PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

Evening Star, Issue 11454, 23 January 1901, Page 7

PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

11? Our London correspondent, writing on De||cember 14, supplies the following items : P r ,. A ™ )ng , the Passengers by the China are KJoir Westby and Lady Perceval, Mr F. PerScevai, and Miss Perceval, who are return||ing to the colony. The length of their 6|sUy is somewhat uncertain, as I understand |f that Lady Perceval's health is the cause of gPheir departure from England. Although g|the ' Chronicle' says it is not certain Hgwhether Sir Westby will settle down again mm Maoriland or go to Hobart and try foi |ja seat in the new Federal Parliament, most KsAnglo-New Zealanders expect to see him back again in London before verv long. Another passenger by the China is Mr J. Montgomery, of Christchurch, who has been spending the last few davs of his visit in Paris. Colonel Francis is also returning to the colony by the China, after a reception or. this side such as few colonials have received. Representative people of all kinds have vied with one another in offering hospitality to the commander of the Fourth Contingent of Rough Riders, and he is carrying away very pleasant memories of the kindness of the English. Last week he lunched with the Lord Mavor at the Mansion House, and was shown all over that historic building by his host. A pleasant evening was spent last Friday, when Mrs Hector, better known to readers of fiction as Mrs Alexander, gave a dinner party and an "at home" to meet Colonel Francis and Major Burnham, the famous American scout. Among those present were Dr Crozier (a Canadian, and the author of 'The History of Intellectual Development'), Mrs Bumham, Miss Hector (secretary to Mr Rider Haggard), and Mr and Mrs H. Von Haast. Major Burnham's experiences proved so interesting that it was with difficulty the men of the party could tear : themselves away after dinner to join the ladies. On Sunday afternoon Colonel Francis was the guest of Mrs and Miss Elliot Page, and met a number of very interesting people. On Monday the Lord Mayor insisted on hitlunching at the Mansion House again. At m the lunch after the annual sen-ice held at jsSt. James's, Garlick Rill, on behalf of the jgEast London church fund, which is attended Sby the Lord Mayor and sheriffs in state, Francis saw the heads oi Sthe City in all their glory, and *,nll the magnificent gold and silver plate ||of the Corporation was urrayed in its Ijsplendor. Colonel Francis also met the s|Lady Mayoress (Miss Green) and her sister. ||on Tuesday night he was the guest- of the ggSurrey magistrates at their annua! dinner. |sand in response to the drinking of his recounted some of his South African ||experiences. Last night he attended as wsat home given by Mr and Mrs George Cavej ggat Wardrobe Co"urt, Richmond. The last ||three days of Colonel Francis's visit to Englljland will always be red-letter days in las for ou ea-ch he had a most gras|cious reception by Royalty. On Tuesday pine was the guest of Princess Louise and the ||Duke of Argyll at Kensington Palace. They ||made him feel quite at home at once, and ||showed him in person all the interesting ||sights of the palace, including the rooms in ||whicb the Queen was born and in which ||she received the news of her accession. On ||saying good-bye, the Duke of Argyll presented Colonel Francis with a book on the aspa-lace written by himself, and with a very glkindly inscription in the Duke's own kand*pivriting. On Wednesday Sir Edward Lawpfson, the principal proprietor of the ' Daily invited Colonel Francis down to p|Hall Barn, BeaconsSeld, Bucks, to meet the ||Prmce of Wales, who was Sir Edward's ||gnest for the pheasant shooting. The New gpZealander was presented to H.R.H. before Eslunch, and occupied a seat close to him at j||that function. Lords Rosebery and Car||rington were the colonel's next-door neigh||bors, and Admiral Sir Harry Keppel, the ||G.O.M. of the navy, also had a little chat ggwith him. After lunch, when the shooting rawas resumed, tie Prince of Wales invited ||Colonel Francis to stand by his side, and ggchatted most agreeably, expressing his high of the gallantry «>f the Newjj gSZealanders, as to whose doings he was evi-? Ijdently well posted. The skilful way in ||whicu the heir to the throne brought down i|Sthc rocketing birds in quick succession with Shis right and left barrel convinced Colonel j of the ability of H.R.H. as a sports- \ flman. With the gracious thought which! ||has made the Prince so popular, he presented! Francis with a brace of fine - birds, to |jbe preserved in the refrigerating chamber.! 