PERSONAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3954, 24 December 1929, Page 28

PERSONAL.

Vice-Regal. Sir Charles Fergusson and Lady Alice Jergusosn entertained a number of Dun>din citizens at morning tea at the Carlkin Hotel on Tuesday. Amongst those present were the Mayor (Mr R. S. Black) and Mrs Black, Bishop Richards, Sir Charles and Lady Statham, Sir Lindo Ferguson and Lady Ferguson, Sir John Roberts, Sir James Allen, Mr D. E. Theomin, Mr and Mrs Sutherland Ross, Mr G. R. Ritchie, the Deputy Mayor (Mr J. J. Clark), Mr H. L. Tapley, Mr J. S. Sinclair and Mrs Sinclair, Mr P. R. Sargood, Dr and Mrs Merrington, Miss Helen Williams, and Dr and Mrs Falconer. Sir Charles and Lady Alice Fergusson went north by the mid-day express. The Mayor (Mr R. S. Black) and a l umber of representative citizens were on the station to see the distinguished visit* rs off, three cheers being heartily given as the train moved out. The Governor-General and Lady Alice Fergusson arrived in Timaru on Wednesday on their farewell visit. Unfortunately the weather was unpropitious. but this did not prevent thousands attending the farewell gathering at Caroline Bay. The function was also attended by large contingents of school children. Scouts, Girl Guides, and military units. In the evening their Excellencies were entertained by a representative gathering of citizens, and on Thursday they inspected the schools and public institutions. Ministerial. It is announced that the health of the Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) is much improved, and that he has decided to leave his apartments in Parliament Buildings during the holiday season. The P rime Minister proposes, in the course of a day or so, to go to his home at Heretaunga, where a special sun porch has been constructed for him. He will enjoy a rest there over the holidays, although he will be in close touch with national affairs by telephone. Those associated with the Prime Minister are hopeful that his lost strength will be completely recovered as a result of the stay at Heretaunga.

Mr Justice MacGregor will be leaving in February on a trip to England. Mr Peter Barr left on Thursday morning en route to Sydney. Mr J. A. Robinson travelled by the second express for the north on Thursdav, en route to Melbourne, via Sydney. Fhe Rev. Mr Stevenson, of Armidale (Victoria), will occupy the pulpit of Knox Church during February. At last week’s meeting of the Presbyterian Church Board of Property, Mr A. M'Hutchon was appointed as factor to succeed Mr Fred Smith, who is retiring. At the meeting of the Technical College managers on Tuesday afetrnoon Miss S. Robinson was appointed to a B Grade position on the staff, and Miss Laura Vial to the position of commercial teacher. hr J. Colquhoun. of Scotland, who has Veen on a visit to New Zealand, left Dunedin last week for the north. He is proceeding to Australia to take up a position at the Melbourne Hospital. Mr P. S. K. Macassey (Crown solicitor in Wellington), accompanied by his wife and daughter, will arrive in Dunedin to-day, and will spend their Christmas holidays here. Mr 11. 8. Bingham, who was to have gone by the Manuka to Melbourne, will now leave by the Maheno on December 27. He will be accompanied by Mrs Bingham. A member of the Melbourne Stock Exchange, Mr E. Morgan, who was a passenger on the Manuka when she was wrecked, was present at a meeting of the Dunedin Stock Exchange on Thursday. Mr W. Scott Lee, asociated with the A aeuum Oil Company Pty.. Ltd., is at present touring the Dominion studying the effect of local conditions in connection with road surfacing. Mr Lee is a technical expert on road-laying, from the United States.

