LADIES, GENTLEMEN, And Others.

As a memento of Sir Wm. Steward's forty 'years' service m Parliament,' the electors of Waitaki have decided" to raise funds for the purchase of a house-,for the veteran. This a matter m which political partisanship ought not to be • shown. The manner m which the vanity of "'democrats" is tickled by' the Crown is to permit Ministers who have*' "Seen three years or more a member of any Executive Council to retain the title of "Honorable." The New Evangel) "Garge" Fowlds, according to the "London Gazette" of October c, has been permitted ~ to retain " the title of "Honorable," tlie King approving of it. Gam ! *_« ' * Harry Muller, to whose careful management is due ' the success of the municipal ' 'Opera House at palmerston North, has, after receiving many tempting oilers, succumbed tp the' blandishments' bf an Australian 4 theatrical proprietor, • and _is now chief business manager m Australia for Allan Hamilton. Harry was ( a popular individual with eye'rybody .who came m contact .with him!, and lin , losing him Palmerston 'North not , only loses a good fellow but a sort jof citizen who is ill-spared. _ \ ' * * * "Truth" is gratified to learn that Ithe Revi'; Arthur.. Fox:, of Cust, Cani tcbury, is not' a wowser. The re- ' verend gentleman received a" copy of j a sky-pilot's nianifesto" m favor of } local ' No-license and Dominion' 'Prohibition, and was requested ,to sign j it, < but replied 'm the following .terms : "The Vicarage, Cust, Nov. 9. j Gentlemen^ — Believing, as I do, that ! either local No-license or Dominion ! Prohibition would be an interference ■ with the rights 'of personal libWty, J and calculated to create much more j evil than it is intended to remove, I shall, ,as heretofore, use .any 'in--1 fluence • 1 may possess to oppose ;your wishes snd defeat - your plans. ' — Yours faithfully, Arthur Fox." •.* v » Definitely and' finally Mr A. R. Ba.rclay, Labor candidate for Dunedin, has been retired from ' the com- , ing contest. Mr Barclay never recovered . properly from his recent illness, and at the urgent command of his medical advisers he returned to, the country on Saturday last. Much sympathy will be felt for the I genial little politician and lawyer, I wb.o was such a prominent figure m ! Dunedin's public life.. Dunedin work--1 ers have lost a good friend 'm Mr' Barclay, who was. always willing to listen tc their grievances of hard luck, and never sent them^ afway wanting. , N - .. S^xnuel Mackay, "father of the .West Coast." "is dead He. was a native' of Leods * (Yorkshire) /and arrived j/xt , Nelson m -1854=. Ife came to the West Coast' m 185-7, where he met Mr James Mackay, junr., m 1860. ( who bought from eight to 'ten, million acre* of land from the natives ' for £150 cash, a ton of flour, and half v a ton of svgar — altogether valued *at £300 Mr Mackay witnessed the sLsrnatures.* He subsequently- visited Oliarito. finding gold on the beach and mOe Buller river. He visited . Christchurch 'in.lS63, and wrote a letter to the I 'Lyttelton Times" which caused a i rush to set m. > . I. _* -» y , There was the fervor of patriotism about when Vigor Brown, M.P. for Napier retires from the 'chairmanship of the Napier Harbor Board early jn the year. He was voted the sum of 50 guineas with which to purchase a sui+able "mempnto of his long association with the Board and the regard m which he was held by the members. The vigorous person subsequently purchased, as a souvenir, a solid silver tea and coffee service of* ' Queen Anne design, the salver bearing the following inscription : — 'Presented to J. Vigor Brown, Esquire, M.r , by the Napier Harbor Board on his retii foment from tho chairmanship, which position he held from ' February 3 001 until April 1911. Napier, New 'Zealand, April 26,' 3 911."