PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3051, 12 April 1917, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS

The Hon. V!. R: Herries has T&J /turned from Auckland. The Hon. G. W. Russell came back from the South Island yesterday morning. Sir John Findlay, M.P., left for Hawke's Bay by the express yesterday morning. 1 Q.M.S. A. J. Mason is aeportetl as having been awarded the Militarv Medal for saving the lives of three of his comrades who were wounded, carry- : ing one of them into safety under heavy "fire. Quartermaster-Sergeant Mason was previously mentioned in dispatches after the .Soinme Battle hsb , year. He is the first Petono buy to win any special distinction during the present war: , Dr. C: I'rcndergast Knijjnt has been elected chairman of directors of the Wellington Gas Company for-the cur-, rent year. ' ' Major E. V. Sevan, of .%; Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's head ; office at Wellington, lias existed for active service. ' Senior-Sergeant Barrett Rutledge, ' who has been transferred to take charge of the Newton Police Station, after several years' service at the Auckland City Central Police Station, was presented by h ; s comrades with * smoker's cabinet, subscribed by the, members of the force as a souvenir or Mr. Rutledge's sojourn at the Central Station, and as a token of the esteem which he had won from his comvadesn This gift was accompanied bv a presentation also of a handbag for Mrs* Rutledge. Messrs. A. M. Burns and H. A. Far* kinson, of Wellington, and W. H. New-> ton, of Thames, all members of the" executive of the New Zealand Educa* tional Institute, who Isve- been inj ,- Chfistchuroh attending an important) meeting of that body, returned to! Wellington yesterday morning. The name of Mr. E, W. Jnder, cfl Palmerston North, who passed in Evw deiice and Procedure, was omitted ncmi the published list of successful caiidi-> dates at the recent law cxmamations. There died on Sunday morning one' of the oldest settlers of the Carnarvon district, in the person of Mr. Gustave); August Herman Rockell. who died suddenly while engaged in attending to'tne separator. He was 72 years of age, and settled in the district about nftji years ago, becoming very much re- 1 spected and esteemed by the residents, He leaves a wife and family of tout daughters and seven sons.

Captain E! S. Harston, of Napier;, who left with the Main Body and saw; service in Gallipnli and France, returns shortly to New Zealand. Dr. A. Dillon Carbery, late of Strata ford, and who has been at the frontl' almost from the beginning of, the war, has been awarded the D.S.O. Lieut. K. Gold, of Napier, who ha* been successful in qualifying for the aerial service, leaves' shortly for ling* land to enter .the Flying. Corps. Private advice has been received that Captain D. E. Wood, of the Canterbury MountedSj has again been wound-' ed—this time in the foot, ; ,Dr. George Brown, whose death has been reported from Sydney, came to New Zealand in 1855, his fellow passen-i gers including Bishop Selwyn and , Bishop Coleridge Patteson. He_ wasappointed to the ministry in 1860, ms; first station being at Samoa; but be* fore leaving New Zealand he visit«<t the mission station at Waujgaroa,, where he married Miss S. C. wallis,; daughter of the veteran missionary.] the Rev. James Wallis. He has ten au interesting .account of his ex-*1 periences in New Zealand in those early days. "Our honeymoon, ha said, "was as different from the ordinary one in these days, in some) respects, as it is possible to imagine. Wehadtoswim two horses. across the* Waingaroa harbour the evening before we started. Thon on the next morning we all crossed in canoes. The horses;, were saddled, and in a short time mjjj wife's friends said good-bye to her far? many long years, and we began our long overland journey to Auckland. My wife rode one horse; theother one carried a large number of bundles, parcels, and boxes; many of which I fervently wished had been sunk in tho harbour before we started." Mr. William' Green, of Napier, a re* turned soldier, formerly of Christ* church, has been appointed to the posi-jj tion of secretary to the ChristchurcH' Branch of the Returned Asso-4 ciation, out of a number of applicants. He wili commence his duties on April 16. Mr. Basil Watson, the Victorian avia* tor, who had gained fame for many] long flights in Australia, and was re* garded in England as an'intrepid air-" man, was killed in tragio circumstances at the Point Cook aviation grounds.on the afternoon of March 28. He had flown from Albert Park to the.Aviation School, and when at an altitude o£ 2000 ft. above the A.I.F. camp, which adjoins tho camp of the Flying Corps, his machine suddenly collapsed whilq looping the loop, and fell into the bay, about 40 yards from the shore end oi the military enclosure.' Death is, be-* lioved to have been; instantaneous* Those who were witnessing Mr. Wat* son's terrible plight estimate that the biplane dropped the 2000 ft. in a little more than two seconds. The machina crashed nose first into 3ft. of watery only a few yards from where a numben of men were bathing. . Major James Hargest, who gained the Military Cross'at the Somme, join* ed the Main Body in August, 1914, as a sergeant. He is 25 years of ago, and a son of Mr. and Mrs. James Hargest, of Mandeville, Canterbury. _ He served as a lieutenant on Gallip'oli, was promoted in France to captain in May) last year, and major in November. His brother, Corporal Albert Hargest, was killed in France in September.

Major D. B. M'Kenzie has been appointed to the position of chief record officer of the Expeditionary Forca Training Camps. Dr. A. H. Claridge; :who lias been; resident medical officer 'to the Carter-* ton United Friendly Societies, leavesfor Wellington this week' to take up a' similar appointment on the medical staff of the 'Wellington United Friendly Societies. Mr. H. L. Wimsett, teacher. at, thai Carrington School, who goes into camp with the Twenty-eighth Reinforcements j was the recipient of a silver wristlefi watch and Soulier's knife from the set. tiers of the Carrington district. Mr. Robert Bell, of Ashhurton, reached Wellington yesterday after a holiday trip to Now Plymouth. The many friends of _Mr. Arthur Harvie, who for some time was on the! local staff of the Bank of Australasia* will regret to learn that he was killed in action on November 19 last. Mr* Harvie left Wellington to join the Australian Forces, and was reported wounded in ' November. Now advicd that he was killed lias been received. Private advice has been received of the promotion of Major C. F- D. Cook: to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Lieu-tenant-Colonel Cook is a son .of tha late Professor Cook, of Christchurch, and partner in the legal firm of Fuller-ton-Smitli, Miles, and Cook, of Martort and Feilding. Ho left with the Main B6dy and acted as Staff captain on tho Infantry Brigade Staff during the Gallipoli campaign, being mentioned in dispatches in connection with the fighting in August, 1915. He was invalided tho following month,' and on rejoining his regiment, the First Wellington In. fantrv, in February, 1916. was pcj-J. moted to' the rank of nnjor. Short!.' afterwards ho became senior major, nivl has been second in of big hattalion over since its arrival u| France*