Mr. Hamilton Dobbin Hall, Chief Bookkeeper of the New Zealand Shipping Company, was born in Christchurch in 1869, was educated at the Boys' High School and and joined the company as clerk in 1883. He subsequently served in Wellington, Napier, and Oamaru, and was re-transferred to Christchurch in his present capacity in 1896. Mr. Hall was married in 1897 to a daughter of Mr. T. Kennedy, of Oamaru, and has one daughter.