PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 48, 26 February 1901, Page 2

PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, January 1*

Mr (' B. Morison has arrived, and is staying at the Hotel Windsor.

Professor and Mrs Jlacmillan Brown and family are enjoying the sunshine at Montreux, which will be their headbarters until May. Miss Mill-cent Lown is attending a French school, and also taking private lessons m French.

Lieutenant M. M.Gardiner and Captain Hume, of the New Zealand ArtUlerv are now both hard at work doing I the'"Long Course" of gunnery at, Woolwich.' Both were present at the j dinner given to Lord Uoberts last week , end.

Vccording to the ''Morning Post I Mr and Mrs Muggeridge have left **** | South-street, May fair, for -V'W '^ j laud.

Mr "Monty" Phillips, of Auckland, end Mr 11. H. Partridge, who have been on the wallaby in the Old Coun rj and on the Continent for some months past, have decided to quit Europe dur ing February and make for America There they witf stay for some time tripping 'hither and thither tw.xX. w York and the Gulf of Mex.co, an ■ then, when tired of Yankee ways and, notions, will go on to Vancouver,; there to ship for Sydney and home.. They had a most enjoyable time on the Continent during November and December, and came back to London m j time to eat their Christmas dinner; with friends her,. Last week they re-1 paired to the neighbourhood ot Hast- | lugs, in Sussex*, and got some fine : sport in the snow with their guns. It | was a novel experience to both and one that they would be very glad to renew. j

By a . Bournemouth paper I see that j Mr W A. Grey, whose effusions on the j subject of the Deceased Wife's Sister j Bill in the advertisement columns ot j the Canterbury papers Christchurch people will remember, is sending sim- j Bar screeds on the same subject to the English journals. At the meeting of the Eritish Orphan Asylum last week, it was announced that Mr F. P. Loveridge, an ex-pupil who now lives in New Zealand, had sent £490 to the Institution '"in discharge, of the obligation owed by him for education." Very pleased I am to chronicle this instance of gratitude for favours past. Mr F. M. Gilberd, who has started on a prolonged tour of the British Isles .vnd the Continent, was in Dublin for a few days last week, and there met •the popular ex-Irish champion cyclist. Harry "Reynolds, who was riding in New Zealand in '98, and has the happiest memories of the way in which the New Zealand League officials and wheelmen generally treated him during his stay among you. Harry d.Blred Mr Gilberd to convey his kindest regards to all his Maoriland friends, but as the latter does not expect to see the Long White Cloud for a long time to come, he asks me to become his deputy in the matter. I have much pleasure in acquiescing. Reynolds has now forsaken the path and has entered into business as a cycle and motor agent, and is, I'm gbid to hear, doing well.

You may perhaps see Mr E. T. Cook in the colonies before long. The late distinguished editor of the "Daily News" has had many pressing invitations lo "globe-trot,*'' and no doubt his sister-in-law, Mrs Bernard It. Wise, of Sydney (now in England), has cordially emphasised them, 4.8 a matter of fact it would really pay Australia and New Zealand to give Mr Cook £1000 simply to jog around for a year or so. His powerful pen when he returned to this country understanding the real Australasia would be invaluable to you. The robustly fair man who can see both sides of, a question and discuss it dispassionately is nowadays rare as a dodo. Mr Cook has of course cast iron convictions on political and religious verities, but shrewd commonsense, moderation, and consideration for others runs through everything he writes. Even when you don't agree with him he artfully makes you feel there is a good deal to be said for his mistaken view. Now this isn't at all so with Alderman Peter Clayden or Mr Stead. When the hitter's dicta are offensive one wants to ntastieate him and (of course metaphorically) spit him out. Recall the sensations following ou your last bad oyster and you will comprehend.

