PERSONAL ITEMS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, 23 October 1916, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS

Private William -John , Clarry, Eltham, is reiiiriuug io Ne.,' Zealand dv the Marama.

Honors for the Premier.—Cambridge University has decided to confer tne degree of LL.D. on Mr Massey, and he will be in as a. Privy Councillor on Tuesday. *

Corporal Claridge, whose death was reported last week, was a Hawera boy, a son of Mr J. H. Claridge, at one time overseer on the Star. Many old friends will sympathise with Mr and Mrs Claridge in their sorrow.

The many friends of Mr and Mrs A. G. Brett, new of Auckland,' will hear with regret and sympathy of the death of their only son, Private Merson Brett, who was kiUed in action in France on October 3. The young soldier joined the colors very early in the war at the age of 19, and went through the Gallipoli campaign without a wound or a single clay's illness.

Lieutenant F. S. Wilding has been gazetted from the. New Zealand Artillery to aide-de-camp on the personal, etaff. As a sort of side-line to his actmtie.s Ljsutenant Wilding won a couple of prizes at a librse show "somewhere in France," and within hail of the firing line. Tennis players who, in sucTi numbers, deplored the death of Anthony Wilding, will be glad to hear of his brother's well-earned promotion.

The death i§ announced at Wellington of Mrs Francis, aged 80, a lady who for many years occupied a leading position in educational work in Wellington, and some of whose pupils no doubt are living in this district. She leaves two sons and two daughters. One of the forp"jr is Mr Frank Francis, manager of the Canterbury branch of the A.M.P. Society, and who when at Wanganui in a similar capacity had many friends in Hawera district, especially among ericksters. One daughter is Mrs Vickers; wife of Mr Vickers, for several years manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Opunake. \

Nurse Hilda Hooker, sister of Mr L. O, Hooker, who has been stationed at Trentham for some time, has been soending a day in Hawera, and left for Trentham this* morning. Though looking fairly well, she has never quite recovered from the effects of the strain and exposure suffered when the Marquette, on which she was travelling, was torpedoed. She is hoping to go abroad again. She was for a time on bonrd a French Red Cross steamer, and speaks in very high terms of the management on board and the treatment she received.

The death is. announced of Mr Herbert Ivan Babbage, third son of Mr and Mrs C. W s Babbage, ofWanganui, formerly of HaVera. Mr Babbage had adopted the profession of artist, and after forwarding liimself as far as possible in New Zealand went to England. There no pursued-his studies diligently and with, a success that justified the early promise he had shown. Later o"> he travelled a good deal in Europe, all the time adding to his reputation. Last year he gained the distinction of having one of his pictures accepted by the Royal Academy and hung "on the line," a coveted concession. Very general regret will be felt by Hawera friends at his untimely dea^h. It is not suggested in the notices we have seen that he was killed in action, and we understand he had not been accepted for military service abroad, thotigh he had offered himself. But he had been serving in England on patrol duty, and curiously among his first work was the duty of helping to guard an important bridge in the south of England which, his grandfather had designed.

The following Taranaki names appear in recent casualty lists (names of next-of-kin in parentheses):—Killed in action: Rifleman William Henry Millman (Mrs E Millman, New Plymouth); Corporal John Holmes Crighton (Alex. M. Crighton, Hawea-a); Rifleman Cornelius Alen Yolkert (Mrs C. Volkert, Ngaere, mother). Reported wounded: Rifleman Chas. Cathro Hogg (Mrs A. R. Standish. New Plymouth); Rifleman Harry John Laurent (J. H. Lauirent, Hawera); Rifleman Henry N. Rowe (Thomas Rowe, Bell Block); Lance-Corporal John Newton Blyejo (James Blyde, New Plymouth); Private Henry Ernest Brabant (F. J. Brabant, Waitara). Wounded, remaining with unit: Sapper Percy Blyth Wh/itcombe (P. S. . Whiteombe, N.ew Plymouth). Wounded, rejoined unit: SergeantMajor Buyden Copeland (C. Cppeland, Douglas). i