ABOUT PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 22210, 30 December 1933, Page 4

ABOUT PEOPLE

Mr W. Drummond returned to Invercargill by last night’s express.

Mr R. R. Hunter was a passenger from the north by the express last night.

Mr E. Halpin, of Invercargill, returned from Dunedin by yesterday afternoon’s express.

Mr E. J. Greenwood, who has been visiting Dunedin, returned by the express yesterday afternoon. Mrs A. R. Champion has returned to Bluff after an extended holiday with her relatives in Auckland. Mr and Mrs J. S. Little, of Dunedin, arrived in Invercargill by motor yesterday and are guests at the Grand Hotel.

Mr Martin Macale, of Methven, a member of the electoral committee of the Wheat Purchase Board, is spending a holiday in Southland.

A British Official Wireless message states that the Metropolitan Police Magistrate, Mr Frederick Mead, has resigned from office which he has held since 1889.

Mr Kenneth B. Myers, of Auckland, a son of the late Sir Arthur Myers, has been appointed to the board of directors of the South British Insurance Company, Ltd., in place of the late Mr A. B. Roberton.

Messrs T. Fukukura and S. Kawamurc, Japanese business men, who intend to study New Zealand wool production methods during a short stay in the Dominion, arrived at Auckland by the Monowai.

A Press Association telegram from Waihi reports the death of Mr John Benjamin Weedon, licensee of the Rob Roy Hotel, aged 81. Mr Weedon was a well-known cricketer and played with and against the celebrated Dr. Grace.

Guests at the Club Hotel include Messrs J. Cameron (Auckland), C. A., F. P. and G. H. Hutton (Dunedin), J. D. Jenkins (Dunedin), A. Morrah (Christchurch), D. Cameron (Dunedin), J. Robertson (Wellington), T. Mills (Wellington), and F. Clark (Auckland).

Mr F. W. Doidge, formerly an Auckland journalist, has been _ appointed manager of Lane Publications, Ltd., publishers of the London Daily Express books. He will combine that position with the honorary secretaryship of Lord Beaverbrook’s Empire Crusade, which is now resuming activities.

After 31 years’ service in the Railway Department, Mr William Currie, shunting yard foreman at Invercargill, recently retired. Mr Currie joined the service in 1903, working his way through all the grades, shunter, signalman, guard and ticket inspector to the position which he occupied on his retirement.

The statement of the Rhodes Trust for the academic year 1932-33 contains mention of several New Zealand Rhodes scholars, who have won academic and athletic distinction. The successful scholars are J. S. Watt, doctor of philosophy in physics; P. C. Minns, second-class final honours in philosophy, politics, and economics, and J. C. Dakin, diploma in anthropology. Mr Minns represented Oxford at Rugby, and Messrs J. E. Lovelock and J. S. Watt, at athletics. Special mention is made of Mr Lovelock's performance in breaking the world’s mile record.

Mr Thomas Nimmo Baxter, of the legal firm of Baxter, Shrewsbury, and Milliken, Auckland, died recently at his home at Remuera. He was 73 years of age. Mr Baxter arrived at Auckland in the ship William Miles. He joined the Post and Telegraph Department, and was stationed at the Thames, Carterton, and Blenheim. He studied law, and on passing his examinations began practice in Auckland in 1896 with Mr H. Shrewsbury. Mr Baxter was a past-president of the Auckland District Law Society, and a past-president of the Remuera Bowling Club. He was one of the first members of the West End Rowing Club. He is survived by two brothers, Messrs J. W. Baxter, of Devonport,. and _J. Baxter, of Pukemiro. His wife died two years ago.

The Rt. Hon. W. A. Watt, a former Premier of Victoria, and also at one time Acting-Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, arrived by the Monowai at Auckland this week. Mr Watt who is accompanied by the Hon. J. A. Boyd, is on holiday and will visit New Zealand’s scenic resorts, after which he will return to Australia by the Monowai on January 12. Mr Watt had a strenuous career in Australian public life from 1897 to 1929, and retired in the latter year to devote himself to private business affairs. He entered the Victorian Parliament in 1897 as Nationalist member for Melbourne East. He became Postmaster-General in 1899, State Treasurer in 1909, and was Premier from 1912 to 1914. In 1914 he entered the Federal Parliament as member for Balaclava and held the portfolio of Works and Railways. For a period he was Federal Treasurer and, in 1918-19, while Mr W. M. Hughes was in Europe, acted as Commonwealth Prime Minister. From 1923 to 1926 he was Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mr George Gillespie Boyd died recently at his residence, “Silverford,” Puketapu, Hawkes Bay. He was 86 years of age. Born in Edinburgh, he was the eldest son of Dr. John McNeil Boyd, who came to New Zealand and settled at Wairoa, Hawkes Bay. In the year 1864 he followed his parents out to New Zealand, and though so young enlisted in the Mounted Constabulary, and in the Maori Wars distinguished himself as a dispatch rider and scout. He was one of the defenders of the Blockhouse at Wairoa, and fought both in Taranaki and at Opotiki. Mr Boyd later took up farming and was the first to “break in the bush-clad Tokomaru-Ongaruru block, owned by Mr A. C. Arthur, of Gisborne. He afterwards combined farming on his own account with trading at Mataahi, Tuparoa, Port Awanui, and Rangitukia on the East Coast. He took an active interest in local affairs, and for many years was a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Waiapu County Council. In later years he went to Hawkes Bay, and in retirement gradually withdrew from public life. He was a member of the Turanganui Masonic Lodge for many years. He is survived by five sons and one daughter by his first , marriage, and by one daughter by his second wife, who survives him.'