PERSONAL MATTERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 44, 20 August 1908, Page 7

PERSONAL MATTERS.

Dr. Newman will be a passenger for Sydney by the Moeraki to-morrow. Hon. J. D. Ormond has booked for Sydney by the Moeraki to-morrow. Mr. S. Salek, of Wellington, who is at present in England, will be back in Wellington in December. Colonel Davies, Inspector of the Forces, is returning from Auckland. He is due here to-night. Mr. T. Hamer, Under-Secretary for Mines, is expected to return to Wellington from Auckland on Monday. Chief Judge Palmer, of the Native Land Court, which has been sitting in the Waikato, has returned to Wellington. Mr. D. D. Hyde, the Chief Poultry I Expert, will leave for Milton to-mor- [ row. He will spend about three weeks in the South Island. In the. Irish Presbyterian, the Rev. Dr. Gibb, of this city, now visiting" the Old Country, is described as "a Scotch minister who has taken Nevr Zealand under his care." Mr. H. J. Blow, who went to Makatote on Saturday, returned to Wellington last night. Mrs. Blow, wlio has been to Rotorua for the benefit of her health, came back with him. Mr. T. 3. Reid, son of Mr. J. Reid, Carterton, and a member of the New ; South Wales Second Contingent, died at the residence of his brother at Porirua on Tuesday He was aged 31, and ! while serving in South Africa contracted enteric. Failing health follow- 1 ed, and after visiting Australian health resorts Mr. Reid returned to New Zealand. The funeral takes place at Car- I terton. A New York telegram to an English paper just to hand announces the death at Atlanta of Mr. Joel Chandler Harris, the anthor of "Uncle Remus." He was regarded as the "Homer" of the Southern negro, and beloved of millions of English-speaking children. Mr. Harris, who was as well knpwn in England as in America for his stories m negro dialect, was born in 1848 at Eatonton, Georgia. He was *what is known in America as a "self-made man." At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to a printer named Turner, a wealthy planter, who published the first plantation newspaper in the world. Turner owned a paper called the Countryman, and at the age of sixteen young Harris was appointed to the editorship. Later on Harris went to Savannah, where he was employed on the editorial staff of the Morning News. Going to Atlanta, he became one of the editors of the Constitution. There he found a much wider scope to exercise his abilities, and Wb literary career really had its beginning m this journey. Millions have been delighted — both young'- and old — by the quaint humour and philosophy conveyed m the stories of "Brer Rabbit" and "Brer Fox." The general, perhaps natural, impression is that Mr. Arthur Balfaur, diligently working to regain his old position as the head of a Government, eagerly watches the results of by-elec-tions and other portents that may read \ as indicating a return to the good old j times. For purely patriotic reasons, i he might be inclined to cherish such desire (writes Mr. Lucy in the Sydney i Morning Herald). As far as personal predilection goes, nothing is further ■ from his mind. Talking with a friend ! the other night, he confided to him that I the dearest wish of his heart is that he might get away from Westminster and London for at least twelve months, and, iv some jealously-guarded seclusion, write a book he has for years projected. The remark followed in conversation upon President Roosevelt's coming re- ! lease. If Mr. Balfour had the opportunity, he would not follow in the President's pathway and go shooting big game in Central Africa or elsewhere. What he yearns for is deliverance, temporarily at least, from the * burden of work and responsibility as leader of the Opposition. He comforts himself with the conviction that at least for ,two years ho will not have thrust upon him 'the even greater burden of the Premiership. Indeed, he does not share the pleasing belief generally cherished in the Unionist camp that the present Government will be routed at the next^ general election. I gathered the impression that he believes they will have another lease of power, though with a considerably reduced majority.