SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1324, 30 December 1911, Page 10

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

A Golden Wedding. Dr. and Mrs. Salmond, of Dunedin, celebrated their golden wedding on Christmas Day, having been married at Dunfermline on December 25, 1861. The guests were limited to relatives, and they were sufficient to fill the bouse. There survive four sons and four daughters, There are 1G grandchildren; and, besides, 'various members of correlative branches of the family. Tho venerable couple wero the recipients of many tokens of love and gratitude, and of numerous congratulations of friends. Not the least appreciated was a cablegram from tho congregation in North Shields, to which the _, Professor ministered fcr 17 years previous to his arrivcl in the Dominion, where he has resided for 36 years. Feilding Notes. Mrs. George Luxmore (Mangawcka) ia visiliug Mrs. Liixmoro (Westmount). Miss Spain has gone to Tiinaiu for the holidays. Miss Wyatt is spending a few weeks in Australia. Mrs. Gent has gone to Rona Bay with tho Hisses Prior and Bruce. Mrs. West (Wellington) is staying with Mrs. Wall (Kairanga). Mrs. Touibcs (Wellington) is the guest of Mrs. Atkinson, Miss Hill has returned from Wellington. Miss Shannon has been staying at Huntcrvillc. Mrs. Hammond has gone to Wellington for the holidays. Miss Wilson is visiting friends in Mastcrton. Mrs. Stewart has gone to Wanganui. A large number of Feilding people went over to tho Pnlinorston. races. Amongst those present were: Mr. und Mrs. Burnett, Mr. and Mrs. Halliday, Mr. and Mrs. Young, Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie, Mr. and Mrs. Wall, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, and many others. Obituary. Tho Wanganui correspondent of The Dominion writes that the death took place yesterday of Mrs. Leonora Evelyn Broad," at (he resideneo of her (laughter, Mrs. Jns. Duigany Gonville. The deceased lady, who wag.' in her seventy-sixth venr, was. the. ,pfv tho Into Mr. Chtole3"'Broadr''formerty R. 51. and Warden at Greymouth, and sho is survived by three sons and four daughtersMr. C.'F. A. Broad, manager of the National Bank, Greymouth; Mr. Evelyn Broad, manager of the Bank of Now Zealand, Marton; and Mr. L. Broad, Greymouth. Tho surviving daughters are Mrs. .Tas. Duigan and Mrs. John Stovcnson, Wanganui; Mrs. F. H./Carr, Dunedin; and Mrs. John Oldham, Taihape. The Passing of a Pioneer. -"' A correspondent writes that information has reached New Zealand, by cable, of the death in Sydney of Mrs. E. H. Thomas, formerly' of Wellington, and later, for about twenty years, of Wanaka, till she left, with her husband and family for Sydney about twenty-one years ago, The deceased lady was one of tho rapidlylessoning baud of pioneers, arriving in the country with her father, tho late Mr. Robert Edwards, step-mother, and family from tho city of York, England, in 1813, in the ship Larkins. Mrs. Thomas was married in the early sixties, her husband being a builder in the city after having spent sonio time on the Shotovcr goldfields. One of her brothers was the late Mr. William Edwards, who kept the Cricketers' Arms in Wellington for soino years in tho early sixties, and a sister, tho Into Mrs. Henry Norman, with I her husband, lived in Che Upper llutt for some years prior to leaving lor Wanaka, r via Oiunaru and Linde's Pass in 1861. Mrs; Thomas leaves a husband and grown-up family, also some grandchild- • ren. One of her daughters is a nurse at '■ present in Switzerland, and another is Mrs. flibson, who lived for some lime in Hong-Kong, her husband holding an important position in tho Government dockyards. Mrs. Thomas's uncle, the late Mr. John Edwards, and his wife and family were also" among the early arrivals in the Dominion, and (hero ore now some hundreds of descendants of both families. Death of a famous Chicftainess. The death of Maata To Ao, who lived near the Knnakannra Bridge, To kara.Ua, took place somewhat suddenly on Wednesday, writes the Gisborno correspondent of "tho Auckland "Herald." She wi pcrsoi. of much importanco amongst tho Natives and was a cousin of Wi Fere. A largo number of Natives havo already assembled at To Karaka to tuko part in the tangi. . ~,,,-. Deceased was a chicftainess of the Meaitnngtua Mahaki tribe. She was ono of the prisoners who were exiled to tho Chatham Islands after the rebellion in 18G5 and 1866. There sho married To Kooti. Sho was a woman of considerable intellectual ability, and was looked. upon in tho early days as one who had occult powers. ' When To Kooti seized the schooner Rifleman and released his people from bondage in the Chatham?, Maata r was amongst them, and was, with Te Kooti, through all tho fighting until tho fight at Ngatapa, when sho was taken prisoner by the Government forces, with ■another, woman of note, a chieftainoss of tho Taupo' tribe'.," They were treated as prisoners of war, "and exiled to tho west coast mid afterwards to the Bay of Plenty. Subsequently, upon tho occasion of hostilities in tho seventies, the Into chicftainess returned (n her own homo in l the Gisborno district. An incident is related which ranks hoiamongst the heroines in tho fight at Makaretu, or the first Ngatapa. When To Kooti was suffering from a wounded leg Maala carried him on her hack to tho retreat of Ngatapa. This placo was sul> scquently besieged, and at midnight the Natives oscaped to tho bush, whore Mania was captured.