PERSONAL ITEMS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 22 October 1924, Page 6

PERSONAL ITEMS.

The death occurred az the Picton Hospital last week of Mr. Samuel Gale, an old Marlborough identity, at the age of 72 years. The late Mr Gale came to New Zealand about 47 years ago. He leaves a family of eight, with 18 grandchildren. The death of Mr. Eric Dolling, at the age of 28, at Wellington, .has removed a popular member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes. Deceased was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Dolling, .of Oriental Bay, and was a well-known figure in Christchurch, where he managed the Empire, the Star, and the' Rutherford Hotels. From Christchurch he came to Wellington, and later. tpok over the man-, agement of the Railway Hotel, Lower Hntt. The death occurred on Friday, October 10, of a very old colonist, Mrs. G. Tiller. The late Mrs. Tiller was the eldest daughter of the late Mr. Richard Kemp, a very old Wellington identity, and was born at Gravesend, Kent, in 1847. At the age of seven she came out with her parents to Tasmania, and ten years later came to the Dominion, settling first in .Dunedin and finally in Wellington. In 1875 she married /Mr. Edward Dixon/ who predeceased her in 1890, there being five children of the marriage. In 1892 she became the wife of Mr. George Tiller, of Wellington. Mr. Charles Coomb, a veteran of the Indian Mutiny, died on Wednesday at the Auckland hospital . He was within a fortnight of his 92nd birthday. Mr. Coomb was born at 'Farnham Surrey, England, on November 1, 1832. When 23 years of age he enlisted in the 72nd Foot Regiment, and was trained at Malta. When the Indian Mutiny broke out his regiment was ordered to Bombay, and joined the Central Indian Division Under General Sir Henry Roberts. He was present at the storming of Kohat and Raj Putna, also the actions of Langanur Kotarea, on the River Burman, where 160 natives were killed and the prison--ers blown from the cannon. Mr. Coomb also participated in the protection of the towns of Jeyhoor and Tonk. He spent nine years in India, and when his time had expired he came to New Zealand and served in the Colonial Forces during the Waikato war. When 74 years of age he entered the Veterans’ Home. Mr. A. W. Hutchings, assistant chief accountant to the New Zealand Railway Department, who voluntarily retired from the railway service on superannuation on October' 4, joined the service in 1884. After serving in the Hawke’s Bay district as clerk, relieving officer, and stationmaster, he was, in January, 1906, transferred to Lambton railway station as chief clerk. In 1913 he was appointed stationmaster at that station, and occupied that position until November, 1916. His next appointment was that of traffic audit inspector for the North Island. Later on he was promoted to the position of chief traffic inspector for New Zealand, and in 1919 was appointed to the position he held at the date of his retirement. Mr. Hutchings took a very great interest in the' Railway Officers’ Institute, for which he acted as honorary general secretary from 1907 to 1901. He was continuously re-elected as a vice-president of the institute from 1910 to 1920, and for six years represented the first division of the service on the North Island Appeal Board.—Dominion.