PERSONAL ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3400, 14 May 1919, Page 51

PERSONAL ITEMS.

Liejutenant-coionel Freyhurg, V.C., triple D. 5.0., of Wellington, lias decided to adopt the service as a profession. He is now a captain in the Grenadier Guards, with the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel and temporary rank of brigadier-general. Our own correspondent at Wanganui states that at a meeting of the Wanganui Presbytery the question of a vacancy in the Taihapo Church was considered, and an unanimous call was presented from the church to the Rev. J. O. Loan, of Owaka. It was decided to sustain the call and forward it to the Presbytery at Clutha. Mr Robert Watson Sinclair, who died at Henley on the 4th inst., was a well-known settler in the Taieri for over 30 years. Deceased followed various kinds of employment in the district. At one time he was choirmaster of the Otokia and Waihola Presbyterian Churches, during the ministry of the late Rev. G. Hall. Over 20 years ago he removed to the North Island and travelled for the firm of L. Nathan and Co. A few months ago he returned to the South Taieri in a very poor state of health. Mr Frederick Mansfield Coxhead, Customhouse agent, passed away at his residence, Duncan street, at 3 a.m. on the 6th inst. Born in Surrey, deceased was brought to Dunedin when 11 years of age, the family coming out by the ship Palmyra in 1858. The father Mr Frederick Coxhead, set up in business as a Customhouse agent. The deceased, as a lad, got a knowledge of commercial affairs in the service of R. Wilson and Co. and Ross and Glendining, and after his father's death he carried on the business, in which ho is now succeeded by one of his sons, who has managed during the deceased's illness. There are four sons —two by the first Mrs Coxhead and two by his widow, who was a daughter of Mr Torrance, of Kaikorai. Mr Coxhead will be remembered by some as being in the B Battery, and before that in the first military band that was established hi Dunedin. Deceased took a keen interest in all that concerned the welfare of Otago. A Press Association cable message from London states that it is officially denied that Princess Mary is engaged. A Press Association cable message from Melbourne states that Captain Bean, Official War Correspondent, has returned. Miss Jean Stevenson, the new national industrial secretary for the Y.W.C.A., Sydney, is a native of New Zealand. Slhe has been in America for two years investigating the work of the association.

A Press Association message from Christchurch reports the death of Mr William Broadway, well known in business circles, and a member of Broadway Bros.' confectionery firm. He died suddenly on the 7th inst. He had been in indifferent health for seme months.

Miss G. M. Flannery (formerly of Otago), who has been acting in tho capacity of relieving teacher tinder the Wellington Education Board for the past 12 months, has

been appointed to the position of assistant on the staff of the Carterton District High School.'

