PERSONAL

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4259, 19 January 1901, Page 5

PERSONAL

The lion. J. Carroll and Air A. L. 1). Fraser. M.H.R., are visiting j.dGlaiue, and have been entertained at luncheon by the Ministry. Mr J. A. Tide, of Auckland, who occupied the position of Minister of Ju>,_ tire in tiie Stout-Vogel Administration, and who is at present Crown Prosecu-

. oi- at Auckland, is mentioned as like!, i:> be offered the, vacant Supreme Ccur J ii.ig, ship.

.Mr T, 11. Hustwick, Inspector of Ex. plosives, lias been deputed by the .Defence Department to visit .MeMwtirec ■.ill li a view of ai;t|iiiring under the Victorian (. iiief Irupcotor of Explosives (Mr C. W. tiawkerj an extended actinannhim, a kb the Explosive Acts as aduiiui lerctl in that colony, and of the rase reei m;, method-, of ascertaining the purity and .soundness of explosives, esneivially Those connected wifli the mining ind usury.

A well-known figure among the elder members of shipping circles in Wellington died last night in the person ul .Ui Thomas W. Pilcher, the doyen of Cusloiulumse agents in the colony. Born in London in 1835, Mr Pilcher was as a ye aHi engaged in shipping and piercauti’.ie oliiees connected with the Baltic trade. He arrived in Wellington by the Slain:; Castle in 1851, and after two or three years occupied in gaining coloma. experience—in the course of which in; acted us shipping reporter for the Wellington “Independent”—he commenced business in 18,56 as a, ship and customhouse agent. As owner of .two of me trading schooners which formed the only means of communication between v. cilingtcn and Marlborough and the west Coast of the North Island, ho carried on

a, large business for some years. Mr Pilcher was the pioneer of cheap excursion, traffic in the colony, frequently chartering the, istcamers available in those times, such as the Queen, Wonga Wonga and others, for trips to Picton. Port Underwood and Nelson at popular fares. The carrying. trade between the city and Wairarapa townships was also under 'bis charge before the opening of the railway. The deceased gentleman was secretary of the first philharmonic society formed in Wellington, and of the Mechanics’ Institute at, its foundation. He was also an ardent supporter of the Volunteer movement, being a member of the old Wellington Rifles, and afterwards one of the first members of what is now Hie D Battery New Zealand Artillery. of which he'became lieutenant. Mr Pilcher leaves a widow and family of six—two of his sons, Mr E. G. Pilcncr, secretary of the Groymentli Coal Company, and Mr Herbert Pilcher, of Capetown', being well known, as also are two others in insurance circles in this city.