PERSONAL ITEMS

D.\ C. J. Reakes, Director-General of Agriculture, went north by the Limited express last night.

Dr. T. H. A. Valintine, Director-Gen-eral of Health, who is ia the South, will return to Wellington on Saturday.

Sympathetic reference will be made at the Supreme-Court to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock to the death of Mr. T. P. Martin, solicitor.

The Hon. B. Sproule, M.L.C., of Sydney, who has been on a visit to New Zealand, loft Auckland by the Niagara on Tuesday. .

The Hon. T. Shailer Weston, M.L.C., of "Wellington, will leave early in March on a trip to Great Britain and Europe.

Mr. Joseph W. Trim, formerly assistant secretary of the Wellington Waterside Workers' Union for five years, died yesterday after a prolonged illness. . .

Mr. T. Moss, at last evening V meeting ; of- the Wellington Harbour Board, was granted six months' leave of absence, which he intends to spend in Great Britain and abroad.

Dr. Biggs, at present medical superintendent of the Balclutha Hospital District, has been appointed chief medical officer of the Napier Hospital, states a Press Association telegram from Napier. Dr. W. P. Evans (Wellington) and Mr. A. Philpott (late of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, and now of the Auckland Museum) were elected fellows of the New Zealand Institute by the Board of Governors at its annual meeting today. ' ...

Bishop Cherrington will leave Hamilton on 14th February to attend the Lambeth Conference. During his absence until November Archdeacon Bell, of Cambridge, will administer the Waikato diocese.

The Government has been advised that Lord and Lady Latymer will arrive in New Zealand/shortly from England. The visitors are prominent deer stalkers in England, and intend to indulge in as much of the sport as possible while in the Dominion.

Mr. Andrew Fletcher, . the Government representative on the Harbour Board, who takes the place rendered vacant by the death of the.late Mr. J. G. Harkness, was welcomed to the board's councils last night by the chairman (Mr. J. W. M'Ewan), who congratulated him upon his appointment. Mr. Fletcher briefly replied. He was later appointed a. member of the Investment and Legislation Committees.

The Rev. Dr. John Holloway, of Otago University, was to-day awarded the Hector Medal and prize of £55 for Botany for the year by the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute at its annual meeting in Wellington, on the recommendation of Dr. Cockayne and the Hon. G. M. Thomson, M.L.C. On the motion of the president (Dr. C. C, Farr), the board resolved to send its hearty congratulations to Dr. Holloway.

The president of the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute (Dr. Farr, Christchurch)^ in opening the annual meeting of the Institute at the Victoria University College to-day, extended a hearty welcome on behalf of the board to Dr. E. Marsden (permanent head of the Department of Industrial and Scientific Research). "I am sure," said Dr. Farr, "that his presence here will tend to cement, increase, and augment the good relations which exist between this Institute and his Department."

"The late Captain Bollons was perhaps the greatest of , our authorities on matters relating to the Sub-Antarctic Islands of. New Zealand," stated the president (Dr. Farr, of Christchureh), in an . obituary reference in opening the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Now Zealand Institute at Wellington this morning. "He was for many years in command of the . Government steamers that paid periodical' visits to those islands. Some others of us here, besides myself, will recall the trip to them in the Hinemoa which was organised by the Canterbury Institute, and will realise how much of ,the success of that expedition was due to Captain Bollons. Dr. Cockayne, I k.iow, has taken several such trips with him. His genial personality, sense of humour, and immense fund of information relating to the Islands made such a voyage an unforgettable event in the lives of those who w;ere fortunate enough to make it."

At last night's meeting of the Wellington . Harbour Board the chairman (Mr. J. W. M'Bwan) referred to the death of their late member, Mr. J. G. Harkness, with regret, and spoke in high, terms of his ability, sincerity, and integrity. The following- resolution was carried en his motion in the customary manner: "The Wellington Harbour Board places on record its profound regret at the death of one of its oldest members, Mr. Joseph George Harkness, who, as member from February, 1908, to January, 1930, and for four terms its chairman, gave such loyal and valuable service to the administrative affairs of the board."

Mr. TV. G. Heptinstall, of Canada, arrived at Auckland by the Niagara on Monday to take up the position of manager of Waikato Carbonisation, Limited. He will proceed to Botowaro to superintend the laying of the foundations of the carbonising plant, a large portion of which is expected to arrive during April. Mr. Heptinstall is an associate member of the American Association of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institution of Electrical Engineers. Ho has been in chntgo of the Lurgi Carbonising Plant at Eicnfait, Saskatchewan, Since its inception, and was for Some time employed by the Lignite Utilisation Board of Canada, under the Commissioner of Labour and 'Industries of the Saskatchewan Government. Mr. Heptinstall has been associated for the past 26 years with the treatment of lignite coals and with gas-producing plants.

Dr. Chilton, one of tho Canterbury representatives oh the Board of Governors of tho New Zealand ' Institute, had died since the last annual meeting of tho board, stated tho president (Dr. Fnrr, Christchurch) at the Opening of the annual meeting 6t the board at Victoria University College this moriiing. Dr. Chllton's name and work and personality were too 'Well known to members to need any panegyric from him; and an account of Dr, Ohilton's scientific work, written by the" Hon. G. M. Thomson, would appear in the transactions of the Institute. Dr. Farr also referred to the deaths duf^ ing the year of Sir Baldwin Speneer> F.E.S., England, who passed away full of years and honour while actively engaged in ethnological work in South America; of Dr. Geoffrey Duffield, Who was largely instrumental in the establishment of the Solar Physics Observatory at Canberra, Australia, and was its first and only director; and of Captain Aulh "The Idas of the magnetic yacht Oaritogie, involving as it did tho death of Captain Ault, was," said Dr< Farr, "a shock from which peaceful science will riot soon recover.

. . . Captain Ault'a loss is irreparable. A most capable mathematician, physicist, and sailor, ha combined with these a lovable and genial nature that made him an ideal leader and commander." Resolutions of' condolence and sympathy with relatives was passed in silence.