PERSONAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10415, 13 April 1897, Page 6

PERSONAL ITEMS.

lis. J. C. Firth left for Napier last night by the Rotomahana. The many friends of Dr. W. G. Scott, of Onehunga, will be .pleased to hear that he is recovering from his illness. Among the passengers by the s.s. Roto mahana, from Sydney, was Mr. Walter Wright, the well-known artist, who returns from England after an absence of two to three years. Mr. James Mills, Managing Director of (he Union Steamship Company, who has been on a business trip to Australia, arrived from Melbourne at the Bluff yesterday by the Talune. A Southern exchange states that Capt, Abram, of the Poherua, is to have command of the new steamer Hawea, and that Capt. Smith, late of tho Rosamond, will be promoted to the Poherua. Mr. Darling is to act as chief officer of the Hawea. ' The Hon. Thomas Thompson, Minister of Justice, arrived from Wellington by the Takapuna yesterday. Sir G. M. O'Rorke, the Hons. W. McCullough, R. Scotland, W. Swaoßon, and Capt. Morris, M.L.C.s, and Messrs. H. Thompson, J. McGowan, and Kaihau, M.H.R.s, also arrived by the same steamer.

A pretty wedding took place at St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington, last Tuesday, Mr. Alfred Parish being married to Miss JesEie Gray, daughter of the late Mr. Gray, who was Postmaster at Foxton. The Rev. T. H. Sprott officiated, and Mr. George Gray, of Foxton, gave away the bride, Mr. T. Ward acting as best man. The bride was dressed in white silk, with trimmings of lace, and wore the customary wreath and orange blossoms, also carrying a lovely 'shower bouquet. The bridesmaids were Miss Kathleen Gray and Miss Clara Feek, sister and cousin of the bride, in pink aicilienne with chiffon trimmings and veils to match, and they carried baskets of flowers. The bridegroom's gift to the bride was a handsome crescent brooch set with pearls, and to each bridesmaid he gave a gold brooch with the bride and bridegroom's initials.

Our Port Albert correspondent writes :— Great interest over a wide area was taken in a wedding that took place on April 7 in the Wesleyan Church. Our esteemed veteran minister, the Rev. W. Worker, of Wellsford, who of late years has seldom been seen on public occasions, performed the ceremony. The bride was Miss Harfiette Merton Judd, third daughter of the late Mr, C. Judd, of Port Albert, and formerly of Coventry, England. The groom Was Mr. John Naylor, farmer, Pukekohe. The bride looked charming in a cream costume, with veil and orange blossoms. The four bridesmaids, neices of the bride, Misses Lily, Daisy, Lena, and Bessie Gubb, looked very attractive, the two eldest in pink, and the younger in pale green nun's veiling dresses. The best man was Mr. Sydney Gubb. Some of the friends had tastefully decorated the interior of the church, which was well filled by settlers from far and near. The guests at the wedding breakfast, at the residence of the bride's mother, were wholly old shipmates and intimate friends of the family. Early in the afternoon the bride and bridegroom drove off amidst showers of rice and with heartiest good wishes en route for their new home.

Mr. W. T. Dodds, who has for a considerable number of years filled the position of inspector of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Limited, has left Wellington tor England via Australia. Mr. Dodds' connection with the company extends over a period of more than 20 years, and the high esteem in which he is held by the staff was manifested when be was the recipient of an address signed by the branch managers throughout New Zealand. Accompanying this document was a draft (subscribed by all the members of the New Zealand staff) with which Mr. Dodds was requested to purchase in London a memento suitable to the occasion and to his own taste. The presentation was made by Mr. Malcolm Macphereon, general manager for New Zealand, who expressed the pleasure be had in being the medium of such a hearty and unanimous tribute of goodwill; bub referred with regret to the loss to the company here of the valuable services of Mr. Dodds. The latter suitably acknowledged the present and the kindly feeling which prompted it. He heartily reciprocated the good wishes of his fellow officers, and was much gratified that he could carry away with him such pleasant recollections of the colony and of the gentlemen with whom he had been so long and intimately associated. p