PERSONAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 200, 22 August 1904, Page 2

PERSONAL.

Major Pitt went to Gisborne on Saturday by the Tarawera. I Sir Maurice O'Rorke, M.L.C., went back to Wellington yesterday by way of Kew Plyniouth. :Messrs. Baume and Moss, M.H.EU'-s, arrived in Auckland yesterday for a couple of days' visit. Major Whitney, manager of the Colonial Ammunition Co., was a passenger to Kew Plymouth yesterday. Mr and Mrs Uessems and their two boys, who appear with Mr Fuller's j vaudeville company to-night, arrived by I the Moana yesterday from Sydney. j Captain Hammond, of the Northern i S.S. Company's service, goes to Sydney j to-night to bring over the company's new steamer to this port. The Hon. George Jones, M.L.C., of Onmaru, who had been on a tour of the' Old World, returned to the colony, via fpydney. by the Victoria. He was acMr W. J. Gray, who has left Katikat.i to reside in Waihi, was given a farewell social by the irihn I *i+nnts of the former town on the occasion oi his departure. The Anglican Bishop of Wellington intends to pay a visit to Canterbury at the end of the month to assist in the episcopal woi 1< there, Bishop Julius being still in England. Miss Pott.it, matron of the Wellington Hospital, and Miss Payne, matron of the Kotoma Sanatorium, have arranged, with the consent of the Government, to exchange positions. Mr A. Varney. of Auckland, has been appointed special teacher in the Wanganui Boys' District High School. He succeed;! Mr T. B. Strong. 8.A., who has been oromoted to the inspectorate. Mr Thomas Kirk, for many years Clerk of the Magistrate's Court in the WaikatiO,'has decided to take up his residence in Christchurch, having resigned his position here on account of ill-health. Mr T. Aired Saunders, the registrar of- electors and district agent lor the Government Tourist Department a/, - Jnvercargill, paid a visit to Auckland last week. and on Saturday went up to Rotorua. He is returning to the South by way of the Wanganui. The passengers from England by the Athenic included Mr N. N. Blomefield, eon of Sir Thomas W. P. Blomefield, who was private secretary to the President of the Board of Trade in 1878-80. Mr Blomefield intends making a thorough tour of the colony. Mr Mel. B. Spurr is a through passenger by the Mararoa from Gisborne to Sydney. His engagements have prevented him from appearing in Auckland a second season, a fact that will be regretted by most of those who had experience of his delightful entertainments in this city. Lieut. R. 0. Chesney, of the N.Z. Royal Artillery, who was some time staff-officer to Colonel Davies, C.8.. and latterly one of the officers at the forts at North Shore, went Home by the lonic last week to complete the course of study required of the Royal Artillery officers appointed in the colony. He will be absent from Maoriland about I*B months. Mrs W. I. Crawford, the well-known miniature painter, of Wellington, has, been compelled to relinquish the worfy in which she has attained so much success, on account of the strain on heT eyes.' Mrs Crawford had an intercolonial reputation for her work. She has accepted a position in the National Mutual Life Association. '" The "Eev. Mother Ignatfiis, Superior of the Catholic order of the Sisters of Mercy in Auckland, and Sister Francis have booked passages by the Mararoa, sailing for Sydney to-night. The Rev. Mother Ignatius will be away for a couple of months in Sydney, and Sister Francis, who -belongs to the Marist order, will rem_in there. Dr. Valentine, who is assistant-Health Officer to Dr. Mason, arrived in Auckland yesterday on Departmental business it will take him a couple of days to transact. He returns to Wellington, and then visits Wanganui and later Auckland to deliver a series of lectures in connection with, the crusade against consumption now being carried on by the Health Department. Mrs Rachacl Hamilton, relict of Mr John Hamilton, of Katikati. died at an advanced age last week. She was one of the best-known characters of the district. Her husband was one of the orig inal settlers of the locality, and held a responsible position under Capt. Mervyn Stewart from 1850. She leaves hut one unmarried son and three married daughters, and she had several grandchildren.

The Rev. Father Piquet, who has been for ;.(;mt time at the Cook Islands station of the Roman Catholic Church, is poing to Sydney in the MaTaroa to-night. He arrived here by the last Islands boat, and has been staying with His Lordship Bishop Lenihan in the meantime.. Father Piquet is a priest of the Marist OrdeT, and he was at Sydney 21 years ago whew Father Pat+erson was there. He ha? now been recalled to Sydney on account of the death of Father Lexentenne. Sydney papers refer to the death of Mr T. E. M'Donough as removing the last survivor of the famous Bourke and Wills' exploring expedition through Australia, Mr M'Donough was well-known in this colony. He was formerly chief postmaster at Wanganui, and afterwards travelling lecturer for the Government Insurance Office in its early life. He fell upon evil times in his later days, and was for some time in the Wellington Benevolent Home. He returned to Victoria a year or two ago. Mr Adam Twine, of Wooten Bassett, Wilts, and Mr J. A. Deacon, of Swindon, in the same county, are visiting Auckland. Mr Twine is a timber merchant, with a large business in his district, and he is very much interested iv the Maoriland timber He and Mr Deacon are on a two years' trip around the world together, and they nave just finished a five months' visit to South Africa. They intend to put in iboufc six months in this colony, going hence to China and Japan. They were amongst recent callers at the Government Tourist Bureau in Auckland. Mr James Nieholls, postmaster of Nireaha (Eketahuna County), who is supposed to have died from the effects of the earthquake shock, was an interesting character, some of whoso children reside in Auckland. He was a,n ordained clergyman, and although ho had to give up the priestcraft as a profession on account of deafness, he ministered to the spiritual necessities of the people in the locality. He was over 60 years of age, and had done a great deal for the Settlement of his district. He was still "hale, and healthy when he died. The earthquake iB -aid'to ha v e caused a **■* Tush of, blood Jo his head.