PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM HOME.

Evening Star, Issue 13149, 4 January 1909, Page 3

PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM HOME.

[From Our Special Correspondent.] LONDON, November 27. Mr Arthur P. Malthus, of Christchurch, left London last Wednesday, November 25, by the s.s. Pericles for Sydney, en route for New Zealand. Since coming to England four years ago Mr Malthus has gained his chief engineer's certificate, and has made trips to China and Japan, while for the last six months he has been visiting different places of interest in the United Kingdom and staying with Natives in the West of England. He ,-vUI spend a week or two in Sydney bcfoW returning to Christchurch. He hopes to have a £«!od look'round New Zealand before settling *flt<j a berth. Mr Jae. E. Dunstan, of Christchurch, has recently returned to London from a tour through Ireland and Scotland. While in Ireland he visited, among other places, the beautiful lakes of Killarney. In Scotland he spent a considerable time in Edinburgh and Glasgow, toured through the Trossachs, and spent a short time in the lele of Bute. Mr John R. Mott, well known in Australasia as the founder of the world's Student Christian Federation, a great movement which influences student life all over the world, is at present in London. He spoke this week at a big meeting at the Albert Hall on ' Modern World Movements : God's Challenge to the Churches,' the Bishop of London presiding. Mr Mott is visiting Europe and the Old Country in order to preach his cause to the Universities here, and also to attend the World's Student Conference, which takes place at Oxford next July. A New Zealander in the person of Mr G. V. Bogle was played at half-back for the first time by the Gala Eugby F.C. in th« match against the Edinburgh Institution at Galashiels last Saturday. The . Institution held an unbeaten record, but Gala spoiled this by winning" by a goal and a try (8 points) to nil, and according to the ' Glasgow Herald ' the chief cause of the Institution's downfall was Bogle. He scored the first try, which was goaled. Of his woTk the ' Herald' said :—" The New Zealander's play was brilliant; he checked most effectually 'Stution half-backs, kicked powerfully I and well and with fine judgment, tackled suTely, and in attack was excellent, being practically the beginner of every movement. Gala forwards played well, but it was Bogle who brought about 'Stution's defeat." Captain James A. MacMahon, late of Mylor Bridge, Cornwall, and formerly of New Zealand, died on November 22 at The Pines, Teignmouth, aged sixty-seven , years. The London ' Morning Post' announces that a marriage has been arranged between I Sir Francis Rose Price, Bart., of Hensol, i Glamorgan, and Miss Marjory Russell, i youngest daughter of Sir William and I Lady Russell, of Hawke's Bay. and stated \ that the marriage will take place in New . Zealand.

On November 20 Mrs Emma Sarah Gilkison, widow of Mr William Gilkison, erstwhile of Oamaru, New Zealand, died suddenly at her residence, " Northernbay," Bromley, Kent. On November 16 Mrs Caroline Augusta Martin, widow of Mr F. W. Martin, , of Otago, died at the advanced age of eighty-eight at the residence of her brother, 26 Kensington Gate, London, and was buried at Brompton Cemetery on Saturday, November 21. At Messrs Glendining's galleries last Friday £SO was given for a Victoria Cross awarded to Samuel Mitchell, R.N., for great bravery in the New Zealand War. The Rugby Union Committee are being called on to deal with the case of a member of the Anglo-Welsh team, who is accused of having been a " shirker" on the New Zealand tour, and who, it is stated, was the cause of considerable friction during the tour, with the result that the New Zealand Union took definite cognisance of the player's conduct, and that he returned to England prematurely. Feeling is so acute, according to the 'Athletic News,' that members of the Committee have been plainly told by men who went to New Zealand that they will not play in a team if this man is selected for it. All the facts are in the possession of the Rugby Committee, one or two of whose members are not going to allow the matter to rest. Sir Joseph Cavruthers's proposal that the great services of Captain Cook to the Empire should be commemorated by a monument in London was brought before the Executive Committee of the British Empire League at their meeting last Monday by the Right Hon. Herbert Samuel, M.P.. who represented the Cleveland Division of the North Riding of Yorkshire, of which the great navigator was a native. It was decided to promote the erection in London of a memorial, and the following subcommittee was appointed : —Mr Herbert Samuel. M.P. (chairman), Lord Blyth, Sir John Cockburn, Mr W. Herbert Daw. Admiral Sir E. R. Fremantle, Sir Westby Perceval, and Sir Frederick Young. ; Recent callers at the High Commissioner's Office:—Mr P. Hercus and Miss M. C. Hercus (Dunedin), Miss Mary Colurah I (Dunedin), Miss Hannah Tompkins (Dunedin), Mr Charles E. Rigg (Wellington), ,Mr E. Aitken Seagar (Wellington), Mr and Mrs P. H. Bourke (Wellington), Mr John A. Cockerton (Hawera), Air Donald* Campbell (Christchurch), Mr L. F. Moffatt (Okarawa).