Cable advice has been received by Messrs Dalgety and Co., Ltd., that their board of directors has promoted Mr Lionel Speakman, London manager, to the position of general manager, as from January 1 next. Colonel P. Clennell Fenwick, C.M.G.. of Christchurch, has been appointed by Lord Baden Powell Dominion Chief Commissioner of the Boy Scouts, in succession to General Andrew, according to cable advice received by Mr Kirk, chairman of the Dominion Council. . Mr M. R. Holgate, inspector of schools in the Federated Malay States, and formerly of Dunedin, is visiting the city. He was a passenger on the ill-fated Manuka. Mr Holgate, accompanied by Mrs Holgate and child, have been in England on a holiday, the remainder of which they are spending here. At the commencement of the wool sales on Friday Mr George Black (president of the Stock Agents’ Association) made feeling reference to the recent death of Mr R. M'Lennan, of Dunedin, and, in response to his request, the buyers stood for a few moments in respectful silence. Mr W. A. Low, the well-known travelling representative of Messrs J. C. Williamson, Ltd., is at present in tire Dunedin Hospital, where he will undergo an operation. Mr Low expects to be in the Hospital_ for about a fortnight. His many friends in Dunedin will hope to see him. speedily restored to health. Mr Norman Nairn, who has consider* able business intere.sts in the Near East, left Dunedin by motor on Thursday morning for the north. He will leave New Zealand early in January on his way to Beyrout, where he proposes to develop an air-transport service to supplement the present road service between Damascus and Bagdad. Two residential scholarships of the annual value of £6O a year for three years, tenable at the Sacred- Heart College, Auckland, have been won by Thomas .Ronane, of the Convent School, Morven, Canterbury, and John O’Regan, of the Marist Brothers’ School. Greymouth There were eight candidates from all parts of New Zealand. .Dr A. Read, of Opotiki, who celebrated his ninety-seventh birthday last week, received numerous telegrams of congratulation. He spent Monday morning

motoring, and in the afternoon and evening was busy receiving guests. To see him walking in Opotiki without the of a stick makes it difficult to realise that 70 years ago he was ordered to take a sea voyage in order to save his life, as he was in very poor health. Mr C. P. Hainsworth, who was in charge of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin, and who is general manager of the Newcastle Exhibition. intends (says our London correspondent, writing on November 7) to return to New Zealand, where he owns a fruit farm. The affairs of the Newcastle Exhibition will be wound up about the end of January, after which Mr Hainsworth will be free to set sail for the country of his adoption. Mr C. J- Ronaldson, of Christchurch, District Governor of Rotary in New Zealand, is at present on a tour of the North Island centres in which the movement i.« established. A few days ago Mr Ronaldson met the Gisborne Rotary Club at luncheon, and discussed organisation business. He went south, after his visit to Gisborne, and will meet Napier an 1 Hastings Rotarians before returning to his home in Christchurch for the Christmas season. After the New Year he will complete his tour of visits, which will include seven centres in the North Island and two in the South Island. Two hearty and unanimous calls to the Rev. J. Hubbard, of Drury, were considered at the special meeting of the Auckland Presbytery (reports our special correspondent). One was from Cashmere Hills, Christchurch, and the other from Kelburn, Wellington. After pleas on behalf of both charges had been heard, Mr Hubbard intimated his decision to accept the call from Kelburn, which was accordingly placed in his hands. The moderator, the Rev. W. D. Morrison Sutherland, expressed the Presbytery’s great regret at Mr Hubbard's impending departure, and several other ministers paid tributes to his personal qualities and to the value of his work. Viscount Craigavon, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and Viscountess Craigavon will arrive in Wellington on January 3 from Rotorua, and will leave that night for Christchurch. On January 4 they will leave for the Southern Alps, and will return to Christchurch on January 9. Lhe two following days will be spent in Dunedin, after which they will proceed on a tour of the southern district, which will last from January 13 to 19. Lord and Lady Craigavon will be at the Hermitage from January 20 to 23, and they will return to Wellington on January 25, proceeding subsequently to the Wairarapa. Returning to Wellington on January 29. they will leave for Home by the Rangitata on February 1. Unable to leave Australia in time to attend the funeral, two relatives of Bishop Cleary, Mr Robert Cleary, of Melbourne, a brother, and Mr John Cleary, a nephew, arrived at Auckland by the Niagara. They received news of the bishop’s death on December 9, but the Niagara was the first boat available. Immediately on their arrival they visited the little cemetery at Panmure where the bishop is buried, and stood in silence beside his grave. Mr Robert Cleary is a produce merchant who has lived in Australia for nearly 50 years. He saw very little of his brother since their school days together, but he was the only member of the family near enough to attend the funeral, and is deeply concerned that he was unable to be present. Mr John Cleary is following in his uncle’s footsteps, and is in training for the priesthood at the Corpus Christi College, Melbourne.

