felt that this* brilliant investigator is on the eve of making a highly sensational discovery in this connection, but with true scientific reserve Sir Ernest himself refuses to say more than that within short time we may expect to know a very great deal more about the movement taking place within the atom. Sir Ernest Rutherford, who is 50 years of age, is a New Zealander by birth, his father and mother being residents of New Plymouth, and for a number of years held the post of Macdonald Professor of Physics in McGill University, Montreal. He first became famous by his researches in the domain of radioactivity, which won him, in 1903, the convened Fellowship of the Royal So-

ciety. Medals, prizes—including the Nobel prize for chemistry—and degrees have been bestowed upon him in profusion by almost all the countries of the world.