PERSONAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1726, 29 March 1905, Page 29

PERSONAL ITEMS.

Mr W. J. Irwin, of the Napier Post Office staff, lias resigned from the service to take a position in the Palmerston district, and was presented with a farewell souvenir on Thursday.

Mr R. H. Rhodes, M.H.R, is to be opposed for the Ellesmere' seat by Mr H. L. Shaw at the general election. Mr George Armstrong, junr., of Akaroa, lias decided not to contest the seatMr James Boddie, of Elt-ham, president of the Taranaki Provincial Council of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, has announced himself as a candidate for the Patea seat in the Opposition and farming interests. Mr F. G. Carson, son of Mr Gilbert Carson, of Wanganui, was married on Wednesday at the Church of England, Bunnytliorpe, to Miss Agnes M. Richardson, niece of Mr H. Richardson, postmaster at Bunnytliorpe. Mr and Mrs H. Fielder leave Wellington on April Bth on an extended trip to the Old Country. They intend to catch the Ophir at Sydney, and. will be absent from tlie colony between twelve and eighteen months. The death occurred on Friday at Ware-pa, Clutha, of Airs Peter Ayson. The late Mrs Ayson, who was in her ninety-fourth year, was one of Otago’s oldest settlers, having emigrated from Scotland with her late husband, Air Peter Ayson, in the early fifties. The deceased was the mother of Mr L. F. Ayson, of Wellington, Chief Inspector of Fisheries.

There died at Eketahuna on Friday morning an old colonist in the person of All* Alichael J. Britt, aged seventyeight years. Mr Britt, - who was a native of Tipperary, Ireland, landed on the West Coast in the early sixties, and engaged ill mining pursuits. Later he removed to Wellington, and as a contractor formed many of the principal thoroughfares in the city. Thirteen years ago he went to Eketahuna, and. undertook the formation of numerous roads and bridges. The following is the list of deceased persons’ estates (of £IOOO and over) that have been duly certified by tlie Secretary for Stamps during the past month: —Auckland —William J. Cook, £1172; William Gabb, £3043: George Buchanan, £5263; John McKay, £252-3; Amy Barker, £1322. Canterbury—William Eckerley, £1863; David McAlillan, £20,183; Elizabeth. White, £1377: Charlotte Jane Simpkinson, £5355; James Collins, £1733; George Gardiner, £1000; James Hunter, £1075; Charles Tomson, £1617; John Ferguson, £8160; William Derisley Wood, £87,185. Otago— James Liggins, £IOO7 ; William Tanner, £1046; William xi. Alackenzie, £2002; Edgar Hall Carew, £15,205; John Hodges, £1603; James Maxwell, £1776; Henry Fairbank, £1136; Andrew Hilh £1206; Dennis Heenan, £16,143; Robert Dalglish, £2235; Isabella AlcKenzie, £2033; Helen Watson, £1422. Wellington—David S. Gray, £2206; Thomas Walker, £0160; Allan T. Campbell, £1567; John Ournin, £4956; Isaac Cripps, £1397: Rachael Barrow, £2446; Annie Elizabeth Anderson, £ll46;.John Studliolme, £19,780; Charles Gaskin, £2425; George Gibb Fyfe, £4164; Ernest S. Thynne, £2022; Charles Beard Izard, £40,343; Charles John Harrison, £3600; Frances Bethune, £10,548; James Donaldson, £1770; John Fitzpatrick, £llO9. Nelson—Edward Everett, £6034; Catherine Annie Virtue, £1066. Southland —James Craig, £1513: George Playfair, £3255; Henry Windle, £3570; Daniel Strang, £1541; John Beswetherick, £3279. Gisborne —Robert Moate, £4429.

Alany people will learn with regret of the death of Air William Harvey, senr., the patriarchal pioneer of Pelorus Sound, who passed- away in this city at the advanced age of ninety-one years. It is believed that he was the first settler in the Sounds district, and he was not infrequently referred to as ‘‘the pioneer of the Pelorus.” Many years ago ha acquired, under lease-in-perpetuity tenure, a large holding from the Government, and subsequently added to this by securing a freehold area. He was vary well known throughout Marlborough, where many branches of the family reside?, and there are not a few residents of Wellington who have partaken of his generous hospitality when on pleasure bent in the Sounds. It was the custom of Air and Airs Harvey to occasionally visit Sydney, where they had friends, and it was while returning from such a trip on the Wimmera last week, when heavy weather was encountered, that the old couple were badly prostrated by sea-sickness. So ill were the old people on arrival in Wellington on the 15th inst. that they had to b<s attended to by the Health Officer (Dr Pollen). Air Harvey, already enfeebled with age, never recovered. Airs Harvey, who was some ten years her husbands junior, was in a very low state when she left for Picton with the body of her husband on Tuesday. Air Harvey leaves a family of four sons and five daughters, one of the latter being the wife of Air John Alills, of Pelorus Sound, brother to the Minister of Trade and "Customs. The deceased is to be buried on liis own estate in Pelorus Sound to-morrow.