ABOUT PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 22297, 12 April 1934, Page 6

ABOUT PEOPLE

MINISTERIAL. The Hon. John Bitchener, Minister of Public Works, will arrive in Invercargill by car during the week-end. He will spend Monday and Tuesday in Southland and will leave on Wednesday for Queenstown. The purpose of his visit is to confer v/ith local bodies regarding roading and other public works which might be undertaken during the coming financial year. The Hon. Adam Hamilton will accompany Mr Bitchener on his tours of inspection. It is proposed to spend one day in the Eastern District and one day in the Western District. Arrangements will also be made to confer with the Wallace and Southland County Councils. Mr P. H. Nicholson left for the north by yesterday afternoon’s express. Mr C. Todd, of Wellington, Mr Robert Coghill and Mr L. G. Coghill, Dunedin, are at the Grand Hotel. Mr W. Agnew is at present an inmate of the Timaru Hospital, following a complete breakdown in health. A resolution of sympathy with the relatives of the late Mr J. C. Thomson was carried at the meeting of the Southland Presbytery on Tuesday. A Press Association cable from London announces that Mr G. Sercombe. the Victorian Rhodes Scholar, has been awarded the Matthew Arnold Memorial Prize for an English essay. A Press Association message from London states that Mr R. S. Forsyth, London manager of the New Zealand Meat Board, has been elected president of the British Association of Refrigeration. Mr M. Macdonald, of Auckland. Mr M. Sinclair, of Auckland, Mr T. White, of Wellington, Mr S. J. Goulter. of Picton, Mr E. Sutherland, of Port Chalmers, and Mr A. Grant, of Waimate, are at the Club Hotel. Miss Matilda Wade, sub-matron of the New Plymouth Hospital, has been appointed lady superintendent of the Auckland Infirmary, out of 29 applicants, states a Press Association telegram from Auckland. Mr Bryan J. Paterson, of the local staff of the National Bank of New Zealand, has been advised of his transfer to Oamaru and leaves for the north next Tuesday. As a prominent member of the St. Paul’s Harrier and Amateur Athletic Club, Mr Paterson was well-known on the Southland Athletic tracks. Viscount Long of Wraxall, who has been on the staff of the GovernorGeneral, Lord Bledisloe, as extra aide-de-camp, has completed the term of his appointment, which was for six months, and will leave Wellington by the Rangitane to-morrow on his return to England. He will be accompanied by Viscountess Long. At a meeting of directors of the Bank of New Zealand yesterday, on the motion of the retiring chairman (Mr W. R. Gibbs), Sir Harold Beauchamp was unanimously elected chairman for the ensuing year. Sir Harold Beauchamp leaves for Australia to-day to attend directors’ meetings of Chemical Industries, Ltd., and the Australian Mutual Provident Society, states a Press Association message from Wellington. Mr Macintosh Ellis, formerly Director cf Forestry to the New Zealand Government, was an arrival by the Wanganella from Sydney, where he is a consulting forest engineer, states a Wellington Press Association telegram. His intention is to observe and record the progress of forestry and kindred associations since he retired six years ago and to complete an independent analytical, yet friendly, survey throughout the principal forest plantation centres in the country. The death occurred at Whakatane yesterday morning of Mr Alexander Peebles, aged 79. Born at St. Andrews, Fifeshire, Scotland, he arrived in Hawkes Bay with his parents five years later. He spent his early days at Coromandel, Mercury Bay. He was mine manager at Kuaotunu when he drew a section on the Opouriae estate in 18S6, and commenced farming. Later he was storekeeping. He was a member of the first Whakatane County Council, and in 1900 was chairman. He served on that body ever since, v/ith the exception of one term. He had been chairman of the Bay of Plenty Hospital since 1911, a member of the Power Board since its inception, a prominent Mason and foundation member of the Whakatane A. and P. Association and president for several years, and a member of the Taneatua Bowling Club. He leaves a widow, four sons and three daughters.