PERSONAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 89, 10 December 1912, Page 5

PERSONAL.

Mr T. Noye, Inspector of Permanent Ways, will make Stratford his headquarters, and an office is now being built on the local station premises for the inspector and his staff. Mr R. W. Richards, ex-Town Clerk of Dunedin, who headed the poll for Cook Ward at the Sydney municipal elections, said before he left Dunedin that within five years he would be Lord Mayor of Sydney. Possibly, remarks the Dunedin Star, his ambition may be gratified. Mr S. M. Pratt, of Inglewood, prior to bis departure for Auckland, was on Friday evening the recipient of a silver tobacco box and a case of pipes suitably inscribed from bis Inglewood friends. The presentation (reports to Record) was made by the! Mayor at a gathering at the Inglewood 1 Hotel.

Mr A. A. Hintz, formerly first assistant at Temuka District High School, and at present D.rector of Technical Education at Nelson, has been advised by cablegram of his appointment to the staff of the Education Department, Singapore, Straits Settlement. He will leave Sydney for the East at the end of December. Mr Hintz is well-known in South Taranaki.

Mr Joseph Grimmond, who was recently elected chairman of the Westland County Council, was elected to the same important pest just 32 years ago, when he had four opponents, among whom was the late Mr Seddon. In the first ballot Mr Grimmond supported his afterwards redoubtable opponent, but in the final contest with Mr McWhirter Mr Seddon voted for Mr Grimmond, who had seven to Mr McWhirter’s two. Mr Grimmond has also occupied the chair on two other occasions. In taking the chair the other day he likened, himself to the last of a vanishing race, for he was the only man alive to-day who officially saw the birth of the Westland County Council. He is all but an octogenarian, but those who heard Mr Grimmond speak at Cly T de a fortnight ago (states the Dunedin Star) will readily acknowledge that there’s plenty of life “in the old warhorse.”

The Hon., Jas. Allen was accorded a farewell by the citizens of Dunedin yesterday on the occasion of his departure for London. Eulogistic speeches were delivered by the Mayor (Mr Wilson), the Hon. T. Fergus, Mr <l. London (president of the Chamber of Commerce) and Major Ritchie. In the course of bis reply, Mr Allen said that he was being sent to the Old Country, and he believed that he was going with the approval and endorsement of the people of New Zealand. He thought a man coming into office should go to the great money markets of the world and become acquainted with matters on the spot. He was proud that it was given to him to go to England at such an opportune moment, and hear what they had to say on the great questions of the day, es pecially the, question of defence. He was glad of the opportunity for an other reason—there were those whe had been speaking of us in a slighting and degrading tone, and he thought* it was time someone should say "that what was being published about us was not true.—PressAssociation.

' Mr John Morgan, of Druie Hill, one of Wanganui’s oldest residents, was kept busy answering the calls of the telephone and telegraph messengers, conveying congratulations and the bes. of good wishes on the occasion of h:< 83rd birthday. It is nearly 63 years since Mr Morgan, one of the last remaining of the heroic band of Pilgrim Fathers, landed in New Plymouth from the Old Country, after a voyage of 100 days in a little sailing craft with 101 passengers. Though physically “not as young as he used to be, (states the Herald), Mr Morgan’s sight and, intellect are unimpaired, and he still takes a keen interest in all that pertains to the welfare of Wanganui and the Dominion generally. In proof that his hand has lost none of its cunning, the old gentleman has been forwarding recently to his friendt seasonable greetings in the form of photographic reproductions <pf a cleverly executed and really artistic postcard drawing of a national coat of arms, done by him in his 83rd yeai. Mr Morgan’s tasteful and artistic pen and ink drawings have been for yean the admiration of all who have seen them, and the latest production, at the age of 83, is worthy of a place with the best of them.