PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2087, 23 July 1901, Page 6

PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

[Prom the Dtjnbdin Evening Star.] May 31. Mr James Harrison (of Whangarei) and his : daughter, after leaving the Sonoma at 'Frisco, had a very interesting tour through America, in the course of which they yi.-ifciu Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Top«.:i, Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, Niagara, Buffalo, and New York. At Topeka they spent a very profitable and interesting five days. I Here Mr Harrison heard the Rev. "C. M. Sheldon, author of 'ln His Steps, preacn, and also deliver an address to young men in the Y.M.C.A. Buildings. Mr Harrison met Mr Sheldon and his iainer, the Governor of Kansas,' and several of the leading Topeka residents, and obtained much information as to the working of Prohibition in that State. Mrs Carrie Nation, he found was not a religious fanatic, but was backed up in her crusade against the illegal saloons or " joints," as they are called there, by a band of more than 1,000 of the leading citizens of Topeka, which included among its leaders the Congregational and Wesleyan ministers and some of the principal doctors and lawyers. What first .aroused Mrs Nation's indignation was the action of the liquor sellers in giving drink openly to the children on their way to school, in order to encourage a taste for liquor. Although the Kansas breweries, which are in Missouri, do their best to lostor "the liquor traffic and to put their lon to the municipal councils, Mrs >.ations supporters (after a couple of raids) coiß-Viled all the keepers of saloons to clear out, villi! when Mr Harrison was there there were only ' : two suspected saloons left. The PnuibK-.y)-ists, too, the day before Mr Harrisons departure, elected their representative as mayor. Mr Harrison came to the conclusion that from 60 to 80 per cent, of the drinking that took place before the introduction of Prohibition had been stamped out, and spoke with enthusiasm of the air of prosperity of the State, and the fine elejui stamp of its young men. During his eighteen days' sojourn in Chicago he lnvestjjrs'ea such industries as the abattoirs, ci> n-r.g establishments, cool stores, grain elevators, and department stoies. He was ilst much struck by the cheery method of the instruction given in the American schools and the children's evident enjoyment of their lessons. At Niagara he was much impressed by the '.'harnessing" of the great river, and thfi conversion of its current into electric ilgut and power. He was at Buffalo on the opening day of the Exposition, which has been such a frost, but found no exhibits there io see. In the restaurant in which he lad lunch were some twenty-five negro waiters, with scarcely another soul to attend on! After six 'days in New York Mr Harrison made for the English metropolis. After attending the kauri gum sales Mr Harrison will go up to his native county, Durham, running down to be present at each monthly gum sale. His plan of campaign includes tours in Scotland and Ireland, and a short run across the Continent to join his steamer at Naples at the end of September, unless business compels his return via America. The Ruapehu, renamed the Australasian for the time being, has been chartered by the Allan Company, and will ply across the Atlantic. The contract had. only just been fixed up when the New Zealand Shipping Company received a much better offer from the Admiralty, who wanted the Ruapehu as a troopship. This. would have meant not only a substantially larger sum to the shipping company, but that Captain Mayoss, who is now on shore on full'pay, would have continued to command the Ruapehu in her capacity of a "troopship on the tide." Mr Spencer F. Beard (of Masterton), who is at present at .Norwich with his wife and family, has taken a flat at Balaam, which he will make his headquarters. He goes to Yorkshire next week for a month, and then will visit friends in Sussex and Yorkshire. He will probacy winter abroad, but if lis health improves may spend Christmas in England, and leave early next year for the colony. His family he will leave behind to be educated here. At the meeting of the Annual Movable Committee of the M.U. at Norwich the directors reported that the various districts in New Zealand have been given permission to hold their own A.M.C., if they so desire. The trip Home in the Omrah has much improved the health of Mr W. J- Holam (manager of the New Zealand Insurance Company at Dunedin), who was one of the sufferers in the Roslyn tramway accident last October. Mr Bolam, who is accompanied by his wife and daughter, is, after an absence of eighteen vears, visiting his parents and relatives, and is at present resting at Bilton House, Lesburv, Northumberland. He will tour Scotland, looking in at the Glasgow Exhibition, and after a few weeks in London return about the end of August via Suez. Mr A. J. Whittaker (of Hawera) has brought with him a number of fine Maori weapons and other curios, which will be sold at Stevens's shortly. It is nearly thirty years since he was in England, and he hopes to see something of Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Monmouthshire, and Warwickshire, and Scotland and Ireland before departing in September. Mr T. P. Henderson (of Edinburgh), one of the numerous globe-trotters who have been making the round trip for health, has returned from New Zealand with a vivid recollection of the hospitality of people and a firm conviction of the country's great future. Mrs Dawson (of Auckland) and her two daughters, who came by the Persic, had about six weeks with Dr F. W. W. Dawson before he left for South Africa. The sea trip much improved Mrs Dawson's health. Mrs and Miss Bisset (of Christchurch), who have just landed from the Kumara, will make before long for the Glasgow Exhibition, the Tosachs and other parts of Scotland, and then for Paris. The Duke of Connaught has appointed Mr Alfred Seymour Bankart to be District Grand Master of Mark Masons for New Zealand, in succession to the late Mr F. W. L. Dawson. Sir George Martin has had to relinquish the examining tour which he had promised to undertake, and the Associated Board of the R.A.M. and R.C.M. have asked Mr H. W. Richards, Mus. Bac, organist of Christ Church, Lancaster-gate, to take his place. The latter sailed on Wednesday from London for New York, Canada, and New Zealand. „ _ The Rev. W. J. Williams and Mr James Jackson (both of Auckland) called in at the City Temple at the end of last week to write their names in the visitors' book and shake hands with Dr Parker. Canada is following New Zealand's example in the purchase of cattle by the Government. The Hon. Sydney Fisher (Minister of Agriculture) and Professor Robertson (Commissioner of Agriculture) landed at Liverpool this week, charged with the purchase of a special class of shorthorns, Guernseys, and Ayrshires to place on the experimental Government farms in Canada. Their mission is also to develop the trade of Canadian food products with the United Kingdom, to secure that these products, by means of special refrigerating plants, shall be delivered in perfect condition in England, and to get Canada struck off the schedule of countries having animals suffering from pleura-pneu-monia.