To go right through tho great campaigning from Gallipoli to the closing of the war without a day in hospital and then on arrival (per the Bhamo) in New Zealand to be quarantined in Auckland with mumps, was the ironical experience of Captain A. Owen Wilkinson (son of Mr J. A. Wilkinson, Queen street), who arrived in Dunedin on the Bth. An old B Battery boy, Gunner Wilkinson left with the Fourth Reinforcements, and earned promotion on service until he attained his present rank. He was on Gallipoli from the end of May, 1915, until the evacuation, after which he served in France continuously with the excention of a month or two in England to sit for his commission. Sapper Leonard Coughlan. of the Ninth Reinforcements N.Z.8., and a son of Sergeant Coughlan, of the Musketry St" Trentham, is included in the Kia Ora s draft. Sapper Coughlan was employed in tho City Council office. He was connected with football, cricket, and harrier clubs, and was a member of St. Patrick s Choir (South Dunedin). Sapper Coughlan is in good health, and ho has been fortunate in escaping without a wound, although he spent such .a long time in France. On Wednesday evening, April 30, at tne Public Hall, Waitati, there was a gathering of tho friends and relatives of Mr and Mrs Thos. O'Connell, who celebrated their golden wedding and who, during their half century of married life spent in Waitati have won the esteem and respect of nil with whom they came in contact. The hall was crowded. A musical programme was much appreciated. Several felicitous speeches were made. A presentation of a gold albert and an inscribed medal to Mr M'Connell, and a handsome gold brooch to Mrs M'Connell, as tokens of the regard and trood wishes of their numerous friends, followed. Mr M'Connell returned thanks. A dance followed. Mr H. A. Young, S.M., who has presided over many sittings of the court in Dunedin and in various part of Otago and Southland, left on the Bth to take charge of the Hamilton district. Tho Rev. S. Morris, of the North-East Valley Baptist Church, left by the express on the Bth inst. for the north. He , will leave Wellington by the Tainui about May 14 for England. He expects to return to New Zealand about ihe end of this year. ; A Press Association message from Christ church announces the death, at the age of 91, of Mr T. Griffiths, who arrived in Canterbury in 1858. Ha was well known in connection -with agriculture. News has been received in Napier of the death of the Rev. Rollo R. St. John Hovell, priest in charge of the English Church at Hartley, Rhodesia, South Africa The deceased, who was the youngest son of the late Dean of Waiapu, lost his life m an attempt to save several boys who were bathing in the Umpoli River. A Press ; Association cable message from London reports the death of Mr A. W. Cox, of North Wales, at the age of 62. Mr Cox, Who was one of the original syndicate of the Broken Hill Proprietary Mines, was a well-known racehorse owner, who had to his credit the winning of the One Thousand Guineas, the English Derby, the Ascot Gold Cup (twice), the Chester Cup, and the Oaks. Mr Cox was also an art collector. Tho British Medical Journel, referring to the late Colonel C. M. Begg, C. 8., C.M.G., D.M.S., says: He was "a man of sterling qualities and of great administrative and professional ability, his dealth will be a serious loss to the medical services of New Zealand." Our London correspondent informs us that. Major W. A. Chappie, R.A.M.C., is about to visit New Zealand on a business trip. Major Chappie, who represented Tuapeka in the House of Representatives for a short period, was for some time Liberal member in the House of Commons for Stirlingshire, but was defeated at the general election last December. He was chairman of the London Committee which managed the prohibition campaign for the National Efficiency League of New Zealand. During the call-over on the local Stock Exchange yesterday the chairman made reference to the death of the late Mr W. Adams, and it was decided to send a letter of sympathy to the relatives. Private Henry Marsh, who has arrived home in company with his English bride, was the guest at a welcome homo held in the Church of Christ at Kaitangata, on Thursday night. Both Mr and Mrs Marsh were given a warm welcome, and received the heartv congratulations of all present. At a social function held in the Wvre Street. Church at Kaitangata on Thursday night the Mayor (Mr T. Gage), on behalf of the citizens, presented the retiring Mayor, Mr T. Cairns, with a Morris chair. The members of the Church of Christ also presented Mr Cairns with a travelling rug and umbrella. The recipient, who is about to remove to Dunedin. returned thanks. The Auckland Herald states that the death occurred at Mount Eden on the 6th of Mrs P. Lindsay, who had been a resident of Auckland for over 30 years. Mrs Lindsay, as a girl of seven years, arrived at Dunedin from Scotland with her parents, Mr and Mrs John Hill, in the ship Blundell in September, 1848. With her parents she experienced the various difficulties and hardships of life during the first few years of the southern province. She was married in Dunedin to Mr Peter Lindsay, who, as. a boy, arrived at Dunedin by_ the ship Mariner, in 1849. Being left a widow early, Mrs Lindsay returned to Edinburgh, where she resided until 1887, when she went to Auckland, and took up her residence there. Despite the increasing infirmities of age. she was in the enjoyment of practically all her faculties until her death, which occurred at the age of 78 years. Mrs Lindsay leaves two sons —Dr.P. A. Lindsay, of Auckland, and Mr J. 11. Lindsay, formerly of the Government Survey Staff, and at present m a member of the staff of the Featherston internment camp.

