PERSONAL MATTERS

The Hon, W, H. Herries is at Gore, the Hon. R. H. Rhodes at Christchurch, and Hon. Dr. Pomare at Auckland. The Hon. W. Fraser will leave on ' Monday for the West Coast. Mr. A. Crook, S.M., is gazetted a Visiting Justice of H.M. Prison at New Plymouth. Mr. W. T. Jennings, formerly member of Parliament for Taumarunui, is on a visit to Wellington. ' -. The Rev. Mother Mary St. Denis is gazetted manager of St. Mary's Industrial School at Nelson. Constable J. Bagrie,\ of Levin, has been appointed an official member of the Paukawa District Maori Council. Mr. E. C. Jack, secretary of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, who has been ill for some time, has resumed duty. Mr. W. H, Morton, City Engineer, was last night nominated by the City Council as a member of the Plumbers' Board of New Zealand. Mr. J. M. Hussey, solicitor, of Hunterville, was yesterday admitted by his Honour Mr. Justice Chapman, to practice as a barrister of the Supreme Court. An expression of deep sympathy with the Mayor (Mr. D. M'Laren), whose brother died recently, and with thp Mayoress was passed by the City Council last evening. . ■ The Dunedin branch of the Civil Service Association unanimously decided to support the candidature of Mr. Mafryatt (Wellington) and Mr. Mouat (Dunedin) for seats on the Public Service Appeal Board. Owing to indisposition, Captain Stopford, of H.M.S. Pyramus, was forced to remain in Australia, and Lieutenant Denniston has had charge of the vessel. Captain Stopford has flow improved, and is to come to Wellington by the Maunganui, leaving Sydney to-morrow. Mr. C. Hellemann,- the new conductor of the Royal Wellington Choral Society, was present at the rehearsal of "Carmen" by the society last evening } also Mme., Carmen Pinschof, who will take the title role^in the production of the opera in concert form. By the death of Mr. Thomas M'Guinness there is. a man who in his time was prominently identified with this settlement (says the Taranaki Herald). In his youth he served in the Royal Artillery, and in the early fifties he came to New Plymouth and for years was warder or orderly at the old Colonial Hospital at Te Henui under Dr. Peter Wilson. During the Maori war he served in the Taranaki Rifle Volunteer Corps, in which he held an ensign's commission, and in the Militia, in which he held the rank of lieutenant. He was 86 years of age. Mr. E. W. Broad, who was killed at Marton Junction yesterday, was a brother of Mr. J2. L. Broad, of Palmerston, and was thirty-eight years of age. He had resided at Marton for" a j number of years past. Deceased was well known among the farmers and business men throughout the Rangitikei, Feikling, and' Wanganui districts, and was very popular (telegraphs our Palmerston correspondent). He was a valued worker in connection with the Marton A* and P. •Association, which he actively assisted to inaugurate, and was prominently associated with the cutting up of a large area of land between Marton and Marton Junction, which is. rapidly being built on. His loss will be greatly felt in the district. The death occurred on Wednesday at his residence in Christchurch of Mr. I Thomas Gapes, aged sixty-five years. Mr. Gapes has been a member of the City Council since 1891, and was Mayor in 1894. He was chairman of the Works Committee at the time of his death. Mr. Gapes was bom in London in 1848, and came to the colony with his parents iv 1859 by the ship Regina. He was educated partly in England and partly in the colony. He was associated with his father in business as glass and paint merchants. In 1889 Mr. Gapes took over the business on his own account and conducted it since, Mr. Gapes inaugurated the New Zealand Order'of Foresters' Guarantee Association, which has been financially an unqualified success, and he retained the office of secretary. He was appointed by the Government as the first member of the. Conciliation Board under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1894. ' After the rehearsal of "Carmen" by the Royal Wellington Choral Society last night, Mr. W. E. Oaldow (president) presented Mr. Maughan Barnett, the conductor, with a cheque for £92, the proceeds of the recent farewell concert, and a framed portrait of himself and the officers of the society. Mr. Barnett, he said, was a gentleman who had done as much as almost any man could be expected to do for the elevation of musical taste in Wellington, and his work was known from the . North Cape to the Bluff. In replying, Mr. Barnett said he was really very sorry to leave the society, for it had shown lum more consideration than any conductor had a right to expect. The work he had done would have been impossible but for the help, enthusiasm, and interest of the society. He -held that the society should be the centre from which the music of the city should radiate. He needed no photograph to remind him of the Choral Society, but, at the same time, he would be glad to have it in his room in Auckland, and he hoped that his duties would frequently call him to Wellirfgton.