PERSONAL ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 73, 19 December 1917, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS

The Prima Minister (Rt. Hon. W. F. Mussey) opened the Ohakune-Raetihi section of railway yesterday, and attended a publio banquet at Raetihi in the evening. Ho will return to Wellington to-day. Sir Joseph Ward, Minister of Finance, who has been' visiting Southland, is expected to reach Wellington to-morrow. Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence, is due back in Wellington to- , morrow. The Hon. G. W. Russell, Minister of Marine, will leave for Napier to-day and will return to Wellington on Friday. Mr. Frank Meadowcroft, representative in New Zealand for Messrs. Cadbury Bros., has arrived back in Now Zealand from a trip to England, via America. i Mr. C. W. Burt, of Featherston, has been advised that his eldest son, "Sergeant-Major Ormond Burt, has been awarded tho Military Medal, following upon service in Gallipoli and Flanderß. The Minister of Defence has informed Mr. S. G. Jeffs, of Devenport, and late of Hamilton, that his second son, Sergeant Arthur. Henry Jeffs, has been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry on tho field of action, and recommended for a commission. Sergeant Jeffs, who is now in England training for his commission, enlisted in the Main Body and saw service at Gallipoli, Egypt, and France, being slightly wounded at Gallipoli. Prior to enlisting ho ; wns in tho service of tho Education Board, being head teacher nt Plnrnre School, near Hinuera. Mr. Jeffs has another son on active service, a lance-corporal in the artillery, w-ho lias been on the Western front, for the last twelve months.

Lauco-Corporal Cyril J. White, of Stanley Bay, Auckland, who was wounded on October 4, was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry on the field of action. He volunteered in AugUßt, 1915, and left with the Eighth Reiiiforcoments. Since reaching tho front he lias been almost continuously in the trenches, and has taken part in several battles. Prior to enlisting he was in tho office of tho London mid Liverpool and Globe Insurance Company. Mr. H. C. Cornwall, Resident Commissioner for Niue Island, has retired from that position on a pension.' His place is to be filled by the Justice Department by an officer who must have passed his solicitor's examination. In tho meantime the duties of DeputyCommissioner are boing carried out by Mr. J. C. Evison, the school headmaster.

One of Auckland's early colonists, Mr. James Marshall Lennox, who for many years was one of the leading sharobrokers of the city, died at his residence, Remuera Road, on Saturday night. Mr.' Lennox, who was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, in. 1842, camo to Auckland, in 1863, by the ship Owen Glendower, and was forthreo years connected with journalism in the '"New Zealander" and the "HeraldV offices. In 1866 ho started business as a land agent and sharebroker, and carried it on until about a year ago. He was many times chairman of the Auckland Stock Exchange, and was connected with many institutions in the northern city. Mr. Lennox was a member of the City Council for seven years, and for a similar period was a member of the Education Board .'and tho Board of Governors of the Auckland College and ■ Grammar School. He was also a member of, tho Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and a trustee of tho Auckland Savings Bank, and at various times filled other positions in tho public life of the city. Mr. Peter Drummond, of Corwar, one of the oldest and most widelyknown farmers in the Ashburton district, died in tho Ashburton Hospital on 'Saturday morning, after having undergone a second serious interna* operation. Mr. Drummond, who was born in Stirlingshire. Scotland, arrived in Now Zealand in tho late sixties.