PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

Dunstan Times, 28 December 1900, Page 3

PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

[From the Evening Stae’- Correspondent.] November 10. Mr W. E. Curtis {of Wellington) has been making good use of his time since he landed on the 24th September. After a thorough tour of London and the environs he made C via Liveipool for the North of Ireland, ■jttvhere he visited Belfast, Loch Em, and H ime of the other Irish, lochs, with the of whose scenery he was charmed, Castle Archdall. From Ireland he to Glasgow, and visited in rapid sucPaisley, Birminghim./and ManchesHe leaves on Sathrlay* for a month’s to Taunton, Torquay/ and other parts Hof Devon. After a couple of months in ■ Scotland he purposes seeing something of and Holland, collecting some choice bulbs in the latter country, and will probably return via New York, reaching the colony in March. Mr Curtis proved his enterprise ‘on C.I.V. day, amid the record crowd, bv witnessing the procession first at Marble Arch, then at Hyde Park corner, then at Trafalgar square, and finally at Fleet street. Such mobility and knowledge of the country would be to a Cockney, and is doubly so to a colonial. After an absence of three - and - twenty years, Mr John Earp is once more with his friends in the. Coventry district. He and his brother came to the Old Country by the Waiwera intending to make a series of tours in England, but they have found is a matter of difficulty to get away from their relatives and friends in Birmingham, Coventry, Warwick, and Kenilworth, and so far have spent their time there. They have in view a trip to North Wales and to the North of England, but their movements will depend to a large extent on the weather. At present we are in full en- 1 joyment of a most unlovely sample of November damp gloom, which is not at all conducive to either good spirits or good health, r and makes travelling the reverse of pleasant. The brothers intend to leave for the colony by the Gothic, sailing from London on November 22, and will reach Wellington early in the new century. Mr .H. C. Craddock (an old Canterbury College student), who recently held the position of classical master at St. John’s College, Auckland, is now on the staff of the Highbury House College at St. Leonards-on-Sea. Mr Craddock came Home with a view to gaining tutorial experience in the Old Country, and expects to remain here at least twelve months. He travelled to England from Sydney in the Austral, and, landing at Marseilles, did the Paris Exhibition en route to London, where he arrived at the end of August.. Mr C. Roberts, of Feilding, who left New Zealand early in the year, and came to England by way of Sydney and thence per the N.G.L. steamer Prinz Regent Luitpold, seems to have had a particularly enjoyable tour round the Old Country since landing at Southampton on May 25. After a brief snell in London he toured a-wheel right through by way of Cambridge and York to Whitby, and {hence made his way by rail to Keswick, where he made his headquarters for three weeks whilst doing the Lake district. His next move was to* Newcastle, and thence to Edinburgh, seeing most of the interesting old places eu'route. The month of August Mr Roberts spent in the Highlands near Balmoral, and obtained a permit allowing him to go over Sfcthe Royal demesne. From Ballater he back to Modem Athens by way of the Pass Kiliiecrankie, Lochs Tay, Earn, Callander, the Trossachs, and-Stirling. From Edinburgh to London was his next move, and in the metropolis he has remained ever since. He is returning to Australia by the Grosser Kurfurst, which leaves Southampton on Monday next. Two of the colonial ladies who witnessed the C.I.Y. function from your London officeson Monday week have not yet got over the shock of the appalling Scene in Ludgate Circus, during- which one was crushed to death and some 160 seriously injured. The ladies early retired from the windows, finding themselves unable to witness the dreadful sight below, but they could not close their ears to the piercing shrieks and groans of the people being trampled on. The inquest on the lulled woman was a most unsatisfactory affair. Neither the Post Office (whose mail cart caused the chief catastrophe) nor the troops who were supposed to be keeping Older pat in an appearance, and the police calmlv disclaimed The jury had perforce to return a verdict of Accidenta death,”-, but they affixed a strong rider thereto blaming the Post Office but not the police. The whole affair may well be designated incredibly scandalous, and 1 aon t wonder at Australians boasting such a fiasco could never .have- marked suca an occasion at our end of the world, big as the crowds might be.” The following tribute to the boats of the German 1 line to Australia, which I take from the, private letter of an able editor now on his Way back to New Zeidand with an invalid wife and daughter, ought, I considei, to be published. With regard- to the alleged negligences of the P. and 0. it is absurd to speak whilst their steamers overflow with passengers every voyage. _ the truth is that outward bound they invariably carry all the smart folk, and hundreds book by them simply on the chance of making acquaintance with the salt of the earth. Ihe Victoria, could have been thrice over by disinterested enthusiasts anxious to sha.e the Hopetouns’ trip from Colombo to r iee- * mantle. However, to return to my friend and the German boats. Writing froin the Barbarossa on October 28 he says : We are daily felicitating ourselves on the choice of the Barbarossa. She is the steadiest ship I have ever travelled on. The officers axe all most courteous, the stewards civil and obliging, the cabins clean, and the menus most liberal in quantity and excellent in quality—superior to the P. and 0., as we experienced the rule of that line on board the- India, in every department. A band plays during dinner and at eleven o’clock evfiy morning. The ship is manned entirely by white sailors, who have the decks mqpped down and dry before we come up, and there are no dirty Lascars messing about with rags all the morning. Instead of being marshalled to breakfast at nine, that meal can be partaken of at any time between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. The management of the cuisine exhibits good taste and .originality. Last night, for example, every 'lady in .the saloon received a choice floral with the captain’s compliments. preparatory to arrival at Port Bpjjaid, the saloon lights were extinguished 'BMjefore the serving of the ices, and the stew’■Sbvds mardied in with colored lights and ice jynterns aid made a general distribution of miniature flags, Jap umbrellas, and bon ■/bons with the ices. It would pay the P. & ; Vnd 0. Conpany to send out one of their di- - ifectors inog. by a German ship to see how i 'Rulings art managed. I meet aboard this /Vessel met who, after prolonged experience ( aboard P. <nd O. ships, vow that even patI flotism wll not induce them to put np I »gain with the insolence and studied disreI gard of the convenience of pa ssengers which characterise that line. Knowing as you do how strong my views are regarding the duty of British people to support British lines, and how reluctantly we took passage by the Barbarossa after are had failed to get accommodation in the Victoria, you will realise how much I deplore this state of , things.’. . , The Tev. of the Michael’s,

