OUR LONDON LETTER.

SOME PERSONAL AND. GENERAB j NOTES. From Our Special; Correspondent. I ' London, Nbveniber 19. I Mr and Miss Reilly, of Hawera, came over by the Connthic, and are i returning by the same steamer, which left on Friday. Miss Reilly I has been taking singing lessons from Madame Minnie Fischer in London. I The Rev. Edward Woodhouse, of Dunedin, oame' to the Old Country j last May on account of & breakdown in health. He is now greatly improved. He is on a visit to his relation* in Aldham, Lanca. Most of His time has been spent there, but he has visited the Lakes, Lincolnshire, Shr>nshire and London. Dr. H. J. McLean, of Wellington, came to England via Canada last May. He left London, also by the Corinthic, on Friday, on. ins return. Mr Guy H. Scholefield, who is a prizeman of the University of Novr Zealand, is now engaged dn journalistic work in London. He is the author of a volume just being published under the title of "New Zealand in Evqhition, Industrial, Economic, and Political." Mr Pemiber Reeves, your late High •Commissioner, is* contributing an introduction. (A copy of this bulky work has just been received from the publisher, Mr T. Fisher Unwin, for review in the Star,.-— Editor, Star.) * Mr T. E. Donne, Commissioner of Trade and Immigration, has visited Bristol, to discuss with the leading business men of that port the possibilites of direct trade with New Zealand. The following members of the University of New Zealand have been admitted members of the Royal College of Surgeons : Arthur Jonas Friedland&r. John Mitchell Mehafry, Thomas Alexander Milroy. and Sydney Harland Ward. In my last I mention^ that they had received licenses to practise from the Royal College* of Physicians of London, having passed the final examination, in medicine, surgery, and midwifery of the Conjoint. Examining Board. All these gentlemen are from the Otago University. Lord Ranfurly is one of the Commjttee formed for the purpose of tendering to Sir John, Taverner, AgentGeneral for Victoria, a complimentary banquet in recognition of Ihe honour recently bestowed upon him. Others of the Committee are Lorcl Brassey, the Earl qf Darnley. Lord Stpathcona: and. (Mount Royal, : and m&ny .well kn'bwri men connected with the .banking and commercial interests of the State. . The. banquet is to take, place at the Troeadero on 29th inst. A .recent, sneaker on New Zealand was Miss Lucy -Broad, who addressed' the Manchester. Women's: Christian Temperance AflfiOftuition. The subject was the no-lfce&e; •movement in New Zealand, ana ofte said thai it had resulted there., m a wondexfoil awakening of the" of the people in regard; to, t£e &ank traffic. The Colonial • Club' has engaged rooms for. %\$ season at the Phoenix Hotel,- in Pcihcefs street; Oxford Circils. Fdrtwghtly,. Tie-lmiotis of colonials and their, fnends are to be held there, and . colonial* newspapers will be ™cd. The eng^gemgn^ is announced' of Captain 'J.N oel Shaw-, of the Royal Australian ArtiHeryV' eon of Mr J. A Sh'aV.^ ofJSt, Wolc;ujs'6- 'Canteroury, and St. Wolonsrhs, Malajiide, DubUn, and Miss Eileen McMShon, of Largs, o.A. The* following announcement appears in Tuesday.'s Daily Telegraph under the ' ''MarriageV' column: Porteous— Rayner. — On November 13, at St. Mary's Ohurbh, Hprnaey, by the Rev. C. E. Simpson, M.A., William James Porfceous, M.8., Oh.B of Dunedin, New Zealand, to Edith, third daughter of Mr and Mrs Richard Rayner, "Cintra," Hornsey. Colonial and New Zealand papers pleafee copy. The following announcement appears in Tuesday's Daily Telegraph under the "Deaths" column: 'Barks — On November 10, 1909, at 16 Skelton road, Forest-gate, Essex, Elizabeth Parks (nee Urch), widow of the late \\ alter John Parks, of Trinity-square, Tower-hill, London. R.I.P. Austral ban and New Zealand papers please copy. The death is announced of Major Charles James Urquhart, at Heatheroft,- 'Ascot, in his 76tfi yeai-. Manor Urquhart served with the York and Lancaster Regiment through the New Zealand wars of 1860, 1861, and 1862, for which he was mentioned in despatches and receired| the medal. He afterwards exchanged intb the Royal msh Fusiliere. He wa» appointed ri-n 186 ,^ , ad J"*ant to iU 5Vh Snrrey Rifle Volunteers, Magi appointment he held untfl 1884. fife afeo field the post for fifteen yearg of camp adjutant of the old Volunteer camp at Wimbledon. He married in 1866 a daughter of the late Robert D'Arcv Hildyard, of,. the Rifle Brigade.