OBITUARY.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16156, 9 March 1918, Page 12

OBITUARY.

.MR D. J. CORDON. Mr Douglas Jtiir.cs Gordon. actingliri'vor on the Methven branch lino, ait-d ri the .Wnburton C ounty Hospital earl> o i Thursday morning. Last month Mr Gordon had his annual leave., and went intu the harvest iield to hetp .k.ii.ri fri.-ml to yet in his crops. Ho returned to duty about two weeks ago. but on the evening of the day he returned he was taken"ill with pneumonia and pleuris-v. He was subsequent.} rom "\~ 0.l to the Ashturton County Hospital, but "raduaHy became weaker, anu cued as stated above. Mr Gordon was 2b years 01 age. and leaves a w.rlov. and ono child. He was the second son ot Mrs AY McFarlaue, Southbndge. He was a line athlete, and a member of the Methven lootual- Club, when it was m existence. Ho n, o •i member of the Methvci. Club He had been .on the Methven line for upwards oi six yeai>.

301 G. O'-MALLEY. Mr George UMailey. J.P formerly » well-known iarmcr in the Kn f trict, and recently a resident- of Ciiristctuireh, died on'luesday. He was born in Galioway, Ireland, in IS-L. and J - rived in -New Zealand in tne ship Meimaid in 18o'J. He wen Wo the Marlborough diggings in IHGj, and theme to the West Coast, Later lie . commenced a business as carter between Canterbury and tlie West Coast dig<rin<'s, and in IS7I began farming Castle Hill. At th e time of the rush to the ivumara, diggings Mr OMallc\ conveyed : j<s diggers across the rangod in his livc-horso waggon. but, as the fields fell below anticipations ; tO of these men soon, returned with lum to Canterbury. Alter disposing of J''® | horses, waggon, and farm, he, in IS&J, went on a visit to his imti\o couutiy, ! and on iiis return to New- Zealand puri chased a farm at Kir wee, which ho I successfully farmed lor ovor -U years. I lie was a member of the Courtenay | A. and P. Association, and for a period served as a member of the "NYaimakariri Uuad Board, and also of the local Licensing Committee.

A well-known Dunorlin resident, MiThomas Henry Haskell, who died on Wednesdav at the age of [©-'years, v. as born in London, and was the father of Mr Oscar Haskell, one of Otago's early representative cricketers. The old gentleman was in the xorvico of tho Van Dienian's Land Governmont at the time when it obtained its constitution. All t;ie public servants had io retire, but there was a condition of tlie Imperial Government that they had all to be provided for by a pension or otherwise. Mr Haskoll elected to retire, took his pension, and ithad continued from 1855 until his death. He might hold the record in Australasia as a pensioner. He came to Otago forty years ago. and became secretary of the Marino Underwriters' Association, retiring from the position twenty years ago. Mr Haskell's reminiscences of the early days in Tasmania- woro on the lines- of Marcus Clarke's revelations, and justified many of that •writer's sensations.

The death is announced of Mr John Moginc Chambers, lioad of the '.veilknown Auckland engineering firm of John Chambers and Son, Fort street, which lias warehouses in other centres in New Zealand. Deceased was about 55 years of age, being the son of the late Al'i- John Chambers. He was born in England, and came to New Zealand with his parents when an infant. Mr Chambers was educated at the Church of England Grammar School, Parncll, afterwards going to England, where he went through a course of engineering with Tangvos, Ltd., of Birmingham. Upon returning to New Zealand Mr Chambers joined his father in business in Fort street, Auckland. lie brought out with him from England the AskhamMolloy and Parkes process fpr the extraction of bullion from refractory ores, and erected plants at Thames, Karangahake. and also Collingwoud. Later Mr Chambers returned to England, nud again entered the employment of Tangyes Ltd. He married ft daughter of .Sir Kichard Tangye while at Home, and has two sons who im e at college in New South Wales and one daughter. Mr Chambers Had been in bad health for a number of years, and latterly spent the winters at the Blue Mountains in New South Wales and the summer at his residence, Khandallah, Wellington.

The report of tho MethodistConnexional Fire insurance Fund suggested the possibilities of profits _ in connexiou with firo insurance business. Though thero had been throo fires during the year, the fund suffered to the extent of only £2 10s, because the officers had wisely re-insured, and the net profits for the year amounted to £955 0s 9d, which was added tp the capital account. The capital now amounts to £9625 2s 3d, which represents the profits of the fund since its inception. In the whirligig of life, strange bedfollows on occasions find themselves in peaceful agreement. This was evidenced in the Mothodist Conference at Dunedin on Thursday, when a secretary of .in Hotel Workers' Union up north appealed in a letter which was read to tho Conference to aid tho union in fighting tho Sunday labour entailed in connexion with marble bars. These unions are at times in antagonism to the Churches-, but on this occasion the wolf lay down with the lamb.

Although the Featherston Camp has been supplied with nearly everything a soldier wants, it has lacked a swimming bath for the men. The cost of a swimmii>,<s bath, 50 feet by 100 feet, would be about £350, and the Advisory Committee of the Patriotic Societies had before it on Thursday an appeal from Major Neville Newcomb, adjutant, for assistance in raising the sum mentioned. The letter was addressed to the Mayor of Auckland, but was forwarded by the Auckland Patriotic Society to the central body, because of the general nature of the appeal. Mr E. H. "Williams (Hawke's Bay) moved that the Patriotic Society be asked t-o contribute the amount, butAir J. J. Dougall protested. The work was surely a necessity, and should he undertaken by the Government. Mr Hope Gibbon> said they did not want any delay. Finally, it was decided that, in the opinion of the Board, the Government should undertake the