At the break-up of the Maori Hill School on Thursday night Mr R. J. Webb, who has been assistant master at the school for the last six years, was, in view of his approaching departure to take up a position in the Invercargill Technical College, tendered a farewell, at which he was the recipient of several presentations. The pupils of Standard V presented him with a pair of military hair brushes, and the school sports clubs expressed their appreciation of his work by asking him to accept a silver-mounted walking stick. Finally, the headmaster (Mr L. B. Bradstock) presented Mr Webb with a travelling rug on behalf of the staff and the School Committee. Mr Webb, in thanking them for the gifts, expressed a very real regret that the time had come for him to sever his connection with the school. Miss Frances Errington and Miss Annie Rumsey, of the same staff, were entertained at morning tea yesterday morning, and each received a presentation.

Over 50 years’ service for the church is the record of the Rev. Canon G. FynesClinton, whose Tetirement was announced (says the Southland Times) at a special meeting of the vestry of All Saints’ Church, Gladstone, on Wednesday. Canon Fynes-Clinton has been vicar of All Saints’ since July. 1914, and his retirement takes effect from the end of February. It is his intenion to remain in residence in Invercargill. Having spent 56 years in New Zealand, nearly all that period in the ministry of the church at various places, Canon Fynes-Clinton is widely known and highly respected as a scholarly churchman of kindly disposition, keen in his interest in the many aspects of the welfare of the church and his parish. Born in Cromwell, in Nottinghamshire, England, the retiring vicar was educated at King’s College, London. On coming to New Zealand he spent a short time in Christchurch preparing for ordination, and was ordained there by the late Bishop Harper. In 1880 he went to Clyde and later to Milton. Subsequently, from 1890 he spent some time in the north, and on returning to Otago in 1896, he assumed the ministry of the Kurow Church. There he spent 10 years and a-half. Anderson’s Bay. Dunedin, was his next charge, and from there he went to All Saints’. Gladstone, in 1914. It was at that time that he was appointed to a canonry in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Canon Fynes-Clinton is a member of a family long associated with the Church of England. His grandfather and his father were both clergymen and of his father’s seven sons, four entered the ministry of the church. Retiring in his eighty-third year. Canon Fynes-Clinton is the last survivor of hia parents’ 13 children. Mr Charles Todd returned to Dunedin on Wednesday night from a prolonged trip abroad, in the course of which he visited the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium. Germany, and Austria. On his arrival in Wellington last week

Mr Todd was entertained to tea by the Standing Committtce of the New Zealand Alliance, and gave an interesting account of his travels. His keen interest in the liquor problem had led him to examine closely the conditions in the different countries, and he was struck with the poverty and degradation evident, particularly in the poorer quarters of the great cities in Great Britain, where, he said, the ravages of the liquor traffic were painfully obvious, and with the absence of drunkenness and the obvious prosperity of the workers in the United States. He had had opportunity of securing information at first hand, and whilst there was still a certain amount of drinking in the United States, he was satisfied that the conditions were improving from year to year, and there seemed no doubt that the prohibition law would achieve a lasting triumph. In a personal interview with Mr Henry Ford, he had received from that great motor magnate the most emphatic endorsement in favour of the prohibition law. He had not been impressed favourably with the so-called Government control in Canada, and he was still as firmly convinced as ever that the abolition of the liquor traffic .was the soundest solution of the problem, and he expressed his intention of continuing to do everything he could in the interests of the New Zealand Alliance. Nir Todd's past services on behalf of the prohibition cause were fittingly emphasised by Mr F. C. Spratt, chairman of the Standing Committee, who, on behalf of the New Zealand Alliance, tendered him a most hearty welcome on his return.