Mr E. T. Cook's farewell leaders in the "Daily News" deepened tlie gloom that has fallen on all moderate Liberals at the extinction of the one audible voice of common sense. Next morning Alderman Peter Clayden look up the reins again temporarily and strong language became the order of tlie day. The new triolet of Lehmann, Spender, and Massingham do not begin their duties till February. Assuming they mean to promulgate all the objectionable doctrines which obliged the "Chronicle" to dismiss Mr Massingham, f allow them three years to completely ruin the "Daily News." The "Sporting Times" puts the situation felicitously when it says: "The 'Daily News' has lost its Cook. Dutch courage and sauce llollandaise are now to be the two principal items on the bill of fare. It seems to us that the rowing coach will upset the journalistic one."

In the Edinburgh Court of Session Mr David MacGregor applied pet* counsel the other day for a re-trial of the breach of promise case brought against him by Mrs Brodie, who it will be recalled sued the "millionaire contractor" for £30,000, and was granted £5000 by a sympathetic jury. Mr MacGregor applied for a new trial on the grounds that the Lord Justice Clerk disallowed questions as to the plaintiff's previous life in New Zealand, and as to whether .he received male visitors in Glasgow, and aiso on the ground that the Judge declined lo postpone the trial «-.»• til* attendance of a witness v*mi_-_ Neil Hon. who it was suggested it* the evidence of witnesses lor the >•.-*_ hi tiff seduced Mrs Brodie whilst v'y.v was under the influence of a drug iidministered by him. The Lord Justice Clerk slated in the course of the trial in December last that he did not

intend to allow the history of matters in Australia or New Zealand to] be traversed, and that he was notgoing to hear the case of I.rodie j against Brodi" re-tried. "as this is. neither the place nor time for that. '

r hare not been able to see _Mr George Hutchison since his arrival; from South Africa, as he has been but j little in town, but in reply to a re- . quest tor an interview he has very j kindly sent iuc the following inipn -; sions of that country, which may be of "interest and service to those New Zealanders who are turning their attention there: —■ **I should be rather diffident (writes Mr Hutchison) about offering my advice as to when the present trouble is li-kelv to be over. In September, after Koomati I'oort was occupied, those most entitled to form an opinion thought the war was practically over, and thai the 'refugees' might ber.-in to return —indeed, arrangements were actually mat: by the railway authorities, aud only canr-ei'etl a day or two in advance of the dare j when the first train.-, were to run | through from Capetown and Durban | lo Johannesburg. Since then, as all the world knows, hostilities have j broken out in a new phase—more aggravating than regular operations, j and more exhausting. I should think, to trie Boers than the former cam-1 paigii. The whole extern of the | Orange River State and the southern part of the Transvaal are now depopulated, except as to the larger' towns, and denuded of all supplies, j The most of South Africa will have , To be 'reconstructed' in an almost | literal sense. Little was done in the! soring in the way of preparing for j seed time, and what was sown hasj been devastated so that it may be, '•aid that nothing will be produced! this season at ail. The flocks and j herds have disappeared. Many thou-j ! sands of head of cattle and sheep have j been 'reouisitioned' by the British :or 'commandeered' by the Boers, and such as were driven north during the winter to the 'bush,' veldt, or high pasturage grounds, have probably fallen victims to the malaria which in I summer in these regions sweeps man and beast out of existence. There I will no doubt be a, splendid market i not only for the usual tinned goods !on which South Africa has always I been so dependent, but. for restocki in"* the pastures that tais summer (during the rainy season) have been beautiful in untrodden stretches without a settler or a hoof for miles ! and miles. For industrial purposes South Africa will, as soon as hostilities are over, open up an immense I market, but it is to be remembered j that there are upwards of 70,000 re- ! fuo-ees on the sea coast waiting to j get back to the Transvaal and the Orange River State, who will from family associations and business connections have the first claim to employment, and very many of these wil have been impoverished by their ■ long exile, so that competition will ibe very keen for some time till furi .lie. developments OCCUr. Capital. ; however, should have an enticing* •field almost from the firs-t, Labourland only skilled would have any i chance-should wait for a few months I after business is resumed. Unskilled ; labour must be the Kaffir, to be i brought from the eastern coas_s or ! mid Africa." ' : The T.ev. J. C. Dearden, in pleading for the repeal of the Colonial Clergy '■ Act of 1874—which forbids any clergyman, ordained in the English Church [1, the colonies, to officiate in England i nithout first obtaining permission from the Archbishop of the Province and from the Bishop of the Diocese, under a penally of a fine of £10 for every sermon, and subjecting to a like penalty any incumbent who allows him the use of his church, aud further, provides that the Archbishop may not. license such a person to hold a curacy in England until he has been working in the country under temporary permission "for n period or periods exceeding in the aggregate two years - says that it usually happens that when a colonial clergyman, though an Englishraap by birth and education, applies for permission, to officiate in Fhgland, he is offered a. temporary license of three months or less, accomi panied by a polite request that at the • expiration of that time he will return jto the country whence he came. I roi vision must, of course, be made to prej vent any unworthy person coming from abro#l to officiate in our Church, lor any persons going abroad where j ~-cii are wauled, in order lo obtain ! Holy Orders, and then, deserting their | posts, returning lo their native land to seek livings iv the Church. But this i could easily be done by providing for ,\n proper examination of their eredeni tials.

