PERSONAL AND GENERAL

Evening Star, Issue 13144, 28 December 1908, Page 8

PERSONAL AND GENERAL

[From Orm Special Correspondent.] , LONDON, November 20. Among the successful candidates awarded the M.R.C.S. diploma at the last meeting 01 the Royab College of Surgeons of England was Mr Philip S. Vickerman, M.8., Ch.B. (Edjii.)." Among the uucoessful candidates at the first professiorud examination in anatomy and physiology for the diploma of F.R.C.S., held this month, was Mr John Bruce Baird, B.Sc., of Otago °™ Glasgow Universities. Dr Leo Mandel (of Wellington) also gained the fellowship of the R.C.S. Mr Aaron Vecht, who died at Antwerp on Sunday last, after an illness of Some months' duration, was well known throughcut the colonies.. Born in Holland fiftytwo years ago, he settled in England when quite a young man, and eventually built up a considerable business. A man of adventurous spirit, the passion for travelling was in his blood, and' there was no continent and few countries of the world which lie had not visited, hardly a part of New Zealand which he had not explored, and ho travelled extensively in Australia. He lived for eome yearn in Cape Colony, and entered into bus-mess relations with the De Beer* Company, Mr Cecil Rhodes negotiating with him on behalf of the company. For a year or .=0 he resided, in Haarlem, and then took his family to the Argentine, where he made his headquarters at Buencs Avres. Returning to Europe, "he settled' in Antwerp, where he died. [Mr Vecht, who at one time had a large curing business at Napier, is said to have been the original of one of /angwill's characterisations in hf.^'Children of the Ghetto.'—Ed. E.S.] Two large parties of Scottish settlers within the week have left Glasgow for Liverpool en route for New Zealand. The tecqnd party is otvj, of the largest that ever left St. Enoch station for the Dominion. The en-.igrants are described as a very promising set of men. manv of whom were .accompanied bv their wives' and families They had an enthusiastic send-off from their friend;-:. Mrs Rachel Morgan, who recently toured extensively in New Zealand, has just published the inevitable article on the influence of woman suffrage in New Zealand polities. The upshot of her conclusions is that the general effect of the enfranchisement of women has undoubtedly been an entirely good one. "it iu to be noted," adds Mrs Morgan, "that the women have shown particular interest only in thoso public questions which by nature and'training they are properly fitted to deal with. I refer in particular to measures affecting the public health, the care ami welfare of cldldren, hours and wages of women and children workers in factories, and the diminution of drunkenness and vice." Mr and Mrs J. H. Wood (of Auckland) and their daughter are on a visit to England, primarily on account of Mrs Weed's health. They have spent most of their time in Cheshire and the Northern counties. Th'ey will Teturn to New Zealand via (.'ape Town and Australia, leaving Liverpool in February next. Mr T. Tichbon (of Stratford), who arrived by the Persic on October 26. has been revisiting his native town, Haiti ws, which will be his headquarters duriii" his stay in the Old Country. He expects to leave again for New Zealand in about seven weeks' time. Boatswain Tipper, late of the Royal Navy, who died this week at Bicton Heath, near Shrewsbury, at the age of ninety. was one of the few survivors of those who fought in the New Zealand War of 1845. He saw service in many parts of the world, haying taken part in the Crimean campaign, the China War, and many expeditions against the pirates who in the years gone by infested the coast of Afiica and the waters east of Suez. Another veteran of the New Zealand War has gone beyond these voices in the person of Major-general C. Blewitt. late of the 65th (York and Lancashire) Regiment, who died last week at the ripe'old age of eighty-four. He was gazetted to the°7oth Regiment in 1864, but subsequently exchanged into the 65th. He served in the New Zealand campaign, being present at the storming of Rangiaohia and the cap. hire of Orakau, at which he commanded a detached force. He was mentioned in despatches in June, 1864. General Blewitt subsequently commanded the West Biding and the Leicestershire regimental districts. In 1901 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

