PERSONAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 July 1940, Page 4

PERSONAL

Mr A. J. Baker, M.lnst. C.E., assistant engineer-in-chief of the Public Works Department, will retire tomorrow, after more than 42 years’ service. Mr R. J, Wright, of Martinborough, has been instructed to report to the R.N.Z.A.F. Station at Harewood for a recruit course as electrician. The following were at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Masterton, recently:— Messrs E. Daken, Thorne George (Auckland), Geo Drummond, P. Hendro, E. Chamberlain (Wellington), J. R. Timson (Trentham). The funeral of the late Mrs J. W. Henderson, of Lincoln Road, Masterton, took place yesterday afternoon. Services at the graveside and the residence were conducted by the Ven Archdeacon E. J. Rich. There was a large attendance. The pall-bearers were Messrs C. Curtis, A. Mason, N. Mason, V. Heath, J. West and M. L. Hunt. A varied and interesting career has ended with the death in Auckland of Mr Harold William Batger, aged 74, a former New Zealand champion athlete and veteran of two wars. As a representative of Wellington in his youth, Mr Batger held the New Zealand 120 yards hurdles championship from 1888 to 1891 and again from 1893 to 1894. He was also 440 yards hurdles champion from 1890 to 1892 and from 1893 to 1894. The second oldest member of the United Ancient Order of Druids in the Dominion, Mr Charles Robert Dine, died in Napier at the age of 86. Mr Dine was a well-known carrier in Napier till he retired some years ago. A keen supporter of the Napier Frivolity Minstrels, he had not missed an opening performance since the troupe’s inception. He was a life member of the Napier Cosmopolitan Club and for many years was associated with the Hastings Street School Committee. Mr Dine arrived in New Zealand in the Rangitikei in 1883, subsequently going to Napier, where he spent the greater portion of his life. The death occurred in Napier of Mr Frederic Wanklyn Williams, eldest son of the late Bishop William Leonard Williams, in his eighty-sixth year. Mr Williams was born in Whakato, Poverty Bay, and spent his early childhood at the Wairangahika Mission Station till 1865, when with his family he had to leave because of Hauhau activities. He entered business in Napier with Kinross and Co. in 1873, and in 1880 began business on his own account,—founding in 1891, with Mr Kettle, the well-known firm of Williams and Kettle, Ltd. He also founded the shipping company which is now known as Richardson and Co. He had many local body interests. He was a member of the Harbour Board for 25 years, and in 1903 and 1904 was Mayor •of Napier. He is survived by his widow and three sons, Messrs R. W., P. S. and A. C. Williams. The death occurred in Wellington on Saturday of Mr Edmund Jones. Mr Jones, who would have been 97 next December, was born in Birmingham, and came to New Zealand with his parents in 1855. the family settling at Nelson. There he attended Nelson College. In Nelson Mr Jones learnt the printing trade, at which he worked in that town for some years. In 1870 he married a daughter of the Rev. E. Thomas, a Baptist minister, of Nelson. In the early seventies Mr Jones decided to go to Hokitika, and there he and his father became proprietors of the “Evening Star.” Toward the end of the seventies Mr Jones left the West Coast for Wellington. He arrived there 63 years ago. and for a time worked on the “Independent.” From the “Independent” he joined the staff of the Government Printing Office, where he remained till his retirement on superannuation 32 years ago. Mrs Clapshaw, Featherston, is a daughter.