PERSONAL MATTERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 64, 17 March 1910, Page 7

PERSONAL MATTERS.

The Governor will arrive in Wellington from the West Coast on Saturday next. Mr C. Wilson, Chief Librarian at the General Assembly Library, has been eranted permission by Cabinet to attend the conference of public libraries s-nd chairmen of library committees to be held at Dunedin shortly. Mr. "IV ilson wMI read a paper on * The Selection and Purchase of Books.' ■\j r W. W. Armstrong, captain of the Australian cricket team, arrived in Wellington from the South this morning, and went on by train to Wanganui. When jn Dunedin, Mr. Armstrong, while walking on the hills, slipped, and in trying to right himself, snapped one of the muscles in the region of the heart. He therefore decided not to play at Palmerston North, and unless he fcsls better, he will not play at Wanganui. Members of the United Hockey Club assembled yesterday evening, a,nd formally bade farewell to Mr. Frank Ashbolt, who is leaving Wellington for Hobart. Mr. Ashbolt "has been connected with the club since its. inception, and has been a playing member for the past ten or eleven years. In appreciation of his service* and good fellowship, a presentation was made of a set of gold cuff-links, a cigarette-case, and a. travel-ling-rug. . Captain Guy R. A. Gaunt, R.N., it is notified in tlie London Gazette, has bees appointed to command H.-H.b. CWjnser, one of the larger cruisers now on the Australian station, to date 15th February. Captain G. Gaunt is a son of the late Judge Gaunt, and brother to Captain Ernest F. A. Gaunt, C.M.G., who commanded H.M.S. Cambrian on this station, and in January last succeeded Rear-Admiral D. Beatty in the command of H.M.S. Queen, one of the battleships in the Atlantic fleet. Captain G. Gaunt was formerly in the Victorian. Navy, and was also an officer in the Royal Navy Reserve. When Acting Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.R., he received the approval of the Lords oi the Admiralty for services on Torpedo Boat No. 62 on her passage across the North Atlantic, 1890. When the Admiralty, in 1895, invited lieutenants R.N.R. to accept commissions in the Royal Navy, under the supplementary lieutenants scheme, Mr. Gaunt applied for, and received, a lieutenant's commission. When in H.M.S. Swift, on the China Station, he served during operations at Alanila, 1897. He specialised in navigation. Two years later came his chance when, j he was serving as Navigating .Lieutenant in H.M.S. Porpoise on the Australian Station, whick was one of the ships ordered to Samoa to suppress the civil war. Lieutenant Gaunt commanded at the British Consulate during the night attack on Apia, and received a mention in despatches. He was then ordered to Taise and take command of a native regiment, which came to be known as "Gaunt's Brigade" during the remainder of the operations, receiving another mention in despatches, and was promoted Commander. He was promoted to Post Captain in 1907, and in ordinary circumstances may expect to attain flag rank in some ten years from that date, which should be reached by Captain E. Gaunt about the end of 1912, and he will be the first Australian born admiral.