NGATEA NEWS.

Thames Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17389, 29 March 1928, Page 4

NGATEA NEWS.

REV J HALL FAREWELLED (From Our Own Correspondent). NGATEA, March 29. A combined function was held in Ngatea on Monday evening when the Methodist congregation took the opportuity of bidding farewell to their popular minister, the Rev. J.- Hall, at the harvest thanksgiving ceremony in connection with the Church. The Rev. Pickering, of Paeroa, in a telling speech, made reference to the loss sustained by the Plains through the departure of Mr. Hall, and wished him the best of luck in his new district at Russell, in the Bay of Islands. 'Hie speaker also took the opportunity to make ;i presentation of a cheqiie for a substantial amount as a small token of the regard in which the de-

parting minister was held by his many friends. ■' '.':.'•. • Rev. Hall, in a feeling reply, thanked the members of his congregation for the manv kindnesses that they had shown him during his term of office in their'midst and referred to the very pleasant recollections of the Plains which he would carry away with him. The balance of the evening was given over to a succession of musical items contributed by Mesdames Mitchell and Catton, of Paeroa, and Messrs. Eric Cocks, of Ngatea, and Vivian Cocks, of Paeroa. Mrs. Dudding added much "to the enjoyment of the items by her sympathetic accompaniments. .'•Maurice Costello, the twelve-year-old son of Mr. J. Costello, was bathing in the Piako River on Tuesday evening and had just dived in when, before he could rise to the surface, another lad dived in on top of him. Costello's forehead and eye were damaged by the contact, and the'eye has been blackened, but it is not thought that there is any permanent damage to the sight. . /_