month. The Agent-General and Imperial Institute are lending him a collection of exhibits representative of colonial produce and industries, and he is also gathering objects of interest from various private collectors. Colonel Francis has been advised by his doctor to recuperate at Brighton for a week. Prior to going to the seaside he Avill, however, see something of London sights, including the Lord Mayor's show. He and his shipmate, Lieutenant-colonel De Villiers, attended morning service last Sunday at the Chapel of the Chelsea Hospital, and were much interested in the old pensioners, the tattered banners, and the many historical associations of the home of soldiers broken in our wars. The Rev. J. T. Evans, of Somerset Barracks, Shorncliffe, is arranging for another excursion of colonials to Windsor. Several New Zealanders will be members of the party, and probably Colonel Francis' will join them. Mr Ralph Ewing, of Dunedin, who came Home by the Rome on a tour in which pleasure is being leavened by mining business, landed at Marseilles, and did the Paris Exhibition before coming on to the Old Country. After spending some time in London he has now gone to Scotland to visit his father's native place. Later he goes to America, where he expects to remain for some month; indeed, he does not expect to strike Dunedin again till a year has elapsed. Mr A. R. Craddock, the recently-ap-pointed lecturer in electrical engineering at Canterbury College, will leave for the colony the first week in January, and proceed via Boston and San Francisco, focussing the latest flashes in the electric line en route. Bir Westby Perceval will proceed to ISTew Zealand at the end of the year. Lieutenant R. J. Seddon, jun., who is' now on Lord Roberts's Staff at Pretoria, is coming to England with the Commander-in-Chief when the latter returns from the war. Lieutenant Seddon anticipates being in England when the representative colonials arrive for their laurels in the Mother Country, and hopes to return ito the colony with his brothers-in-arms. Nearly a million of the new universal penny postage stamps are being despatched to the colony in the Papanui, and 40,000 by the San Francisco mail. Of the many art commissions which the Agent-General has had to distribute lately, one of the most recent is the seated figure of the Queen in bronze, to celebrate the jubilee of the province of Canterbury- This has been entrusted to the hands of Mr Williamson, of Esher, the sculptor of the Harper memorial, who is now busy designing a figure of Her Majesty. I understand that the reliefs on the pedestal are to represent the arrival of the Canterbury Pilgrims and the departure of the Rough Riders for South Africa. Mr Williamson is also busy on a bust of the Prince of Wales, the only member of the Royal Family .whom he has not yet " sculped." 'Black and White' has a series of interesting illustrations of groups taken during Mr Seddon's visit to the Pacific Islands. Having just finished a long, course of bncteriological work at King's College, Dr Mackin (of Christchurch) is now going to take a couple of months' holiday with his wife. They are going to do a trip round the Mediterranean in the Assyrian Prince, and will be absent about a couple of months, during which time they will visit Tunis, Cairo, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Beyrout, and several other historic places in the Eastern Mediterranean. They will have as a fellowpassenger the Rev. Dr Waiters, principal of St. Patrick's College, Wellington, who has improved greatly in health during his sojourn on this side. All in a hurry in search of the files by the San Francisco mail came Private Raynes, of the First Contingent, into the New Zealand Press Agency the other day. He was invalided after enteric from the Cape about a couple of months ago, and has spent the interim very enjoyably with friends in London, Pembroke, Devon, and Sussex. He lias also made the trip to Paris, and seen the great show. Yesterday he set sail for New Zealand by the s.s. Papanui, by which steamer I understand Private Sutherland, of the First Contingent, will also be a passenger. Private Raynes is, unhappily, a non-talker, and the few questions I had the opportunity of putting to him did not produce answers out of which " copy" can be made. It is announced that the marriage arranged between Viscount Kelburne, R.N., Lord Glasgow's eldest son, and Miss Sybil Mure will not take place. Mr H. Von Haast has commenced practice as a barrister-at-law at 9 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn. I hear he contemplates joining the " Devil's Own" and going in for volunteering enthusiastically. "Marsh Ashton," the author of 'Haggitt Shy,' a novel which has been favorably received by the critics, is a sister of the late Sir William Fitzherbert, and in private life is Miss Daubeney Fitzherbert. Mr F. E. N. Crombie (of Auckland), a stepson of the late Captain Ashby, arrived in England a few days ago on a visit to, hi* mother at Oxford. His mission is one of private family business and pleasure com-' bined, .and his movements are very uncertain. He proposes to Avinter in the Old Country, and to do a tour on the Continent in the early spring. He will probably return to the colony in the autumn of 1901."