PERSONAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17198, 19 June 1916, Page 8

PERSONAL.

Sir Joseph Ward. Minister of Finance, arrived at Christchurch fro ft Wellington yesterday morning, on, a private visit. Sir Joseph npf having had time.lto read local criticisms of the Budget, would make no statement. He will leave for the' north by to-night a ferry steamer.

The Hon J. Allen, Minister of Defence, visited the Queen Mary Hospital for Wounded Soldiers on Saturday and returned to Christchurch last evening. He told a reporter that from a military and disciplinary point of view the arrangements at the hospital were quite satisfactory. One or two minor points required attention; and attention would be given to them. The Minister wn. leave for Dunedur by the first express this morning and will return to Wellington about the end of the week. ' Mr L. F. Avson, Inspector of Fisheries, arrived* from W elliugton yesterday.

The Hon C. A. C. Hardy, M.L.C., and the Hon J. Barr, M.ii.C., arrived from the north on Saturday. Mr E. Nord'on, secretary of the Can- , terbury Licensed. T ietuallers’ Association. returned from "Wellington cu Saturday.

Dr Thacker, and Messrs J. Dickie, G. Witty, and T. Iv. Sidey. members ot the House of Representatives, arrived from the north on Saturday. Mr W. D. Stewart, manager (/or Messrs Dalgety and Co., Ltd., Christchurch, will succeed Mr A. Macintosii as'superintendent for New. Zealand. Mr -Macintosh intends to retire from service in a few months’ time.

In their match against Alerivale A at Lancaster Park on Saturday, the Hign School Old Boys Rugby football team wore a band of mourning for the lato Private E. J. Taylor, an ex-member of the club, who succumbed to an attack of pneumonia, in England. The London correspondent of tho “Lyttelton Times'’ states that Mr S. ' AI. 'Deans, of Christchurch, lias joined the Royal Military Camhcrlvy, with a'view eventually to obtaining a commission in the Scots Greys or a Lancer regiment. / Private H. Ivan Babbage, of Wanganui, who is serving with tho 4th Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, has a picture, “ The Viaduct." hung , this year on “ the line ” in the Royal Acaticray. The subject is a snow scene taken after the last blizzard, and shews tin; dark viaduct looming up amongst the snow-clad hills, with tho river below. The viaduct is one on the “ main lines” which til's regiment has been guarding for tiie past few months. Mr L. S. Fanning, after ten years of service with the “Evening Pov.. has resigned his position as a member of the editorial staff to carry on independent work. On Friday afternoon a full gathering of the litoiar.v staff met him to say farewell. Air Gresley Lukin, editor of tho “Post,” spoke regretfully of the loss of a valued colleague, and, on behalf of the staff, presented Air Fanning with $n oak office chair, bearing a suitable inscription.

News has been received that Lieutenant Irwin Rutherford, a Wellington College old boy, has been awarded the Military Cross. Lieutenant Rutherford, went to England rather more than twelve months ago and qualified for a commission in the Koval Field Artillery. being sent to Franc* shortly afterwards. Re was severely wounded in the legs last January, and was mentioned in dispatches, although for what action is not known here. At present Lieutenant Rutherford is making a slow recovery in London, and it is hoped that he may soon be able to return to New Zealand for a time. Mr William White, who arrived in Wellington over fifty-eight years ago from England, celebrated his one hundredth birthday yesterday. Mr White was born on June 18. 1816, at Walworth, Surrey, and came to New Zealand in the Alma. He was sent up to Hawke's Bay roadmaking, and afterwards 1 took up farm work. Later he visited the Otago goldfields, and roamed about the country as a farm hand. “ I feel quite fit, and am able to take a daily stroll, with my pipe as companion, for I have smoked since I was fourteen years of age, and- have also been n moderate drinker,” remarked the confarian to a ‘‘Post” representative. "1 should like, if my riegs were stronger, to go to the front, for I it«ed to pride my'elf on being a good shot," cahcludcd Mr White, who looks far younger than his years.