Tourist and Traveller

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1572, 10 June 1920, Page 36

Tourist and Traveller

HERE AND THERE.

Mr. and Mrs. T. Keesing, Auckland, left last week for Sydney.

Mr. W. Greenwood returned from Sydney by the Manuka last week. * * * *

Mr. and Mrs. A. Langdon Parsons, of Perth, W.A., are on a visit to Christchurch.

Mr. and Mrs. F. K. de Castro, and Mr. and Mrs. S. Twigg, Napier, have returned from a trip to Australia.

Mr. H. E. White, architect, leaves for Sydney shortly to reconstruct the Theatre Royal. ♦ ♦ # »

Mr. Will Lawson has taken up the duties of publicity organiser for the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce foi’ some months to come.

It is said that a Wairarapa man bought and sold three farms in 12 months, and netted £1.2,000 on the transactions.

Mr. and Mrs. D. Cox. who came out to New Zealand many years ago and settled in Invercargill, have left for their old home at Aidershot, England, where they intend to reside permanently.

Mrs. J. Burns, of Clive, accompanied by her son, Mr. Leo Burns, of the Wellington Post Office, arrived in the Dominion by the lonic after a year’s absence spent in America, Great Britain and the Continent.

Mr. T. G. Wilson, late electrical engineer to the Hamilton borough, has been appointed to a similar position at Timaru. The position of powerhouse engineer has been filled by the appointment of Mr. W. A. Mowat.

Mr. G. P. Christian, of Perth, has been appointed physical director for the Auckland Young Men’s Christian Association, vice Mr. Herbert Gregory, who is leaving for America.

The number of shooting licenses issued from Napier this year is as great as in previous years, stated the secretary of the Hawke’s Bay Acclimatisation Society, but the shooting is not as good as usual. Some good bags have been obtained at Tokaano. which is outside the Hawke’s Bay district.

Mr. H. O. McFarlane, who is leaving Napiei' for Auckland, was farewelled by his fellow members at the Napier Savage Club. Chief Savage W. L. Prime, referred with regret to the departure of such an energetic member and presented him with a gold tiki.

General Sir William Birdwood was given a most cordial reception by the citizens of Wellington and the returned soldiers in the Town Hall on Thursday night. The building was full to overflowing and a great proportion of the audience was composed of returned soldiers.

The Ohurakura Estate, 30 miles from Napier, on the Taupo road, the property of Mrs. Perry (daugter of the late G. P. Donnelly) has been sold by auction. The total area is 13,320 acres, of which 12,250 acres was sold for £102,932 10s. The smallest section, subject to timber restrictions, was passed in.

A very happy suggestion was made by General Sir William Birdwood at his reception in Wellington. It was that no returned soldier should ever pass another wearing the badge without passing the time of day. It might be a ridiculously small thing to talk about, but he thought there was much in it. For his own part he could not bear to pass a man wearing the badge without taking notice of him.

General Birdwood left Wellington for Christchurch on Monday night, and will spend a fortnight in Canterbury and Otago, visiting Dunedin, Invercargill, and Queenstown. He will then return to Christchurch, and will proceed overland to the West Coast, visiting the principal towns there. He will next visit Nelson and Blenheim, and returning to Wellington ' will go up by the Wairarapa to Napier. From Napier he will motor to Taupo and Rotorua, and will then proceed to Auckland. After a few days there, he will go to New Plymouth. and from there will return to Wellington, visiting the various towns en route. He will leave Wellington for England by the Arawa, which is expected to sail about July 20.

The New Zealand golf championship tournament is to be held on the St. Andrew’s links, Hamilton, from September 13th to 18th, and it is anticipated that a number of Wellington golfers will be present.

Mr. W. E. Jackson left Wellington by the Ulimaroa, en route to Melbourne. to attend a conference of the Australasian managers of Messrs. Gordon and Gotch, Ltd.