2§jand to be hereafter the pieces de |Bof a family banquet on the New Zealander'se lijreturn to Christchurch. The Prince also! the finest cock pheasant that fell a) slyictim to his gun, and gave instructions thatj ||it should be stuffed and sent out to Colonel? as a mtmento of the ||sport. Yesterday Colonel Francis accom-j IgpHshed the thing* on which he had set his« ||heart ever since his arrival in England : to" homage to the Queen, to uphold* ggwhose supremacy the New Zealanders have; ||been fighting so gallantly in South Africa.i |||On Wednesday Colonel Francis had given] |j|up all hope of a visit to Windsor, as thej methods of the War Office seemed un-j Siable to procure him access to the Sovereign, s ||a.ud owing to some misunderstanding ad-S was not taken of the Canadians'; ||trip to Windsor to include Colonel Francis! j|lin that body. However, early yesterdays ||morning Colonel Francis received a !et-| ||ter informing him that Princess Louise! §ihad arranged for the Queen to see him at! ||Windsor that afternoon. Proceeding to' in mnfti, Colonel Francis was met] j*aat the station by the Duke of Argyll, who! parook him to lunch in the town and then con-! pklueted him to the Castle. Here Colonel, m Francis was first presented to the Sjof Wales, who with the Duke of Arnvllf gj then presented him to the Queen. Her? |g Majesty received the New Zealander very! j| sraciously, and said : " I am very pleased! & indeed to see you. and I thank you from* H the bottom of my heart for the noble workj ||you have done in' South Africa." After thej —which lasted only five minutes— i » was over, the Duke of Argyll showed Colonels p Francis all over the Castle. letting him see* S not only all tbe rooms usually shown to thet Is public, but all the private apartments, ex-s gcept the Queen's bedroom. This gracious? 1 reception by Her Majesty formed a- right! H royaj termination to Colonel Francis's visit,! land New Zealand's loyalty should bej | strengthened, if that be' possible, bv the| a favor shown to the commander of her Bought ■jgßiders, the War Office has treated! I Colonel Francis with every kindness and! Bgenerority, and has given him eighteen! Bmpnths' leave on full pay. £ I) Mr Justice and Mrs Denniston and their! Kfaniily Mt to-dax_lFriday} for SoutJtuunntonJ

Inhere they will join tho North German Lolyd Company's Darmstadt, sailing for the colony on Saturday. Although the last fortnight of their stay in London has been continuously wet, Mr Justice Denniston has managed to do a fair amount of sight-seeing. He was a guest at the Crichton Club's annual dinner a couple of weeks ago, and met a number of interesting Bohemian*, and was present at the Savage Club the two last Saturday nights. On the latter the annual anrner of the club was held at the Hotel Cecil. Sir W. H. Preece, the well-known! electncjan, presided, and Lord Alverstonej the Lord Chief Justice, proposed the toast off the Savage Club. Even after two expeii-l T ce >- of tllis famou s club's entertainments? the New Zealand Judge considered the stan-| dard maintained on the evenings of tho An-S trpodean Savages in Christchurch a high one.l °" F ™day las t Mr Justice Denniston dined* with Mr J. Cathcart Wason, M.P.,,at tie! House of Commons, and heard the debate! fflupon Mr Emmott's amendment to the AdMarcss m Reply to the Queen's Speech, in the ■|courso of which Mr Chamberlain made his ißSstatement as to the future government of IgSouth. Africa, and Sir Henry Campbell-Ban-|nerman, Mr Asquith, Mr John Burns. Mr . i" rre velyan, Mr Keir Hardic. and Mr -»rim 'Healy spoke. Mr Justice Denniston 1 S™ 8 especially struck by the scholarly speech s|of Mr Trevelyan, and by the rugged eloquence of Mr John Burns, which made a .Hdeep impression upon him. On Sunday imght he dined with Mr J. Cathcart Wason gat Belgyave Mansions. Mt Edward Lloyd's ■ concert at the Albert Hall on