PERSONAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3861, 13 March 1928, Page 66

PERSONAL.

Ministerial. Mr W. Downie Stewart, Minister of Finance, accompanied by his sister, has .returned to Wellington. He expects to re-visit Dunedin in May. Mr J. G. Coates (Prime Minister) and Mrs Coates arrived from Invercargill on Saturday morning by the through express. During the afternoon and evening the Prime Minister was engaged with departmental business and the reception of deputations. Mr and Mrs Coates proceeded north yesterday. Mr K. S. Williams (Minister of Public Works) and Mrs Williams and Mr A. D. ’ '’Lend (Minister of Lands) and Mrs M'Leod arrived in Dunedin on Sunday i evening by motor car from tire south.

They left by the first express for the north yesterday morning. At the Central Fire Station on Friday evening Senior Foreman R. H. Price, officer in charge of the South Dunedin section of the city’s fire department, was presented with the United Fire Brigades' Association’s gold star for 25 years’ continuous service. Before pinning the decoration on Foreman Price s tunic. Superintendent A. G Napier said it was not often they had • the honour of handing over such a wellmerited decoration. 1-he star was contributed by the whole of the fire-fighting forces of New Zealand, and that fact alone gave added value to the decoration A London cablegram states that the Prince of Wales will be the chief guest of the New Zealand dinner on May 21... Miss M. I. Turnbull, lecturer in classics at the Otago University, who recently cou eluded a tour of the East, including Greece, has returned to Dunedin. Mr G. Il Godfrey Skellington, a director of B. K. Morton and Co., -Sheffield, and Mr Keith 0. Thomson l a director of the B. K. Morton Proprietary, Ltd., Melbourne, left Dunedin on Tuesday for Wellington. ' - x .. Recent callers at the High Commissioner’s Office, London, include Mrs'Jarnos Wren and Miss Cecilia Wren, Mrs D H. Jennings, Misses I. and O. Burton. Mrs F. Throp and Miss Adeline Throp (Dunedin), and Dr R. R. Macintosh (Timaru). At the meeting of the General. Committee of the Patients and Prisoners’ Aid Society' on Tuesday afternoon, the Chairman (Mr E. A. Rosevear) referred to the recent deaths of Mr R. W. Glendhining. Mr Charles Speight, and Mr Mark Cohen, M.L C. The speaker said that each of the deceased had ' assisted the society. Mr Glendinning had been one of their collectors, and while he had been proceeding on one of his calls he had been taken ill. Motions of sympathy were passed with the relatives of the deceased, those present standing. Mr J, M'Kenzie. recently in the employ of the Sailor Gully Sluicing Company, Waitahuna Gully, has received a three years’ engagement with the East Asiatic Company in West Siam. Miss Nicholson (postmistress of the Ettrick Post Office).- on the eve of her departure for Dunedin to enter the Presbyterian Institute for a course of training in missionary work, was entertained in the schoolhouse bv a large gathering of the residents of Moa Flat and Ettrick. Mr A. E. Wilson (Inspector of Government tourist- resorts) has just completed a visit to Doubtful Sound and the Howden Track. He returned north on Wednesday. Mr H. G. Wiley, manager of the Christchurch branch of the Royal Insurance Company, will be leaving in April to assume the managership of the branch in Brisbane.

