PERSONAL

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 205, 24 August 1932, Page 5

PERSONAL

Mrs E. Limbrick. of Waipukurau. is visiting Wellington. Mr and Mrs J. Meffan, of Kelburn, Wellington, are the guests of Mrs Scruby, Wallace Road. Miss Stevens, of the staff of the Ekctahuna School, is at present on a visit to Waipukurau. Mr ant). Mrs J. A. Lockhart, of Waipawa, arc paying a visit to friends in the Dannevirke district. Lady Hunter and Miss Betty Hunter arrived in Waipukurau by yesterday’s mail train and will spend a short holiday in Porangahau. Mr Alan Lambourne, of Takapnu, while on holiday leave in Gisborne, will bo competing in the elocutionary sections at the Gisborne competitions. Mr J. Banks, headmaster of the Hastings Central School and formerly of Foxton, will retire next month after 42 years’ service with the Education Department. Mr J. A. Bevin, manager of the local branch of the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., left to-day for Christchurch to attend the funeral of his mother. At a special meeting of the Invercargill City Council, held yesterday, the resignation of the town clerk, Mr C. L. Grange, who has been appointed commissioner of Thames Borough, was received. One of the first officers of the Bank of New Zealand, Mr Henry Hooper Holmden, who joined the bank on its inception in Auckland in 1861 and held the post of manager at a number of centres, died on Monday at he home of his son, Dr. H. F. Hoimaen, Herne Bay. at the age of 86. Among the passengers by the Maunganui yesterday from Sydney was Mme. Amelita Galli-Curci, the noted singer, who is to give recitals in New Zealand. Mme. Galli-Curci is making her second visit to the Dominion, her previous visit having been made in 1925. The official retirement from the position of managing director of the company by Mr William Goodfellow was announced by Mr Dynes Fulton, chairman of directors of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Co., at its annual meeting yesterday. Mr Fulton said that Mr Goodfellow felt that his work was finished. He represented the dairy industry and the honey producers at the Ottawa Conference, just concluded.

The Rev. F. H. Spencer, the son of a pioneer .missionary among the Maoris, died in Auckland at the week-end. As a young man Mr Spencer spent a few years in the Armed Constabulary, and on many occasions, owing to his knowledge of Maori, filled the position of interpreter and intermediary Later, deciding to enter the Church, he was trained at Bishopdale, Nelson, finishing up at Durham, England, under Bishop Lightfoot, by whom he was ordained. He, spent a few years in church work in England, and married the youngest daughter of Colonel George Hutchinson, R.E. On Mr Spencer’s return to New Zealand he took up church work both among the Europeans and Maoris, the latter chiefly in Rotorua. For educational reasons he moved to Wanganui in 1897, and there received the appointment of agent to the British and Foreign Bible Society. On retiring from this work he moved to Auckland, where his wife died in 1924. Later, he married Miss M. M. Pullcine, and returned to Rotorua. His wife, three sons and a daughter survive him.

A notable former figure in the New Zealand military forces,has been removed by the death in Auckland of Honorary Lieutenant Henry A. Arilson, D.C.M., Royal New Zealand Artillery. Lieutenant Wilson, who during the Great War held the temporary rank of captain, was well known to thousands of trainees as instructor in equitation at Featherston camp. A British regular soldier of the old school, he enjoyed enduring fame throughout the Expeditionary Force, and was universally known by the nickname of “Blazer.” Enlisting in the Royal Field Artillery as a youth. Lieutenant Wilson took part in the siege of Ladysmith, where he was wounded, receiving the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous bravery. He served later in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Cape Colony, and was at the relief of Mafeking. About 1904 Lieutenant Wilson was transferred on loan to the New Zealand Defence Forces, as Field Artillery . instructor with the rank of sergeantmajor. In this capacity he attended the annual camp of batteries all over New Zealand for nearly a decade.