Wednesday, at which a large nnmber«pf rcpre-f [ggsentative artists sang, wound ur? a veryE iSgpleasant round of entertainments. Mr Jus-| |tice Denniston, like a good Scotchman, spent! Shis last night on English soil at the-dinner off Caledonian Society, where he replied! !' to the toast of " The Visitors." | o ?? e J e F Reve rend Archdeacon Devoyl S.M., VS., of Wellington, and the Very] Reverend Dean Carew, J.M., of Greyraouthi who were chosen last July to proceed tof Europe to attend a General Chapter of the! religious order to which they belong re-1 oentlv arrived in London, after a pleasantS voyage by the Messagerie liner La Ville de* La Ciota.t, from Sydney. After finishing? the work which brought them to Europe! tiey in company with the Rev. Father! newl y- a PPointed rector of St J j|Patnck g College, Wellington, took a trip? ground Itoly; visiting Turin. Milan, Rome,! , MNaples, Venice, etc. At Rome they had an! with His Holiness the Pope, and ob-> .Stained his blessing, and then came on toi , ! L °ndon by way of Florence, Genoa, Lyons J !?? : £ s ' Herc thev are the guests of the! Marist Fathers at St. Anne's Church, Under-! ;rood street. Their next move will be to| li-eland, where both Archdeacon Devoy andf Dean Carew have a large circle of relatives? and fnends. They expect to remain in Ire-s .and about three months, and will journey? .|§back to New Zealand bv way of the State-* f ©They expect to reach New Zealand some time! . Min June. p ■ M Tho Agent-General is advertising forf 1 lno?n ty vctsrlllar y surgeons, at a salary off . a year. The terms offered seem hardlvl Shiga enough to attract the best class of men I ; sand I understand that an addition to theiil ■ by private practice is not permitted. I ■m The many friends of Mr Jack Dixon, off • gJAucklaud, will be interested to hear that bef • W* " ow wandering about in England clad infc : gkuaki, and wearing on his slouch hat a mapleS i Sgleaf. which proclaims him to be a private off i SStJic Ist Canadian Contingent, Jack has bee n\ . girtome for some months, but he saw a fv\\ : gamount of fighting out yonder, aud was pre-* ■ |sent at Paartkberg. Very much so, indeed i .jgfor m addition to receiving a slight woundj ■ She managed to make himself so conspicuous! . am the field as to be mentioned in despatchi-sf ■ |for bravery. His wound, though only slight.? i|gbrou g ht him into a low state of health, andf • SjnnaUy a touch of enteric made him a hospital? ■ |gcase. Ho managed, however, to convalesce! tgSm time to rejoin his corps at Bloemfontein i ; |Rd to take part in another rifle flirtation ■ Bjwitn the Boers, but then came a relapse, and ; |the authorities decided to send him Home to : >|recruit Here he has enjoyed himself im- ■ gjmensely among relatives and friends, and? ■ gdoesn t seem m the least anxious to go back 1 jjto Our Lady of the Snows. In Canada Mr i ;|pixon was secretary to the Klondvke Trad- ! Company, and had a pretty " fat" berth ■ Swnicn he threw up to go to the war. He | proposes to return to Canada early in the : Egnew year, unless something turns up herc : ||v-ery much to his liking. ! Mr W. J. Tonkin, of Dunedin, has arrived in the Old Country after a-pleasant trip by way of Australia, whence he came! by the Oceana to Marseilles and overland! to London. Kis mission is " rabbits," and i he has arrived here at a time when frozen j rabbits arc about as disappointing a line oil gauierclundise as one can well conceive. NoR ■ ibetter indication of the state of the marker? I can be given, perhaps, than the results oft U an auction sale this week. The auctioneers \ over 25,000 crates of Victorian a ,a rabbits, but at the end of the sale only about \ :|SOO crates were sold at the reserve pricel Jo* 14s per case, though storage was paid onF I most of the lots to the end of the month.(s | Another illustration may be given as ind'ij |catmg some people's view of the market! I tor the immediate future. Some five or aixf: §j hundred crates of South Australian rabbits! i|| were landed a week or so ago, and the con-f ||signee at once commenced to sell them rfiS ||afc the rate, of about s,}d per rabbit rather! ' than incur storage charges. Mr Tonkin hasp luckily very few rabbits on hand here. and| consequently is not in a particularly ile-| pressed. frame of mind. Of course thejj deadly dull condition of the market meansE a good deal to him, for in fixing up con-g tracts ahead his customers will necessarily! jtake into consideration the heavy stocks nowp in store here. Personally I .fancy it would! pay people in the long run if they were tog force out their stocks at almost any prices in order to get a comparatively clear markct| for rabbits to arrive. You c'annot. of course,! 