On Saturday evening a conference of the French Literary Society of Liverpool was held, at which Count De Jouffroy D'Abbans, French Consul at Liverpool, delivered a lecture, the subject being ' An Excursion to the Antipodes, New Zealand, etc.' The lecture was very instructive and enjoyable, and was frequently punctuated by applause, while laughter followed a series of humorous passages. At the close of the proceedings a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the lecturer, who, it may lie mentioned, is a member of the Paris Geographical Society, and formerly a member of the New Zealand Institute and tho Pacific Geographical Society. The Count has asked me to send his kindest remembrances to his many frienda in New Zealand, • here he spent eight happy years as Consul of France at Wellington, Recent callers at the High Commissioner's Office:—Mr and Mrs' Walter Fuller (Christchurch), Mr J. A. Thomson (Dunedin). Mr Arthur P. Mathews (Christchurch), Mr Ales. R. Fraser (Wellington), Mr Herbert F. L. Bean (Christchurch), Mr and Mrs P. H. Bourke (Wellington). —An Unwarrantable Insinuation. — An Irish girl, bound for New Zealand, died in London this- week through sleeping in a room with the gas turned on. Fresh from a tiny village in County Kerry, she had probably failed to understand how to deal with the gas tap in her bedroom, and after turning out the light had given the tap an extra half turn, thus allowing the gas to escape. At the inquest it was stated that the girl's name was l Nora O'Shea. that she was seventeen years old. and came from Dreenogh, County Kerry. Mrs Dora Griffin, a school teacher's wife, of Caragh Lake, Kerry, the girl's aunt, stated that deceased was bound for New Zealand, where she had an uncle, and was to stay for two days at the Scandinavian Temperance Home. West India Docks, before joining her ship at Tilbury Docks.

Hannah Petersen, servant at the " Home." said that the girl arrived on the previous Wednesday, and was allotted a room: On Thursday night witness lit the gas, but did not know what time deceased went to bed. A Juror : Do you usually have females at the Home? Witness : A few emigrants come. " The Coroner : I have always understood it was for Scandinavian sailors only. A Juror : It looks as if there was " white slavery " going on somewhere. Francis Ludwig Kanfelt, an engineer, said that his room was next to that of the deceased. On Thursday night, when turning out his box, he heard meaning, and told the porter, who opened the door with a master key. They found the girl quite unconscious. Tho tap of the gas bracket was full on, and the window was closed. Police-constable Catchpole said there was no stop, and the tap went right round when turned on. Axel Welling, manager of the Home, stated that emigrants stayed at the Home by special arrangements with the New Zealand Government, and were placed in an "annexe." Women who came to the Home had to be protected by friends, and the deceased had two men from the same village as herself. The coroner remarked that it was a verysad case indeed. Probably coming from Ireland, the deceased did not understand the use of gas. \ A verdict of death by misadventure was returned. The manager of the Home expressed his regret at the occurrence, and said that a collection had been made for a tombstone on the poor girl's grave.

- The^ whheshwejiry'V;iiisiiM&k>tt, upon inquiry to be 7 ' quite;unwarfantedl 1 The girl s passage to \New" ZealandVwas: arranged by her uncle and aunt: in Gis ; borne, and was: paid for by themyfthe High Commissioner's department "ESvirig" been officially advised through ;the Premier's Office to arrange, for. Miss O'Sheals departure for New ZealanaTTtfe" Scandinavian Home, where she lodged prior to embarkation, is an old-established and' thoroughly respectable temperance hoihe.'. The High Commissioner's department ha* no "special arrangement" with the Home, as the manager's statement would imply; but it is quite ( trne that it constentty : :re«oinji; mended the place to .departing emigrants j and has been in the habit of dcing so'lor the last fifteen years. The officials found it a well-conducted and comfortable place, much superior' to the ordinary lodging house, to which an assisted emigrant would otherwise have to go while waiting to embark for the Dominion.