Referring to deer stalking, the WeiPngton Acclimatisation Society in its annual report makes the following terse remark: —“The heads, as a whole, show an improvement. There are too many deer in several areas, but the difficulty connected with the culling of these are grave. Stalkers continue to ignore the regulations as to the return of heads taken and labels used —presently there will be trouble.”

Speaking at the annual dinner of the Institute of Metals held in London recently, Rear-Admiral Sir William Nicholson said that in wireless Britain led the world. Mr. Marconi told him before the war that no country had studied or perfected the organisation of wireless as the British Navy had done. He added that the naval organisation now being set up would give them the best return the country would allow them to have.

The death is announced of London’s oldest tobacco-pipe maker. He was Mr. W. Bender, aged 77. In his oldworld workshop, 19 Seymour Place, W.. he made briars and meerschaums by hand 50 years ago, turning them on treadle-lathes still used by his son. Mr. C. F. Bender.

H.M.S. Frobisher, a light cruiser, and the 'first naval vessel to be named after the Elizabethan admiral, was recently launched at Devonport Dockyard. Countess Fortescue, wife of the Lord-Lieutenant of Devonshire, named the vessel, the dimensions of which are: length, 605 feet; beam, 65 feet; displacement, 9750 tons; horsepower. 70,000; speed, 30 knots. The ship has cost (exclusive of armament) nearly £1,250,000.

Mr. William Fortescue, of Picton, celebrated his 103rd birthday on May 24. He was the recipient of many felicitations on the record achieved, and upon being in such an excellent condition of health. Upon being presented to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales the lively old fellow remarked: “Yes, I remember your father, your grandfather, and your great-grandfather, too: and I also lived in the reign of George III.”

After owning Melbourne “Punch” for 50 years, Mr. Alexander McKinley has sold the paper. The purchaser is Mr. F. W. Hughes, of Sydney, who is understood to contemplate forming a company to run the paper. Mr. Alexander McKinley, starting with nothing but a sound constitution and a fixed intention to succeed in life, trained on the mechanical side of newspaper work as a lad in his teens, and later in conjunction with his brother, the late Mr. James McKinley, acquired “Punch,” and for half a century helped to mould the public life of Victoria through his paper. In the early nineties he had amassed a fortune, but the “boom” stripped him of this, but it could not daunt his courage nor destroy his enterprise. On the ruins of that era of public extravagance he built anew, and now retires with a goodly competence to watch others fight the enormous increase in the price of newsprint.

Mr. A. D. Smith, one of the oldest commercial travellers in Otago, was entertained by the members of the Commercial Travellers’ Association, and presented with a gold watch upon his retiring from “the road.” * ♦ * * Dr. Young, of Invercargill, has returned to New Zealand after an absence of twelve months in Great Britain. * * * * The death is announced of Mr. Angus McDiarmid, the “father of bowling” in Otago, in his 95th year. Mr. McDiarmid was three times champion of the Dunedin Bowling Club, viz., in 1876, 1882, and 1885. In those days club rules provided that a champion had to stand down for three years after a win.

The branch of the London City and Midland Bank in the ex-German liner Imperator is a big success. “It is surprising what a lot of money there is on board ship,” said an official. When the liner rolled about in midAtlantic the passengers jocularly blamed the safe. The vessel is managed by the Cunard Company on behalf of the Shipping Controller.

The shooting of a white crane at Lake Ellesmere, near Christchurch, was mentioned by the president of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society. A pair of these rare and beautiful birds had been living on Lake Ellesmere, and the male bird had been shot by some person unknown. He thought that when the Animals Protection Act was amended a very heavy penalty should be provided for persons shooting these protected birds. Mr. L. G. Reid remarked he had noticed a doubt, expressed as to the white crane being indigenous to New Zealand. The bird had been breeding in this country for at least fifty years, so that it surely could claim to be a native. The Maoris had a proverb relating to the white crane. showing that they were familiar with the bird, which was now rapidly becoming extinct. Another member mentioned that four years ago he saw some white cranes on the shores of Dusky Sound.