PERSONAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1939, Page 4

PERSONAL

Mr A. G. Dawson, Dominion organiser of the Farmers’ Union, is spending a few weeks in the Wairarapa on general organisation work. The. Hon P. Fraser, Minister of Health, left Wellington this morning for the Taranaki district. He expects to return to Wellington about the end of the week.

Mr Graham Donald, son of Mr and Mrs V. E. Donald, of Lansdowne, left Masterton today en route for England, where he is joining the Royal Air Force.

The engagement is announced of Margaret Othlie, elder daughter of Mrs and the late Mr J. J. Breeze, Masterton, to Mark John, youngest son of Mr and Mrs E. J. O’Leary, Masterton. Mr and Mrs J. Ogilvy, Gladstone, who have been on a six weeks’ holiday to New South Wales and Victoria, returned to New Zealand by the Wanganella. Mr Ogilvy was the judge of the Aberdeen Angus sheep at the recent Sydney Royal Show. The Anglican .Bishop of Wellington, the Rt Rev H. St Barbe Holland, who has been in the country convalescing following his recent operation, has made a good recovery and is expected to return to Wellington toward the end of this week and resume his duties. The death occurred at Palmerston North yesterday of Mrs Emily Theresa Rowlands, widow of Mr William Rowlands, late of Fitzherbert. The deceased was the mother of. Mrs W. B. Gillies, of "Totara Flats,”' Masterton, Mrs V. Monrad (Palmerston North), and Miss Rowlands. (Wellington).

The death occurred yesterday afternoon of Mrs Martha Aitken, wife of Mr George Aitken, Westport, and mother of Mr G. G. Aitken, who has the distinction of gaining international Rugby caps for New Zealand, England and Scotland, reports a Press Association message from Westport. Mr W. Aitken, is also a son, and Miss Annie Gothard, Wellington, and Mrs W. C. McDonald, Christchurch, are sisters.

Mr and Mrs F. A. Collett, of Clifford Street, Gisborne, recently received word to the effect that their son, Fly-ing-Officer Wilfred Collett, who has been connected with the Royal Air Force in the East for a number of years, has received promotion to the rank of Flight-Lieutenant. Having completed his term of service abroad he will return to England, sailing from Port Said by the Ormonde on June 17, in company with his wife and brother, Mr Ivan Collett.

Mr S. W. Gasper, of the Hillside Workshops, Dunedin, who has been elected president of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, in succession to Mr E. J. Dash (recently retired after holding this office for the record term of seven years) has been vice-president of the society for two terms. He acted as president in 1937 during the absence of Mr Dash in Geneva. Mr Gasper has been a member of the railway service for nearly 20 years and was elected to the A.S.R.S. conference and executive council in 1935. In 1937 he was returned to both positions with a record majority. This year he was elected unopposed to the executive council and now has been elevated to the highest office. He is also a member of the recently-consti-tuted Railways Tribunal. A resident of Khandallah for more than 43 years and one who knew the New Zealand of the ’sixties, Mr S. P. Curtis, died in Khandallah last week. He was a keen churchman and a noted Masonic and Odd Fellows lodge member. Mr Curtis was born in London in 1855. He arrived with his parents in the Maori at Lyttelton in 1858, coming on to Wellington a month later. The family settled in Wanganui, but later moved to Dunedin. Mr Curtis joined the stall of the Provincial Treasury in Dunedin in 1870. Consequent upon the changes in the government of the colony and the abolition of the Provincial Treasury, Mr Curtis relinquished his position in 1877. He then entered the Railways Department at Dunedin, and the following year was transferred to Christchurch. In 1880 he was moved to Wellington and was attached to the stat! of the head office till his retirement from the service in April 1920.