PERSONAL ITEMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24274, 15 May 1942, Page 6

PERSONAL ITEMS

Commander G. B. Dennistoun, D.5.0., left for the south last night. Mr H. W. Wilson, of Waimai, has been re-elected chairman of the Raglan County Council. Dr. C. E. Beeby, Director of Education, arrived from .Wellington yesterday and is at-the Station Hotel. Mr Hiram A. Boucher has been appointed Consul for the United States at Auckland, according to a notice m the Gazette. Mr W. Marshall, chairman of directors of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited, ha* returned from Sydney. j Mr. W. Goodfellow, managing, director of Amalgamated Dairies, Limited, who has been on a business trip to Australia, has returned to the Dominion. ' Mr. H. M. Alder, president of the New Zealand Retail Motor Trades' Association, and Mr. F. B. Cadman, a member of the committee, left for Wellington last night. Mr. Pater Dawson, the well-known baritoiie, has arrived in New Zealand to give a short series of concerts in aid of patriotic funds. He travelled to Wellington last night. WOMEN CRANE-DRIVERS dock work in blackout LONDON, May 6 Dockers working 24-hour shifts and women crane-drivers assisting them are described by Mr. Jack McLaren, wellknown author of "My Crowded Solitude," following a visit to a north-west British port. I watched dockers stowing ship (he writes) so as to make a level surface whereon they finally ran tanks, Bren gun-carriers and other military vehicles. To get such difficult cargo stowed in time to prevent the ship holding up her convoy, the dockers were working 24-hour shifts. They have moved as much as 2000 tons in 24 hours. They have learned to work efficientlv in the blackout, and it seemed that it was as much by instinct as by anything els© "that in the darkness cargoes were handled at all. Women play a part in the dock work, notably as mobile crane drivers. Cranes often work in couples, one to each end oi the load. These women handle such dangerous things as torpedo-heads. Some have children that they must wash ana feed before starting work. I spoke with a crane-driver, William Buist, who worked all night through a blizzard loading a ship. Besides the ordinary blackout difficulties, the storm prevented his hearing the whistle or voice of the man who ordered descents of the slings. The temperature was away below freezing-point and one man had a hand frozen to a sling. But William Buist and his mates accomplished what they set out to do: they got the ship away on time. MAORI FARMING t LORD BLED I SLOE'S TROPHY, (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Thnrsday The Ahuwhenua Trust Board has awarded to Mr. Tame Pukunui, of Te Kuiti, first place in the annual com- ! petition among Maori farmers for the ! Ahuwhenua trophy, a silver cup don- | ated in 1933 by Lord Bledisloe. Mr. Pukunui is a member of the Maniapoto tribe and is farming an area of 186 acres. The property, which when taken up was covered with fern, ragwort, blackberry and gorse, is now all in good pasture. The judge, Mr. E. B. Glanville, instructor of agriculture at Auckland, stated that the winner has an exceptionally well-kept farm and from the increase shown in his returns over a period of years proof was igiven of efficient .management.' H. and T. Paraone, of Clevedon, were awarded second place; Tihema Kingi, of Horohoro, third, and Charles Wells, of Whakatane, fourth. FALL OF CORREGIDOR MESSAGE ACKNOWLEDGED (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Thnrsday The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, has received the following message from the New Zealand Minister in Washington, the Hon. W. Nash:— "Mr. Roosevelt, in reply to your message of May 7, says: /Will you please inform the Prime Minister how deeply grateful I am for his thoughtful message on the occasion of the fall of Corregidor communicated to „me on May 7. I am happy to know that the Government, Parliament and people of New Zealand share to the full our own feeling of profound admiration for the heroic defenders of Batan and Corregidor, and our boundless gratitude to them. I pray that the peoples of all the United Nations may gather strength and inspiration from their,example and that we may carry on their gallant fight to final victory.' "

ARMY APPOINTMENTS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Thursday

The promotion is gazetted of Major W. P. P. Gordon, of the New Zealand Medical Corps, who has been appointed officer commanding troops of a New Zealand hospital ship, and has been given the temporary rank of lieut-enant-colonel. He succeeds Colonel D. N. W. Murray, who is on sick leave. Colonel Gordon had two years' service overseas in the last war, and has since been in practice at Stratford. He joined the Armed Forces in 1940 and has been on medical duties in the CentraL Military District. Miss E. M. Lewis, of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service, until recently the matron of a New Zealand hospital ship, has been appointed matron of a military camp hospital in the Central-Military District. 90 YEARS OLD (0.C.) HAMILTON, Thursday An old resident of the Waikato, Mr. Daniel Casey, of Waihou. celebrated his 9(>th birthday to-day. Mr. Casey was born in County Cork, Ireland, and came to New Zealand in 1875. He settled in the Waikato, and was married in 1881. For the last 50 years he has been farming at "Waihou. Mrs. Casey died nine years ago. PUKEKOHE SOLDIERS' CLUB (0.C.) PUKEKOHE, Thursday A spacious, comfortable club for soldiers has been opened at Pukekohe as the outcome of a special effort by the Pukekohe branch of the Returned Services' Association and citizens. Messrs. J. and D. Roulston, of Pukekohe, made the rooms available, and a committee of the Returned Services' Association carried out the work of furnishing. Donations of items required assisted. There are rooms for writing, cards and ping-pong, a lounge with piano, kitchen server, cloakroom, lady assistants' room, a telephone and a wireless set. ARMY CHAPLAINS No more ministers from the Waikato diocese should be. allowed to go into the army as chaplains, said the bishop, the Rt. Rev. C. A. Cherrington, at a meeting of the Taranaki Archdeaconry Board. He pointed out that the parishes were large and the men could not be replaced. The bishop's remarks followed his announcement that two more clergymen were eager to join the forces. "Our diocese has done very well in supplying arms chaplains," he added,