5a compel a greedy market for rabbits by sell-S I at very cheap rate?, but it is possible that! ||if retailers were able to sell for a time :tt| §j extremely low prices housewives would, tof ;jguse a vulgarism, "get on to frozen rabbits,"! gland, finding them good, would be-and-bye| | be prepared to spring prices that wou'ldS | wive importers and dealers a fair return. Atf without doubt, the frozen rabbitl | is not in great favor. The reason is not farl S to seek. Both retailers and consumers haveV ||discovered that once the process of thawing** [ghas commenced the Australian or New Zea-I je|land bunny quickly begins to "talk," and* if the weather be in any degree! M" muggy," both fight shy of it. A spell ofg cold weather has an immediate effects ||on the market, but so far this season we! 'rahave been laboring under the worst kind oil Sjjweather for keeping meat, poultry, or game.! :SBA minor factor in the depress'ion of thef 'Kjsrabbit market is, of course, the fact that in! ranine cases out of a dozen of reported cases] |||of ptomaine poisoning, rabbit pie or rabbits Mm some other form has figured in the vic-5 Jffltims' recent dietary. But. the major crime] ! j|!of rabbit is that it is "swift eating," and,; j||so far as the frozen article is concerned,S Igvery apt to resent being kept from the pot] ! ||for twenty-four hours after purchaso in ai unpleasant manner. Mr Tonkin anti-$ being in England for a couple of] ;||months, and early next week commences a] J|tour of his customers in the Midlands, who,| 'm|l understand, are responsible for the ciis-J of a very large proportion of the! and a-half rabbits he has sent Home/ the past year. | M Messrs Ralph mnd Olive Partaham fofi wound up their verv enjovablcj Wrip to the Old Country yesterday, and to-f embark on the China en route for New] During their stay in England? jfathc brothers covered over 5,000 miles on. '™their tandem bicycle, and but for the ,s|weather we are iiow getting—twenty-seven' ,|||wet days in November we had. and tw'enty-f Knine hours of sunshme—they would still' bet During the past few weeks] !■ '•"Messrs Parnham have been on the Conti-H nent, but the weather there was almost as! Dad as at Home, so their beloved bicyclef was not brought into requisition for travel-5 ling purposes. | Mr Cecil Deverens, who left Auckland! early in October, and came to England byj the Whakatane on a business-cum-pleasurel mission, has, after a brief spell in London,! betaken himself to the North, and thence! [goes to the Continent, whence he returns! to the metropolis early in the new. year. His stay in the Old Country will probably [extend over six month's, during which period ihe will visit the leading commercial centres [in search of information and agencies for his firm. I I Professor A. W. Bickerton's 'The Ro-| mance of tie Earth/ with fifty-six fine ilhsj

Itrations, has just been published by Swan, Sonnehschein, Mid Co. at 2s 6d,?and is said to form an admirable introduction to physiography. ~'■'' ; ' Fairplay' calls the attention of shipmasters engaging crews for a, New Zealand voyage to the provision of the Immigration Restriction Act,. 1899, making it unlawful for any person other than of British parentage, to land who is unable to write out and sign in. any European, language an application for admission into the colony. Captain J. E. Hume, of the "Permanent Artillery, is staying with Captain Macintire at "Corona," Landedown Hill, prior to commencing the course .of gunnery at Shoeburyness. Mrs Elworthy (of Timaru) leaves for Rome in a few days, but expects to be back again in England early in the spring. . .Mr and Mrs Hugh Macneil (of Sydney) are stopping at the Coburg Hotel, Carlos place. Lady Von Haast, who-is spending the winter in Poland, leaves Siedliska shortly for a visit to Lithuania, in the neighbor-, hood of Riga. .