According to a Press Association message from Napier, the statement made in a Wellington paper (nnd subsequently published in tho Otago DanV Times) that Bishop Nevill had stated his intention to resign the Primacy is officially denied. The bishop has never made such" a statement. _ Another of Auckland's old identities (Mrs Catherine O'Neill) passcdaway on the sth inst. Deceased had attained the rip© old age of 100 and up till about three months ago was extraordinarily active. She retained her faculties almost to her death. The deceased lady was bom in Limerick, Ireland, in 1819, and in 1844- she and her husband, who predeceased her by some yoars, migrated to South Africa.. Subs - quently she resided in Australia for some

time, but in. the seventies she settled in Auckland.

On Friday evening at Port Chalmers, Lieutenant Hunt, Area Officer, Group No. 23. who has been transferred to Oamaru as Area Officer, was presented by the n.c.o.'s of the area with a handsome gentleman's companion, Sergeant-major Smith making the presentation. The.ro was a large muster of cadets, and much enthusiasm was displayed.

A Press Association cablo message from London reports the death of Mr W. H. Marston, secretary of the Empire Press Union. --

The Primate (Bishop Nevill), who has been attending the sittings of tno Anglican General Synod at Napier, and who had to leave before the business was completed, returned to Dunedin on Saturday night. A number of the local clergy met him at the railway station. A Pres 3 Association message from Wellington states that Dr W. W. Ross, who practised at Petone for many years, died at Wellington on the 12th. Deceased was 49 years of ago and unmarried. A Press Association cablo message from London states that the late Lord Gleritanar (a director of the well-known firm of J. and P. Coats) left £4,324,000. A Press Association message from Wellington records the death at the age of 74 years of Mr Hugh 0. Thomson, journalist, who was well known to the older pressmen of the dominion. He arrived in New Zealand over 50 years ago. During the cours© of his journalistic career he was associated with many newspapers, occupying the editorial chair of the Independent, New Zealand Times, and Chronicle in Wellington; the Christchurch Telegraph; and the Poverty Bay Herald. Deceased was a cousin of the late Lord Kelvin.

A Press Association cable message announces the death of Sir William Williams, Director-general of the Commonwealth. Medical Services The deceased officer, who was born and educated in Sydney, waa P.M.O. of the Soudan Contingent, and of the Australian and New Zealand forces in South Africa (for which he was decorated), and also served in the European war from the outbreak to 1916, in which year -h& was created a K.C.M.G.,

Tlie Rev. Samuel Knight, best known in Christchurch as the father of the Rev. Percy Knight, of the Durham Street Methodist Church, died on Saturday. He arrived in the dominion only two years ago, but had a long and distinguished career in Australia. Dtvring his long ministry he raised, by his own efforts or gifts, the large sum of £30,000 for church purposes, and no needy cause was ever refused help. In 1877 he was elected president of the South Australian Conference. On the death of his vrife in 1917 he came to Christchurch, to reside with his son, the Rev. Percy Knight, and passed away in his sleep on Saturday evening. On Wednesday night there passed away at his late residence, Timaru, Mr Louis Neville. Mr Neville, who was the younger son of the late Mr Ralph Neville-Grenville, of Butleigh Court, Glastonbury, England, was born in England in 1852. In 1877 Mr Neville arrived in Otago, where he remained for some time. During his residence in Otago he took a prominent part in rowing and football, and was a member of the Rugby team which toured New Zealand. Later on Mr Neville went to Lytteltori, where he was engineer to the Lyttelton Harbour Board during the time of the construction of the Lyttelton dock. Some time afterwards, Mr Neville returned to England, and was engaged as one of the engineers on the construction of the Forth bridge, and later on took up the position of permanent engineer on the Oxford canal. 111-health him .to relinquish his profession as a civil engineer, and at the end,of 1916 Mr Neville, for health reasons, returned to New Zealand, coming to Timaru. Mr Neville took a keen and active interest in art, and his paintings have been favourably and widely known throughout Canterbury for the past 40 years. In 1879 Mr Neville married Miss Rouse, daughter of the late Dr Rouse, of Lyttelton.'by whom he is survived, and who is in England, and by a son and daughter, both of whom saw service at the front.