PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM HOME.

Evening Star, Issue 14003, 9 March 1909, Page 4

PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM HOME.

[Faoii Que Special Correspondent.]

LONDON, January 29. Last evening a dinner in honor of the Hon. \V. Hall-Jones, the nc'wlyappninted High Commissioner for Now Zealand, was given at the Savoy Restaurant by Mr and Mrs Edward W. Hooper, of Christchurch. Among the guests present were Admiral the Hon. Edmund and Lady Ereniautle, Miss Hall-Jones, the Earl and Countess of Claucarty, General Sir John and Lady Moody, Colonel Louis Jackson, Sir Lambert Orrosby, and Lieutenantcolonel Boynton. To an interviewer Mr Hall-Jones expressed himself as follows with regard to the London office:—"l could do no bettor than follow in the footsteps of Mr Reeves. First as Agent-General and then as High Commissioner he lias done splendid work for New Zealand—work that lias everywhere mot with the most cordial approval in the Dominion —and therefore the policy for the conduct of the office will be continued as it lias been laid down by lxim. No doubt the policy will be developed; but asto what is to be done in regard to further advertising or central offices, or increasing the number of emigrants, I cannot say yet. These affairs will continue to be dealt with as under Mr Reeves."

Interviewed by the ' Morning Post,' Mr Hall-Jones gave a glowing account of New_ Zealand's progress—industrial, legislative, and social. He spoke with enthusiasm of its scenery, of its farms, its fiords, its lakes, and of Mount Cook, with its memories of tobogganing—experiences which called forth more than one pleasant, humorous recollection. But through all this pride in the young Dominion ran a feeling of affection for the Mother Country which was never absent. " Our children call it 'Home,'" he said, "and it is the ambition of them all at some time or another to get back to it and see the old people and the traditional scenes. And we older ones are only anxious to strengthen the ties which hind us to the Motherland."

The Earl of Stamford, who spent a year in New Zealand in 1887, including several months at the Kawau as the guest of Sir George Grey, gave some reminiscences of Sir George at the Imperial Colonial Club the other evening. Those months at Kawau, spent in the beautiful surroundings and in constant intercourse wjth Sir George Grey, were amongst tlue happiest jn his life, he said. " I had simply to listen to Sir George," said the Earl: "to those wonderful talks of his, prophetic, inspiring. They seemed to raise one above the present world altogether. Never during the whole of that period was there anything which descended from that high level. His conversation was always on the high plane, thrillingly interesting, and showing a most beautiful and kindly feeling for others and a deep devotion to the ca)ls of humanjtv. He was one nf the gentlest of men." Speaking of Sir George Grey's courage, the Earl said that once" in South Airica, wlion Grey was addressing a crowd of Boers, the muzzle of a large gun was slowly pushed through his legs from behind. The gun went off with a lug report, but Grey merely looked round and smiled, as though amused that they should want to test his nerve, and then took no further notice of the matter. Again and again he was known to walk calmly out and meet a swarm of armed savages, remonstrate with them for their foolishness, and talk them over. Admiral Fromaiitlc, who was in charge of a little warship called the Eclipse on the New Zealand coast in 1864-66, and saw a good deal of Sir George Grey, describes him as one of the greatest and one of the best men he lias ever known. Grev had strong likes and dislikes, and sometimes they affected his judgment Once, when calling at Government House in Auckland, Captain Fremanile (as lie was then) noticed half-a-dozen letters on the mantelpiece, all addressed to the Governor in the same handwriting, and all unopened. M Oh, those!" said Sir George in a careless tone; "those are from the General (Cameron). I never open his letters. In the last one I opened he said I had told him a lie." If Grey had been allowed to take charge of the native war, said Admiral Fremantle,* he would have finished it, comparatively speaking, in five minutes.

Two more New Zealand war veteranß died during the past week-end. Colonel Edward Abbott Noblett, who died on. January 21, at Wallands cresoent, Lewes, aged seventy-one, served with the ]Bth Royal Irish throughout tho New Zealand war of 1863-6fi, and was present at the affair in the Wairoa Bush and the actions of Nukuxnarn and Popola. He received the New Zealand war medal and retired from .active service in July, 1881. Colonel William Hutchinson Mullov, late Royal Engineers, of Hughestown, County Roscommon, who died suddenly of acute pneumonia on January 23, at Springfield, Camberley, was' the eldest surviving son of the late C. C. Mullov of Hughestown, County Roscommon! Burke's ' Landed Gentry of Ireland ' states that the family of Mulloy, of acknowledged Milesian descent, enjoys the hereditary honor of Standard Bearer to the Crown of England in Ireland, as registered by Thomas Preston, Ulster King-of-Arms, 1634. Recent callers at the High Commissioner's office:—Major-general G. Robley, Mr Robinson E. Hall (Christchurch), Mr Bernard G. Booth (Christchurch), Mr Morrison Bourke, Mr John Stewart (Newstead, Waikato), Lieutenant-colonel and Mrs Chaytoi(Wellington), Miss Irene Fraser Jones (Wellington), Mr E. A. Ogle U»ckland).