PEBSONAL MATTERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 40, 17 February 1911, Page 7

PEBSONAL MATTERS.

Messrs. W. Reading and A. Simmonds, Napier business men, are visiting Wellington. Mr. W. Ferguson has been elected a life honorary associate of the Marine Engineers' Institute. . Mr. J. C. Allan has been appointed Deputy-Registrar of Births, Marriages, and Deaths for the Hunterville district. • Mr. Joseph M'Clug^age has been appointed one oi' the Government representatives on. the Taranaki Land Board. , A Christchurch Press Association telegram records the death of Mr. Thos. Henry Hall, aged 87, founder of the firm of T. 11. Hall. and Co, , Sir Robert/ Stout has accepted the in- j vitation to preside at the farewell banquet to Sir Joseph Ward and the Hon. ' jur. Findlay, to be held in the Town | Hall on Ist March. | Mr. J. Liddell Kelly, who is well I known in journalistic circles in the Do- j minion, has accepted the editorship of ' the Ashburton Mail, and takes up his duties early in April. The Revs. T. N. Cattle, G. W. T. j Hercus, and J. E. Lopdell (Presbyterian) | and ■ Mr. J. M. limes (Church of Christ) are gazetted officiating ministers under the Marriage Act. Mr. A. A. Lucas, of the Nelson Mail, and Mi\ P. B. Bond, of the Nelson Colonist, leave by the Maori to-night to attend thp annual meeting of the United Press Association at Queenstawn. Mr. H. J. Slade, chairman of the Hobson County Council, hag been asked by the Kaipara branch of the Reform League to contest the Kaipara seat at the next general election, slates our Auckland correspondent. Mr. Justice Chapman leaves for Blenheim, on Monday. Mr. Justice Sim •will arrive in Wellington about the end of next week, and take up the civil sessions. The Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), who leaves Palmerston for Napier to-day, is expected in Wellington a. week after the arrival of Mr. Justice Sim. An illuminated address is to be presented to Mr. Jsl. Tregear, late Secretary of the Labour Department, who .has jusfc retired" from that office, by the members of the Australasian. Federated Seamen's Union, as a slight recognition of his valued services as head of that department. The presentation will take place one evening next week. At the conclusion of the ordinary business of the Victoria- College Council on Wednesday night, the chairman. (Mr. Yon Haast) presented Mr. H. H. Ostler with two very valuable books, as a mark of esteem from his iellow-mem-bers, on the occasion of his recent wedI ding. One of the books is for Mrs. Ostler, and both contain the signatures of all th« members of the board. Sub-Inspector Norwood, of Wellington, who succeeds Inspector O'Donovan at Palmerston North, will take up his new duties to-morrow. Sub-Inspector Norwood has, during the eighteen months he ha-s been in Wellington, carried out his duties in a quiet and efficient manner, that has earned general respect and regard, and he has received many congratulations on his promotion. Mr. H. S. Hart, of Messrs Dimond and Hart, importers, left by the Main. Trunk train to-day on an extended tour of Europe, Asia, and 7»merica. Mr. Hart will combine business "with pleasure. He will be accompanied by Mr. Geo. M. Fowlds, son of the Minister of .hkiucation, and Mr. W. H. Caughey, son of Mr. A. C. Caughey, of Smith and Caughey, Auckland. The. party will leave Auckland on Monday next to catch the Orsova from Sydney on Ist March. Yesterday Mr. ' J. MocDonald, of the traffic department staff, Invercargill, left Invercargill for Wellington to take up the position of stationmaster of the Lambton and Thorndon stations. Mr. Mac Donald has been a member of the lnvsrcargill railway staff for the past eight years, and as he enjoys considerable local popularity, both socially and professionally, congratulations are (says the Daily News) being freely tendered him on nis selection for the important duties of stationmaster otf Wellington. An exchange relates that there is a beekeeper in the Southland district who has 220 colonies of bees, which have a free run of a very large area of clover. To test the working capacity of a hrwe, he one day placed the hiva on the scales, and for 12 hours' work they registered 101b of honey. It only wants a little bit of figuring to tell the return the above number of colonies would give their owner at the retail price of honey of from 6d to 7d per pound. Mr. Clement L. Wragge, who is now in Levin, takes exceptioxv to the cabled comments of a Sydney minister regarding Mr. Wragge's forecast of a "fallingoff in the rainfall of Australia.-' Mr. Wragge remarked to a representative of the Horowhenua Chronicle that the criticism of the clergyman anent the drought forecast, which embraced the period ending 1915^—and which referred not only to Australia, but to the Southern hemispheie generally — was out of place and premature. ""Of course," commented Mr. Wragge, "the warning applied equally to New Zealand, parts of which are already suffering from drought." A slander case was hung up in the Chriatchurch Supreme Court on Thursday owing to the non-appearance of the plaintiff. His counsel intimated, rather unwillingly, that he would go on without him, but his Honour, after some discussion, said that it would probably be more satisfactory both to counsel and client if plaintiff wa-s present when the case was heard. If counsel lost his case on a law point during the absence of his client, he would be bound to be suspected of some mismanagement. His Honour suggested, reports the News, that counsel should tell the plaintiff that he had been fined £5 for non-appearance, and give him a fright for the inconvenience ho had caused.