PERSONAL GOSSIP FROM HOME.

(XltOaC OUB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, October 12.

Mr and Mrs Acton Adams have taken a house at Tunbridge Wells, and.the former journeys to and from London a& his business duties in connection with the Christ-

church Meat Company require. v On Wednesday I heard from Mr Grattan Grey that he has accepted an engagement in New York, and that he and Mrs Grey leave for America to-day. In America'they will Write their book, "Travels in. Two Hemispheres," which will be abundantly illustrated from photographs, taken by Mrs Grey. On WVdnesflay evening Mr Grey presided at a meeting of the London branch of the United Ir:sh League at the Bijou Theatre, in Bedford street.

Mr James Mills, of the Union Steamship Company, I hear, leaves in the s.s. Campania toest week for Canada. His.family leave tb-4ay direct for New Zealand, travelling by the s.s. Rimutaka^ , A rumour from what ought' to be a wellinformed source, reaches mc to the effect that the Hon. Richard Oliver may shortly leave England on his return to ths colony.. Mts Napier-Bell, of , whose intended visit to New Zealand"! have lately written, has take her passage by the P: and 0. s.s. Or-

tona, Hvhich sails from London for Australia next Friday, 11th inst. • Other passengers by the Ortoha are Colonel and Mrs Humfrey, Dr. and Mrs Grace, ;Miss Grace and Mr Grsee, Mr and Mrs W. M. Kirkcaldy, Mr and Mrs Reich, Mr and' Mrs H. Thompson, and the Misses Thompson. The names of Dr. and Mrs Ferguson and Mies Butterworth appear in the passenger list of the Qrient steamer Oroya, which is •advertised to , leave London on the Bth November. Mr and Mrs J. J. Herrick will be passengers by the same vessel. Mr A. J. Whittaker, who has. recently been staying at Chatham, left London on Wednesday morning en route for Marseilles, travelling overland through France, with the object of picking \ip th,e P. and 0. s.s. Britannia at the French port, on his return to New Zealand, via Australia.. It will be remembered that Mr Whittaker brought Home a number of. Maori curios and specimens of New Zealand. woollen goods, manufactured at the Petone Works of the Wellington Woollen Company. The curios, I hear from Mr Whittoker, were fairly successful, while the rugs have been quite successful, "simply delighting con-, noisseurs," as he put it. On September 22nd, at Ely CatbedTal, the ordination took place of the Rev. H. 0. Fenton, son of the late Archdeacon Fenton, of Oamaru. Mr Fenton, it will be. recollected, came Home some fifteen months ago for the purpose of studying at the Ely Theological College, where he remained up to the time of his ordination. Hβ tells mc that he is now hard at work in his , first curacy, that of St. James's Cburoh, ; Torpoint, Cornwall. Torpoint is on the Cornish side of Plymouth Sound, and is just across the water from the. great naval dockyards at Devomport. It has just been announced that a marriage has been arranged, and will shortly take place .between Commander James Fergusson, R.N., second son of the Right Hon. Sir James Fergusson, Bart., M.P., of Kilkerran, Ayrshire, and Miss: Githa Williams, youngest daughter of Mr' T. 0. Williams; of Wellington, New Zealand. The latter has been on a long visit to this country, and his spent much of her time with Lord and Lady Glasgow. Commander Fergusson is younger brother to Captain ergusson, who recently married Lady Alice Boyle, second daughter of the Earl and Countess of Glasgow. r Dr. Angus McNab, who is one of the well-known and much-respected Knapdale family, of Otago, is about to pay a sixmonth's holiday visit to New Zealand. I hear that he is one of the" two New Zea-. land athletes who were chosen to play for : the Edinburgh University Football Club as a member of the First Fifteen. He was also president of the Edinburgh University Athletic Club, which is one of tbe T>igges.t clubs .in Scotland. Dr. A. N. Fell, of Marlborough, Ne,w Zealand, is the other of the two JSew Zealanders who (have, bsen distinguishing themselves in Edinburgh athletics. He won. the- One-mile Championship of all the Scottish Universities, also*the Edinburgh Tihree-mile Championship. "Dr. Fell played ;for. Scotland as-a member of' the Edinburgh University Football Club successively . against the University teams of England, .Wales and Ireland.- TheEdin l , burgh University beat both the Oxford arid., the Dublin ,-University teams, and played a' drawn ' gairiV. with Cambridge. Dr., Fell ha.s Elected captain of the .Edinburgh University team- for the coming season.