PERSONAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9676, 15 December 1909, Page 5

PERSONAL.

Mr O. Monrad. of Palmerston North, is at present on a visit to Mastercon. Mr and Mrs J. M. Coradine, uf Masterton, who have been on an extensive trip to England, are expected to return to Masterton this evening. The death is reported of an old and respected resident of Wanganui, in the person of Mr John Fredeline Moosman. Mr Moosman, who has reached the ripe old age of 82 arrived in Wanganui with his family in 1876. Mr Mooamar) leaves a widow, five sons, eighteen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A London correspondent writes under date November sth:—Mr R. McNab, late Minister of Lands, has taken up his residence at Sutton, in Surrey, and within easy re ach of London.. He is pursuing at the Kecord Office in Chancery Lane his researches into the early history of New Zealand, and will shortly visit Paris on a similar quest. The Governor and Laiy Plunket will be leaving Palmerston North at j the end of the month, and will for a time travel in various parts of the Dominion., On February 10th her Excellency with her children and Miss Hill, and Captain Gathorne Hardy, will leave for England. His j Excellency will tl:en travel through- j out New Zealand, making his head- j quarters at Wellington, until he ! leaves the Dominion, which will pro-" bably be in the latter end of May or early in June. A pleasant family gathering was held at "Glenhoim." Dromana, New South Wales, on November 22nd, in celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of Mr and Mrs Walter Gioson's wedding. Mr Gibson was born in Wiston, Lanarkshire, Scotland, en September 23rd, 1829, and Mrs Gibson in Peebles. Scotland, on September 29th of the same year. Mr Gitson arrived in Victoria in 1859, and went to reside at Dromana, where he rented „Jand from Mr W. J. T. Clarke, and" has n-s ded there ever since with his family. He followed the occupation of tarm : r and contractor, in which he has been very successful; he now hdds a large area of" freehold land in Dromana, and his residence, "Glenholm," is well known. Mr and Mrs Gibson have had a family of 11 children—five sons and six daughters—lo of whom a"re alive tc-day. seven married and three single. They have 31 grandchildren, and 12 great-grand children. The health of Mr and Mrs Gibson was. proposed by Councillor SpringhaU, of During the evening Mr Gibson produced an old family relic, being; a Scotch Masonic apron that jhad been worn by his father in a procession of Freemasons /after ttie Reform Bill ■ was passed in 1832. Mr E. Gibson, of the staff of .Messrs Graham and Co., Masterton, is a son of Mr and Mrs Walter Gibson.

Monday was the thirty-ninth anniversary of Mr Massey's landing in New Zealand. He was then a boy in is fifteenth year. His people had previously settled in New Zealand, and he had been left at home at school. The ship in which he voyaged to New Zealand was the City of Auckland. Subsequently some strange adventures befel the City of Auckland. A few days after she got alongside the wharf at Auckland she was set on fire by an Auckland man named Cyrus Haley. She was towed out into the harbour and scuttled. The fire having been extinguished in this way the vessel was refloated and made another trip or two to England. , Cyrus Haley, who was somewhat of an eccentric, seems to have had a mania for fire-raising, for he burned down a kerosene store and the Choral Hall in Auckland. He also fired a revolver into the bedroom of Mr Thomas Russell, e well-known Aucklander, who was afterwards a member of Parliament. Six or seven years later he was shot dead by a warder while he was endeavouring to escape from Dunedin Gaol. Some two years or so alter the City of Auckland was set fire to in Auckland Harbour, she was wrecked on the West Coat near Otaki, and she now lies buried in the sand at the mouth of the river, with one of the masts still pointing skywards.