ABOUT PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 17733, 10 August 1917, Page 5

ABOUT PEOPLE

News has been received that BrigadiesrGcneral Earl Johnston, eldest son of ths Hon. C. J. Johnston, Speaker of the Upper House, has been killed by a sniper in France.

Mr G. A. Noble Campbell, who has been appointed District Manager for Southland of the Government Insurance arrived in Invercargill on Wednesday afternoon, and Hr A. E. Allison, who is taking up the position of District Manager at Dunedin, will leave for that city by to-day’s express.

Mr James Colvin, M.P. for Boiler, celebrated his seventy-third birthday on Saturday (states the Wellington Post). His beet friends foregathered at Parliament House, and Sir James Carroll, on behalf of the little assembly, conveyed birthday greeting* to Mr Colvin. Mr Colvin has a public record of over 40 years. He was elected to Parliament in 1899, and has held his seat ever since. He was born in Donegal, Ireland, on August 4, 1844. The Lyttelton Times reports : Mr J. T. Martin, local director of Messrs Wright, Stephenson and Co., Ltd., during the five years the company has been in operation here, will leave Christchurch for Wellington to-morrow to take on increased responsibilities in connection with the company’s extended operations in the. North Island. Messrs R. Niebol, C. S. Black, and N. C, Wilson have also transferred from the local office to Wellington. Mr W. M. Shand will continue as manager of the Christchurch business.

The Military Cross has been awarded te Flight-Commander Keith Caldwell, but no details are yet to hand as to the particular act of gallantry which merited the decoration. Flight-Commander Caldwell is the only son of Mr D. R. Caldwell, of the firm of Macky, Logan and Caldwell, Ltd. He was educated at the Wanganui College, and later was on the staff of the . Auckland branch of the Bank of New Zealand. He was one of the first pupils to graduate.from the New Zealand Flying School at Kohimarama. Flight-Commander Caldwell has several times distinguished himself during the period he has been on active service. Private advices report that Captain W. H. D. Bell, eldest son of Sir Francis Bell (Minister of Immigration and Leader of the Legislative Council), was killed in action in France on the 31st ult. Death was instantaneous. Captain Bell, who wa* 35 years of age, was bom in Wellington and received his initial education at Wellington College. He then studied at Cambridge University, and was admitted as * barrister of the Inner Temple. On returning to New Zealand he joined the weßknown legal firm of Messrs Bell, Gully, Bell, and Myers, and practised his profession until the outbreak of war, giving signs of the highest promise. At the general election in 1911 Captain Bell successfully contested the Wellington Suburbs seat in the Reform Party’s interest. In the House he made a very favourable impression, not only on account of his chivalry and sense of honour, but because of the quick maimer he could grapple with a problem and the breadth of view he was able to bear upon it. Though he Was a young man, his speeches were worthy of the closest attention, and he possessed a keen analytical mind. On divers occasions he acted as Chairman of Committees. At the outbreak of war Captain Bell joined the Samoan Expeditionary Force, and on his return proceeded to France, where, with his two brothers, he has been on active service ever since. His two asters have served for two years as nurses in the Walton Hospital, and are now driving ambulances in France. Another sister is superintendent of the convalescent hospital at Lowry Bay, given by Sir Francis Bell for the use of wounded New Zealand soldiers. Captain Belli cousin, Frank Bell, of the Ist Brigade, New Zealand Artillery, who was severely wounded three weeks earlier in action on the Belgian frontier, is now at Brookenhurst Hospital, England, and, though suffering from wounds in two places and from shell bums, is reported to be progressing satisfactorily.