PERSONAL AND SOCIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24833, 5 February 1942, Page 7

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL

Mrs Fairclough has returned from a visit to Christchurch. Mrs D. G. McMillan has returned from a visit to Timaru. Mrs T. McKibbin, who has been.visiting Invercargill, has returned to Dunedin.

Mrs Marshall Macdonald left Dunedin yesterday forenoon on her return to Wellington. Mrs J. Lockyer Williams, who has been visiting her mother, Mrs R. Story, of Venlaw Station, Southland, has returned to Dunedin. Dr and Mrs N. D. McCreath, of Westport, are at present visiting Mrs McCreath's parents, Mr and Mrs G. W. Reid, of Highgate. ,

Mr. and Mrs T. R. Wilson, of Kakanui, have received word that their daughter, Nurse E. E. Wilson, of Auckland Hospital, has passed her final examination, and is now a fully-trained nurse.

Miss Elizabeth Shirley, of . Wollstonecraft, Sydney, has been appointed as chauffeuse. to the Governor-General of Australia, Lord , Gowrie. Miss Shirley joined the W.A;N.S. at its inauguration, and was one of the physical training instructors, and completed two special motor mechanic courses.

Mr Francis Meynell, the> poet, has been appointed by the Board of Trade to ibe Britain's No. 1 housekeeper (unpaid). He is to have an important say in deciding how much of anything people will be able to buy—from a bar of soap to a suit of clothes, from face powder to floor polish. The official title of his new post is "Adviser on Consumer Needs." Besides being a poet, Mr Meynell is a publisher and advertising expert. !■-

I Miss Alice Deck (Nelson) ', who celebrated her ninetieth birthday anniversary last week, is a member of a. family rioted for its longevity. Four of her brothers and sisters died at ages ranging from 91 to 97 years, and three more reached the late eighties. Miss Deck arrived in New Zealand by the Cornwall in 1853, and has lived in the Nelson district ever since. Among other residents of Nelson who celebrated their ninetieth anniversary during Nelson's centennial celebrations was Mrs John Mead, sen., of Motueka, who arrived in New Zealand from Scotland 87 years ago. Another resident, Mr John F. Rose, of Takaka, celebrated his ninety-first birthday recently."The business of the Commons, London, was in abeyance for half an hour recently while 'members joined in honouring, their Speaker, Captain Algernon Fitzßoy; who was celebrating his golden wedding. The Speaker's wife, his daughter, in V.A.D. uniform, arid his two sons, both naval officers, were in the public gallery.\ "We have searched the records of Parliament for generations, century: after century, until we have .reached the times of Mr Speaker Rous in 1653, before which time the occupants of the Chair held their tenure for shorter and more precarious periods," said Mr Churchill amidst laughter. "In all that long range of parliamentary history ! there has been no occasion when the Speaker of the House of Commons has celebrated his golden wedding while occupying'the Chair."