PERSONAL ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2860, 6 January 1909, Page 21

PERSONAL ITEMS.

Mr Burbury has resigned from the position of manager of the Oamaru branch of the New Zealand Loan and Mercanfile Agency Co., and Mr F. Veni:all. who was for many years in the company's Dunedin office, has been appointed to tho position. Edward Devine, the iamous coach-driver, better known as " Cabbage-tree Ned," died recently at Ballarat, Victoria, bavins been an inmate of the Benevolent Asylum there for four years. In the early days, when communication was maintained by coach, the diiver was a very important uerspt , being the recognised source of information on wayside topics, and tho medium of innumerable commissions between point and ' point. Besides beiricf a whip of more than '• average skill, Ned was a famous raconteur, j and many of his stories have found their way into print. Many distinguished travellers have shared the box with him, and became the medium as well as the sublets j of many excellent stories j The Selwyn County Council has (says the i PreS3 Association) appointed Mr i\ T. Kissoil to the position of county engineer. Mr Kiseoli, who at pre&pnt is engineer for the South "Wairarapa County Council, takes up his new duties at the end of January. A very pleasing function took place in the new ehed at the Mosgiel Woollen Mills on Thursday, Dec. 24- (says the Taieri Advocate) in the form of a presentation of a gold watoh, a silver-mounted wal king-stick, an>d a pair of gold sleeve-links to the retiring manager (Mr John Dryden), who has done service for the company for 35 years. It was shortly after the company was formed that he became connected with the Mosgiel Woollen Mills. At that time the buildings were all wooden structures, and thero were then only 10 looms, and now they had 52. The hosiery department had increased to an even greater extent. Tho number of workers then was 35, and now 276 were employed. Speaking of the workers. Mr Dryden eaid he has found them as good, if not better, than those in the Old Country. There was never .any insubordination or impertinence- from them, and he had very much pleasure in speaking of them in the very highest terme. A cable message from Fremantle stages that the Ormuz has sailed for Sydney, among her passengers being Bishop Verdcn. Mr John Wright, an elder of the Roslyn Presbyterian Church, died suddenly at his lesidenoe in Alpha street, Roslyn, at 5 p.m. on New Year's Day. Mr Wright was 65 years oi age. He was a brother of the Rev. W. Wright, and leaves a widow, two sons, and 1 a- daughter. The R«v. T. Johnfeton, vicar of Motueka, •died somewhat suddenly on Friday, Ist inst., after a paralytic seizure. He had (say 3 the Press' Association) been in fail- ] ing health , for some time. Mr John&ton was ordained by the Bishop of Droned in- in •! 1884, and was curate successively at Ravens- ' liourne, Portobello, and -Brunraerton. He ' was nominated to Motueka in IB9+. | Mr P. Goyen, Chief Inspector of Schools i for Otago was a passenger fey the Warrimoo on the 3rd for Tasmania, where he will act as expert adviser to the Royal Commission i | set up in that State to report on the educa- i tional system. Another of the early pioneers of Otago passed away on Sunday afternoon at her residence in Invercargill, in- the person of ! Mrs Georgma Millar. She was a paesen- ] ger in the Mooltan in 1849, and was 69 years of age. At the break-up of the Waianakaruai School, on the 23rd ult., the teacher (Miss ' L. E. Spraggon), who is leaving the die- i tricfc to take up her residence in Welling- j ton, was presented by the children with a j set of manicure appliances and a hatpin j stand. At a social in the evening, which i was largely attended, Miss Spraggon was made the recipient of a handsome gold bangle. Miss Spraggon will be greatly missed in the district, as her teaching qualities were of a very high order, and ' she has made herself very popular during ' hor four years of teaching. i News was* received on Christmas Eve of the death, on November 15, at Berkeley, I California, of Mrs Elizabeth Small, widow of the late Captain Wm. Small, R.N.R., I and mother of Rev. J. C. Small, vicar of St. "John's, Milton. The deceased lady was a daughter of tho late W. Jonas Woodward, of Wellington, formerly Secretary to the Treasury, and first Public Trustee. She was ! born in London in 1836, and arrived in this j Dominion early in 1842, returning Home j shortly after her marriage in 1858. A few years after the death of Captain Small, in 1889, Mrs Small joined her married , daughter in California, where she con- J tinued to reside up to the time of hor . death. She fs survived by seven out of eight children. Mr Jcs<»ph M'Farlane (late general secretary of th« Dunedin Young Men's Obrw;tian Association) has arrived in Americ-;-

T Since leaving Dunedin Mr M'Farlane feaa I toured extensively, including India, China. I Japan, 'the Holy Land, and the United Kingdom. Mir M'Farlane reached New York early in November, and four diaye later was appointed for am indefinite period to an important secretarial position in the Central Branch of the Brooklyn, New York, Ycujng Man's Christian A-asociation. This "institution is one of the best known, largest, and most popular in the United States. -^•"The deai-h is announced of another of Southland's earliest residents, thait Si Mr j John Melvin. For several years he waa { in partnership with Mr W. S. Watereton in . the sawmilling business and. later, was • carrying on a similar business with his sons. I Mr Melvin died upon the anniversary of his bii'th.