Mr and Mrs F. G. Glover, “ Strathaven,” Middlemarch. returned on Wednesday from an extended tour of Mount Cook and the Southern Lakes. Mr Roy Gardner. M.Sc., of Dunedin, has received advice that he has been elected a Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland. Mr Gardner was successful in the institute’s examination in the chemistry and microscopy of food and drugs, held in Dunedin last November, this being the first Hine this examination has been held in New Zealand. The resignation of Mr B. H. Low, who for the past eight years and a half has been headmaster of the Timaru Main School, has been icceived by the committee. Mr Low is retiring on superannuation, and will sever his connection with the school on June 1. . ■ . An enjoyable evenin'? was spent in the Waikouaiti Hall where a large number of residents met to do honour to Mr Toomey, who has been transferred from the Waikouaiti Post Office to the Balclutha Office During the evening Mr R. Templeton presented Mr Toomey with a gold wristlet watch. Mr J. A. Thompson and Mr C. M'Callum also spoke in hign praise of their guest’s good qualities and wished him all success in his new sphere of labour. Mr P Toomey, on behalf of his sen, suitably replied. Mr J. M. Coupland, warehouseman tor the Vacuum Oil Company at Timaru. has been promoted to the Dunedin office of the company. Prior to his departure Mr Coup land was met by members of the staff, and as a token of appreciation was presented with a leather suit,case A presentation was also made to Mr Coupland by the • m mittee of the Zimrari Football Club, of which he was president, while the genera carriers of Timaru also expressed their ap preciation of his friendship by the nresen tat,ion of a travelling rug. A further tribute to the services of Mr Counland tn the interests of his distr : ct took the form of a farewell social tendered by residents of the South End who. in the course of the evening presented him with an envrayei cigarette case, and Mrs Coupland with a set of xylonite ware. To fill the vacancy in the Arbitration Court caused by the retirement of Mr W. Scott, the employers representative, the Ironmaster s’ Association of New Zealand. which held its annual conference in Auckland last week, decided to nominate Mr Georrre T. Booth, of Christchurch Registered unions of employers are invited to make nominations when such vacancies occur, and if more than one nomination is received an election is held Mr Booth is well known in Dominion industrial circles. Ho has been

of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation the Canterbury Emnloyers’ Association' and the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce He recently retired from the •nosition of managing director of Messrs Booth. Macdonald, and Co., Ltd. Reference to the death of Mr Mark Cohen was made at the meeting of the r;tv Council last week The Mayor (Mr W. B Taverner) said tlrnt it was his nainful duty to call councillors’ attention to the loss the oitv had suffered in Mr Cohen’s death. Mr Cohen had a record of service of which any citizen might be nrond. He had served at the council table for 10 years, and his work on behalf of the city did not end there. He was a good soul and a gentleman. _ The following minute was carried, councillors standing in silence: —“ That this council desires to record its <l»on with the family of the late Mr Mark Cohen in the loss it has suffered by the death of that bighlv-esteemed and much-respected citizen of Dunedin. The long and varied nublie career of the. late Mr Cohen included service as a member of' this council. and we mourn the loss of a keen and enthusiastic supporter of many of our

institutions and one ever zealous for the progress and well-being of the city for which he laboured so assiduously.” Sir William Sim left Dunedin bv thsecond express on Saturday for the purpose of taking part in a sitting oj . Appeal Court in Wellington to-day. Mr Justice Maxwell Fleming, ex fudge of the Sudan Court, who has recently com pleted a tour through New Zealand, left for the north on Thursday morning. A London cablegram states that Major Nugent, who was on the Duke of York’s staff during his visit to Australia and New Zealand has been gazetted as the Duke’s extra equerry. Dr S. Geerin, who for the past two years has been assistant superintendent at the Dunedin Hospital, left for the north by the through express on Thursday. ■Dr Geerin intends visiting the Homeland. I and will leave New Zealand at an early date. Rotarian P. R. Sargood. who recently returned from a visit to the Old Country, was welcomed home by Professor G. E. Thompson (vice-president) at tire Rotary Club’s luncheon on Thursday. In acknowledging the greeting Rotarian Sargood said that being away and amongst strangers so much was somewhat taxing, and it was very pleasing to him to be back home and to receive such a welcome. After having completed an official tour of the Dominion with two Native teachers visiting primary, secondary, agricultural and technical schools and training colleges. Mr D. A J. Rutherford (Director of Education. Western Samoa), accompanied by Mrs Rutherford, arrived from the north by the second express on Thursday. It is their intention to spend the remainder of their furlough in their native city, and amongst their friends in Otago and Southland. At the Rotary Club’s luncheon on Thursday Professor G. E. Thompson (vicepresident) referred to the loss which the club had sustained as a result of the death of Rotarian H. S. Hammond He stated that .Mr Hammond had been an excellent Rotarian, both in word and in deed, and had endeared’ himself very much to every member of the club. As a mark of respect to the memory of Mr Hammond the members stood in silence for a few moments.