PERSONAL MATTERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LVI, Issue 8695, 1 March 1907, Page 5

PERSONAL MATTERS.

Messrs R. Lee (chairman), A. W. Hogg, M.H.R., and W. H. Field, M.H. R., were the three members selected by ballot yesterday for retirement from the Education Board. Dean Fitchett and Mrs Fitehett, of Duuedin, left Wellington, yesterday, on the Oswestry Grange on a visit to the Old Country and Europe. Dean Fitchett expects to be away for twelve months. The death is reported of Mr LeonardWhittiugton, manager of Bank of New Zealand at Woodville for three years past. He was visiting friends in Duuediu when attacked by the fllness which proved fatal. Mr ■ James Patterson, to whom a little presentation was made at the Club Hotel, on. Wednesday, wishes us to state that, although lie has been for twenty-seven years connected with the commercial life of Wairarapa, lie lias been only seven years travelling for Messrs Sargood, Son and Ewen. He now goes '' off the road," and goes into the warehouse of the same well-known linn. After ten years' service on the Wellington Land Board, Mr John Stevens, M. H. R., retires by efnuxion of time and, being a member of Parliament, lie is not eligible for re-appointment. At yesterday's meeting of the Board, the commissioner, Mr Strauchou, spoke of the valuable services Mr Stevens had rendered as a member of the Board for many years, and his remarks were endorsed by Messrs Recce and Dawson. We take the following from the Poverty Bay "Herald" :—"Mr A. J. Massey intends leaving Gisborue shortly to take up his residence in Masterton. As a musician Mr Massey's place will be hard to fill, his work as leading violinist assisting greatly in the success of local orchestral concerts. In bowling circles he will also be an acquisition to the Wairarapa centre, where the Te Ran representatives and their skip (Mr Massey) recently carried off the North Island championship. " Alfred Shaw, the once-famous cricketer, who has just passed to his rest after a lingering illness, lias (writes a London correspondent) this 1 connection with New Zealand that lie visited the colony twice—once as captain and once as manager of an all-A England cricketing team. He was the last of the famous "old gang" that in a previous generation won for Notts first place among the counties, viz: Shaw, Morley, Daft, Oscroft, Sherwin, Gunn, Scotton, Shrewsbury, Barnes, and Flowers. A young Englishman writing to a relative m tliis town (writes the Grey- | mouth '' Argus'') shows by some of his i remarks that New Zealand affairs are [ not entirely overlooked by the people of tlie Homeland. He writes: "You will not haVC y'n'iir old friend 'King Dick' to visit you any jhoi'Gi We over here were all sorry to hear of his death and the world is all the poorer for it, because strong masterful men of his stamp are few and far between. People over here have noticed that his successor, Sir Joseph Ward, is carrying out the policy which has made New Zealand so prosperous.'' The death is announced at- Island Bay of Mr William Hume, an old and well-known Wellington identity, at the ripe age of seventy-five years. Mr Hume arrived in Wellington from the Old Courtry some thirty-two years ago, and within eighteen mouths or so ago of his arrival he started business in Willis-street as a general provision merchant, opening his store in the old "Independent" offices, on? the present site of the "Evening Post" premises. About eighteen years ago lie shifted a few doors higher up Willis-street to his present building. He had been ailing for the past twelve months, but was able to give personal attention to his business up to Saturday last. Mr Hume leaves one son. — "Post." The popularity of the Rev. A. Thomson in Petone was attested on Wednesday evening when a large and enthusiastic public meeting was held in the local Oddfellows' Hall to make him a. presentation, and bid him farewell prior to his departure for the Old Country to-morrow on a holiday trip. The Mayor (Mr G. London) who presided, bore testimony to Mr Thomson's earnest and self-sacrificing efforts to improve the education of the community. The rev. gentleman's efforts were fully appreciated by residents who wished him an enjoyable well-earned holiday, and a safe return. During the evening Mr T. M. Wilford, M.H.R., presented the guest of the evening with a purse of sovereigns publicly subscribed. Mr Wilford mentioned, in referring to the good work which the recipient had done in the conmranity, that he had been for thirteen years a Chairman of the School Committee. Mr John Tinline, whose death, at Nelson, was announced 011 Tuesday, was born in Scotland in 1821, and settled in Wellington as a storekeeper, with the late Major Durie, in 18-40. Two years later he established a business in Nelson, but the destruction by fire of the Wellington premises ruined the new venture. When Governor Fitzoy arrived in Nelson in 1844 he gave Mr Tinline an official position, in which he remained for eight years, when he took up sheepfarming, becoming the owner of several large runs in Marlborough. His Wangapeka run was recently sold to the Government. He took no part in politics, but a very real interest in educational matters in Nelson, and there are three scholarships bearing his name. Some years ago when on a visit to his native place, Jedburgh, lie presented that town with a public park. Mr Tinline was the first white man to travel from Nelson to Marlborough, in company with a Native boy, and he was almost the first white man to go from Wangauui to Wellington during the Maori troubles. On behalf of Hie Government, he bought from the Natives the site of the town of Picton, and he was the only survivor of the original purchasers of land in the Wairau. His surviving relatives are a. sister and her son, who reside in South Australia, and a nephew and niece, who are in Great Britain.— 1 ' Post,''