ABOUT PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 25303, 5 June 1935, Page 6

ABOUT PEOPLE

MINISTERIAL. The Postmaster-General, the Hon. A. Hamilton, returned to Dunedin yesterday from Invercargill and will leave to-day for Wellington.—Press Association message. Mr J. H. Lang returned from the north by the mid-day express yesterday. Mr J. S. Haywood was a passenger by the mid-day express yesterday on his return from Dunedin. Mr E. D. Good, of Wellington, Comptroller of Customs, arrived in Invercargill by last evening’s express and is a guest at the Grand Hotel. He is accompanied by Mrs Good. Mr” 11. Woolf, of Christchurch, Mr B. L Watson, of Bristol, England, Mr and Mrs T. L. Fenton, of Uganda, East Africa, Mr L. Holden Mirams, of Dunedin, Mr C. E. Begg, of Dunedin, and Mr J. Halligan, of Wellington, arrived in Invercargill yesterday and are among the guests at the Grand Hotel. Mr John Wilson, son of Bishop Wilson, of Bunbury, has been appointed organizing secretary for the Melanesian Mission jn New Zealand, states the Church News. It is understood that Mr Wilson will begin’his duties before the end of the year after making a tour of the islands with the Bishop of Melanesia, Bishop Baddeley. The death occurred ■at Invercargill yesterday of Mr James Derbie, Conon street, in his 58th year. Mr Derbie was for about 20 years an employee of the city gasworks and was in his youth a prominent footballer. For many years he was a member of the Britannia Football Club, which has now been defunct for about 25 years. He was also a member of the Oddfellows’ Lodge. In addition to his widow he is survived by five daughters: Mrs Charles Johnson and Misses Jessie, Edna, Doris and Elsie Derbie. At the monthly meeting of the Southland branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute, the president, Mr L. R. Lewis, referred to the death of Mr Ralph Notman McDonald, headmaster of the Portobello School, Otago, a past president of the Southland branch and for a number of years a teacher in the employ of the Southland Education Board. Mr Lewis referred to the late Mr McDonald's enthusiasm in the Educational Institute’s affairs, and his zeal for the spread of education generally. He moved a motion expressing the Southland branch s sympathy with deceased’s relatives. The motion was carried in the customary manner. Mr C. N. Lawless represented the branch at the funeral in Gore.

The death of Mrs Robina Brownlie, widow of the late Mr James Brownlie, occurred at Gore yesterday. She was born at North East Harbour, on the Otago Peninsula, 76 years ago, being a daughter of the late Mr and Mrs P. Bayne. The late Mrs Brownlie was educated in Dunedin, and in 1883 married Mr James Brownlie, of Tapanui. A few years later the couple moved to Waikaka, where Mr Brownlie worked on the dredges. They came to Gore about 30 years ago. The late Mrs Brownlie is survived by a sister, Mrs McTaggart (Broad Bay, Dunedin), four sons, Messrs Herbert Brownlie (Wellington), James and George Brownlie (Gore) and Arthur Brownlie (Invercargill), and two daughters, Mrs J. Robertson (Gore) and Miss Eva Brownlie (Gore). Lieutenant-General Baron de Ceuninck, one of the chief commanders of the Belgian forces during the Great War, died in Brussels at the age of 77 a few weeks ago. Joining the army at the age of 13, de Ceuninck had reached the rank of major-general when the Great War began. As commander of the 18th Brigade he took part in the heavy fighting on the Yser, and in 1915 was given command of the 6th Division. After the second battle of Ypres M. Poincare and Marshal (then General) Joffre, going to his quarters, delivered to him the cross of a commander of the Legion of Honour. From August, 1917, to November, 1918, General de Ceuninck was War Minister, and after the Armistice King Albert conferred on him the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold and created him a baron.

Father William Henry Kent, whose claim was that he had a knowledge of 54 languages and could speak 40, died at his home in London recently, aged 77. He celebrated his golden jubilee as a priest in 1931, and retired two years ago. As a boy he learnt Latin and Greek, and the many other tongues with which he afterwards made himself conversant included Sanskrit, Chinese, Armenian, Gaelic, Hungarian, Danish, Finnish, Russian, Italian, French, German, Hebrew and Spanish. He once confessed that the hardest of all to learn had been Georgian, the ancient language of the Caucasus —in which he found there were 22 cases of the noun. Scotland Yard more than once asked him to be an interpreter in cases connected with languages little known. He made many translations of hymns, etc., from the Syriac, Armenian, and Coptic. One of the best known Catholic _ priests in England, he spent his life at the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, Bayswater, London. In his boyhood he often met Charles Dickens.