PERSONAL

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 112, 8 April 1930, Page 6

PERSONAL

Lord and Lady Bledisloe left Wellington by. last night’s ferry steamer to pay their first official visit to Christchurch and Dunedin. On Thursday morning they will leave for Dunedin. Their Excellencies will leave Dunedin on Saturday morning for Wellington. Lord Bledisloe has accepted office as patron of the New Zealand branch •of the British Empire Cancer Campaign Society. Hon. J. G. Cobbe, Minister of Defence, .returned to Wellington yesterday from Napier.: Mr R. Linklater has returned from Blenheim, where has has been undergoing a solo flying course for a fortnight. During the absence abroad of Mr C. E. Dempsy, Deputy Official Assignee, his duties will be carried out by Air F. C. Litchfield.

Mr G. Ellwood, of Wellington, has accepted the position of conductor of the Palmerston North Orchestral Society. Practices will commence at an early date. Advice has been received by_ Mr J. Linklater, M.P., that the Minister of Public Works (Hon. E. A. Ransom) will visit Palmerston North before Easter to meet a deputation from the Manawatu-Oroua River Board. Mr A. J. Berryman left by train this morning for Wellington, where he will board the s.s. Tahiti en route for Australia. Mr Berryman will be absent from the Dominion for about three months.

A cable message from Sydney states that Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair, Governor of New South Wales, has completed his term of office. He will spend a holiday on a Queensland sheep station before returning to England.

A former well-known settler in the Northern Wairoa district, Mr Samuel Gifford, aged 98, died at his residence, Maraetai, near Auckland, recently. Mr Gifford arrived in New Zealand in 1865, and was engaged in bushfalling and contracting work in the north for many years.

Til? funeral took place at Welling-, ton on Saturday of Mr J. F. Donnelly, aged 78 years. The late Mr Donnelly arrived in New Zealand from America in 1874 and for a time settled on the West Coast. He was subsequently concerned in various enterprises in Pateh, Hawera and Palmerston North- In 1889 ho removed to -Wellington.

The death occurred at Tuahiwi (20 miles from Christchurch) on Saturday of Mr Wireta Tainui Pitama. The late Mr Pitama was a leading member of the Maori community of Canterbury. He acted as advocate in the Native Land Courts, and was leading advocate for the Maoris in the great Ngaitahu claims before the commission. He was appointed chairman of the recentlyconstituted Ngaitahu Trust Board. Mr Pitama contested the Southern Maori seat three times, but was not successful. A son of the deceased gentleman is Mr Te A. Pitama of the “Standard’s” commercial staff.