ABOUT PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 17498, 29 April 1915, Page 6

ABOUT PEOPLE

At a meeting of th(j executive of (lie New Zealand Alliance at Wellington, Ih© Kev. W. J. Comric was re-appointed chairman, and Air W. .1. Brown hon. A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that arising out of the resignation of Air 11. If. Ostler, Senior Crown Caw Officer, and the promotion of Air P. S. I\. Alacassey to that position, Mr V, R. Meredith. Wellington, has been appointed to the Crown Law Office. He commences duties on Monday. The many friends of the Hon. .T. A. Alillar, whoso health has greatly improved recently, will be pleased to hoar (says the Dunedin Star) that there is a strong probability of the ex-Alinister of Railways receiving a call to the Legislative Council in the near future. A Sydney cable reports a military wedding as having taken place, ' the couplo being Miss Gwendoline Nicklin, daughter of Mr C. .T. Nicklin. of Wellington, and Lieut, O. P. Meredith, of Tasmania. On his arrival in Kngland Air F. L. Donkin, of Otautau. Southland, applied for admission to the Royal Flying Corps. Mr H. R. Aspinall, who has been a member of the Gore staff of the Bank of New Zealand for nearly three years, lias been promoted to the Invercargill branch. During Air- Aspinall’s residence at Gore (says the Alataura Knsign) he took a keen interest in sport, and was one of the best local footballers. Second Lieutenant John H. Allen (a son of the Hon. ,T. Allen), loth Battalion, Worcester Regiment, lias been promoted first lieutenant. Ho is at present at Looe, Cornwall. Lieutenant G. AI. Chapman, R.A.AI.C., who has received the French decoration for saving life on ths beach at Boulogne, is now serving as medical officer to the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays). Ho was recommended for the award by the municipal authorities of Boulogne. Dr Chapman is a son of Air Justice Chapman, of New Zealand. Few households in Britain have reason to watch the progress of the war with keener anxiety than the StapletonRretherton family, of Rainhill Hall, near Liverpool. - Four sons (says the ATanchester Guardian! are soldiers, and threesons - in - law are in the navy. Of the soldiers, one is at present a prisoner in a German hospital with a shattered knoe. He was ordered by his colonel to dislodge a band of Prussians from an important ion. and .succeeded the enemy retreating into a wood. “Flushed with victory.” in (ho words of his colonel, “ho pursued them, was wounded, and taken prisoner.’’ A fifth son. ATr Robert Stapleton - Brethcrton. was killed in the Boer war. There is a fourth son-in-law. who is not a British subject; and though prevented from fighting by a physical disability, bears a most historic name, and one destined to he associated in the mind of his race with sinister memories. He is Count Bluchor. of Germany. Tt is not so very long ago since the Countess Bluchor. who was on a visit to her parents in Lancashire, received a command from the Kaiser to return (o Germany and in his Imperial presence christen the new cruiser by 11 1 •; name of her dislinguishod husband. Hls significant that the great battleship launched with such memorable pomp, and now at the bottom of the North Sea. should have, been christened by the daughter and sister of Fng)}sh patriots.

The Poverty Bay Herald records the death at Gisborne of Mr K. T. 11. Billion, at the ago of SI years. He was horn in I fork in Kebniary, 18:54, and eariic out in j Australia a I Ihe age of IS years, and joined the Victoria police force under j Inspector Burke itlie explorer!. Although |at that time Ihe Victorian authorities would not. accept nini for the police force under 21 years of age. Air Bullen. being a man of such line physique, they accepted him, and entered his age at 21. 1 He was amongst those picked lo go with : Burke and Wills on the exploring ex- ; peditiou to tiie interior of Australia. , which proved so disastrous (tile who!" 1 party being lost): but .Mr Billion's wife, \ to whom lie had jnsl been married, perjsuaded him not to go. Air Bullen rose i In be a sergeant, ami lie left tiie Victor- ■ ian police force in I Sets. He went prosI peeling with two other men tinder the i Government, and received the award for) i finding payable gold at Uondonderry I f tiie name given tiie place by one ot ids ; companions, who was from I.ondonderry, in Ireland). Air Bullen then joiuied Braunigaji’s force, which came to i Xpw Zealand in 1562. He is probably the last of the members of that woll-known I force. The late .Mr Bullen was sworn in : in the Mew Zealand police force on .Mine : 21. 1562. He became second sergeant in 1 186:5, first sergeant in ISGB. and senior sergeant in 1572. After being stationed on the Otago goldfields. at Switzers, Queenstown, Clyde, Dunslan, and oilier ! parts as sergeant in charge in l teas { transferred to AVaipawa in 1873. and from there to Gisborne in 1881. He c<m--1 tinued in charge of the Gisborne police | district until 1830. when he resigned i from tho force, and was appointed bailiff j of the Magistrate's Court there, which ■ position he held until he retired on ; superannuation in 1300. Since then Ik 1 I had resided quietly in Gisborne. .Mr I Bullen could relate many interesting in- ; cidonts in connection with his long and varied career in the police force. lie arrested ihe first man sentenced to dead, in Otago—a man named 'White, the perpetrator of tiie Scrubby" (. reck murder, i In that case he showed his resourcefulness in the manner lie protected the body of tiie victim. He learned that an ' effort was to lie made by some ot the ! murderer's friends io do away w itit tiie i victim’s bodv, so that tin inquest could i not be held. lie put Hie body in a hole ; and covered it with earth, erected a tent i over it and stood guard through the night. While on I lie Otago goldfields Mr Bullen had Hie misfortune of having both wrists and both legs broken through the capsizing of a waggon. He is survived by a son and daughlci, of a family of nine children.