The remedy appears to Mr Desirden to be, first, tho repeal of the aforesaid Act: then tlie appointment by Convocation of a committee under the Archbishop of Canterbury, which1 shall recommend to His Grace for a license any clergyman of good education whom the Colonial Bishops may testify to be of good character, and as having returned home with their approval. There has been lately much complaining of the. dearth of curates, while some of the best of our clergy, with a wide experience of men and things, are prevented by law from accepting a curacy at Home. The late Archbishop P.ensdn once .said that if the younger clergy would go and work for a few years in the colonies, they would come back not feeling so cock sure that they knew everything. But the English Church at present is not allowed to benefit as it might, by the earnestness, •the sharpened intellect, and the active habits which a colonial experience engenders in clerics.

New Zealand footballers in general and Nelson collegians in particular will be proud of the, selection of Mr A. N. Fell in tlie international team that is to represent Scotland against Wales at Edinburgh on the 261h. Mr Fell, who is chosen as one of Ihe four three-quarter backs, is one of six representatives of Edinburgh University in the team, the 'Varsity (which has carried all before it this season with a score of over 200 points as against only 11. scored against it) supplying the full back, two threequarters, one half, and two forwards to Scotland.

Mr Fell has proved himself as dashing a player and as consistent a scorer, in the Old Country as at the Antipodes-. He learned his football at Nelson College, chiefly under Mr Littlejohn, and in JS94 he was chosen as a three-quarter in the Nelson College first fifteen. In 1896 he represented his province against the V^est Coast of the South Island as wing

t.h'ree*-quarter. The match resulted in a draw. 3 points each, those of Nelson being scored by Mr Fell. In the winter of I-.07 Mr FclJ was studying medicine at Otago University." and both Ihe 'Varsity and the Province availed themselves ol his .services. He scored two tries for Otago in the inter-provincial match against Canterbury in 1897. when, Otago won easily by 20 odd points to

In ISO 3he came to Edinburgh t'niversity to continue his medical studies, and was naturally at once included in the 'Varsity fifteen. In the winter of 1.99-1900 he showed himself one of Scotland's most, prominent backs by his sterling play in the inter-city match. Edinburgh v. Glasgow, won by the former by 9 —3. He was picked to play in the last trial match, Cities v. Best, but was prevented from playing by illness. He was chosen as first reserve wing Lay'^-.quarter in the matches Scotland v. Ireland and Scotland v. England, but did not play in either. In the last inter-city match, Edinburgh and Glasgow, he scored two tries out of the score of IT points that the former ran up to* Glasgow's nil.

Last Saturday he again scored two tries for the cities in the trial match. Cities v. the Pest, which resulted in a hollow win fur the Cities by -."> to nil. It is to be hoped that Mr Fell's run of good luck will continue unbroken, and that he will score again for the land of heather against plucky little Wales en Saturday week. That Mr Fell does not shine only on the football field is proved by the fact that he won (i scholarships at Nelson College and a Junior University Scholarship on leaving the school, and by the good progress he has made in Edinburgh, having passed Ids first and second professional exams and going up for his third next March.