General Sir E. T. T. Hutton, who was Commandant of the New South Wales Forces from 1893-96, and was A.D.C. to the late Queen, has been appointed senior A.D.C. to the King. Probably no man living is such an authority on mounted infantry. Why do not the imperial Government entrust him with the working out of a scheme for an Imperial yeomanry, not confined to the United Kingdom, but spread over the whole Empire, and send him to confer with the colonial Premiers and Commandants on the best means of organising such a force in times of peace, so that it will need only a cable to call it into action whenever the Empire is again menaced? , A pathetic interest attaches to the letter written to the "junior rally" of the Christian Endeavorers (now holding their Convention at Sheffield) by the late Rev. James Chalmers shortly before his murder. The message was read at the Convention last Tuesday, and from it I cull the following strik-

ing passage:—"Youth! I envy you, and yet I feel young as ever in face of the foe. We have been much blessed in our work for Christ in this district, and are now awaiting another blessing. Because of an encroaching sea we had to leave Saguane, at the mouth of the Fly River, and come here to Daru, where we are now busy putting up houses. The leaving our old station has thrown us back much, but we look for greater blessings in the future." The cruiser Porpoise, just returned from Australia, was brought alongside Portsmouth Dockyard jetty to pay off a few days ago. Two years ago the Porpoise took part in quelling the insurrection in Samoa. For this service her crew are to have an extra week's holiday. Among those who will enjoy the privilege is Able Seaman Hunt, who, during the fighting, was left for dead by the Samoans, after they had cut off one of his ears as a trophy. Hunt was subsequently rescued, and is now, although minus an ear, little the worse for the adventure.

Thanks to China and the passing of men-of-war of all nations through the big ditch, the Suez Canal Company are able to report that the traffic of 1900 was almost equal to that of 1699, the record year. Judged by our part in the procession from Said to Suez, we do not seem to be in danger of losing our maritime supremacy for a year of two. Out of the 3,44-1 ships that passed through the Canal last year, 1,933 were British. Germany was a bad second with 462, and France third with 285.

Captain Gordon Wilson, son of the late Sir Samuel Wilson, who went to Australia with the Imperial troops, has been appointed a member of the Fourth Class of the Royal Victorian Order. He went down to Windsor with his wife, Lady Sarah Wilson, who has been made a Lady of Grace of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. Miss Louise Mack (Mrs J. P. Creed), who is a passenger by the Omrah. has a new novel on the stocks, which she expects to launch in London.