ABOUT PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 21429, 25 June 1931, Page 6

ABOUT PEOPLE

Mr N. R. Hamilton, of the Land and Deeds Department, who has received notice of his transfer to Wellington, was the recipient of a presentation from the staffs of the Land and Deeds and Stamp Duties Departments. Mr J. A. Fraser, district land registrar, in making the presentation, referred to Mr. Hamilton’s many good points and regretted his departure. Mr N. E. Wilson, assistant land registrar, and Mr W. A. Beehan, chief clerk, Stamp Duties Department, also spoke. Mr Hamilton suitably replied.

The death occurred at Auckland on Sunday of Mrs Isabella Neale, who was formerly well-known in Dunedin. She was the widow of Mr W. H. Neale, who was a member of the Dunedin City Council and a partner in the firm of Messrs Neale and Cooper, of George street. She was a sister of Mr Andrew Selby, of the Dunedin Technical College, and Mr Isaac Selby, now of Melbourne. Mrs Neale was very widely known and respected. One of her sons is the Rev. L. B. Neale, of the Methodist Central Mission.

Robert Castel Sherard, twelfth baron of an Irish line going back to 1627, has died in a Perth hospital, aged 73 years. He was not married. Lord Sherard, who never claimed the title, went to Western Australia about 30 years ago, and had been prospecting in various parts of the country for many years. Few people knew of his title, to which he succeeded in 1924 on the death of a cousin, and which, it is. understood, is impoverished. Lord Sherard, who had recently been living in seclusion at Fremantle, entered hosiptal about three weeks ago. The heir to the title was the Rev. Charles William Sherard, a cousin, who died last year, and it is believed the title will become extinct.

The Rev.' John Watt, of 17, Churchill Street, Christchurch, who died last week, was a retired Presbyterian minister. He was an elder of St. Paul’s Church, and was well-known in Christchurch. He arrived from Scotland thirty-two years ago, and after staying in Hunterville for a year came to the South Island, where he had a church at Malvern for some time. . He was next stationed at Kaiau, where he spent ten years, going from there to Sefton where he remained for five yeans. The last eighteen months before his retirement three years ago was spent relieving at Wanganui. Since then he had lived in Ciiristchurch, and had taken an active part in the work at St. Paul’s Church. He leaves a widow, two sons, Mr J. O. P. Watt (Scotland), Mr J. A. Watt (Christchurch) and three daughters, Miss A. Watt (Christchurch), Mrs Mollison (Wellington) and Miss G. Watt (,Grey mouth).