PERSONAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9552, 27 July 1909, Page 5

PERSONAL.

Mr B. Coyla has been appointed 1 handicapper for the Poverty Bay Turf Club. He already acts in that capacity for the Hawke s Bay Racing ulub and the Hunt Club. Mr John Stephenson, a well-known figure in Feilding, died at Plimmerton on Friday. For the past three years he had acted as custodian and secretary to the Rangitikei Club, and dur- . ing his sojourn in the district he has made himself very popular. Deceased leaves a widow, four sons and three daughters to mourn their loss. Tho late Joseph Gibson, J.P., of Eaetihi, who was killed by an explosion of gelignite last week, was " the second son the .late T. F. Gib--son, at one time Town Clerk at Fox ton, and brother to Mr J. W. Gib- :.- son, of Levin. As a schoolboy in Moutoa, during the eighties, he was extremely popular, and by his hearty •manner he made friends wherever he went. After leaving school he entered Mr George Denton's employ in Willis Street, Wellington, where he remained for i 3 years; subsequently! moving to Raetihi, where he married . Miss Dukes, the only daughter of the Rev. J. Dukes, Wealeyan minister. Deceased was a enthusiast and took a keen interest in Church matters. When in Wellington he was teacher of the largest class in the largest Sunday school in New Zealand, the Taranaki Street Methodist. The - average attendance at hid class was «onsiderably over 100. In Raetihi he bad a class of Maori youths in whom a strong social, musical, and educational interest. His sudden death will be mourned by a large number of friends in all parts of the North Island. The deceased was wellIknown in Masterton. Mr H. W. Northcrpft, S.M., is retring from active duty. He came to New Plymouth with his family in 1851, and when fifteen years of age Joined the colonial forces engaged against the Maoris, serving throughout the war and earning the New • Zealand war medal. In 1877 he was appointed resident magistrate for the Waikato district. Mr Nothcroft for some time held the position of goldfields warden and magistrate at the Thames, prior to his appointment in November, 1892, as stipendiary magistrate at Auckland, which position he held for four years. .Mr Northcroft was then stationed successively at Wanganui and Masterton, and was in 1900 transferred to his old magisterial district, the Waikato, with 'Hamilton as hia -headquarters, which he recently left again to take up magisterial duty in the Manukau district.