PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7389, 15 February 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, January 3.

Arrangements have been made to obviate the necessity for the wild scrimmage in which the faithful Commons have hitherto indulged in their rush to occupy the very limited accommodation provided for them in the Gilded Chamber. Three raised steps will be erected all round' the chamber, whereon 256 M.P.'s will find seats. Forty-four of the Commons will fill the side galleries from which they have hitherto been shunted on ceremonial occasions to make way for members of the diplomatic distinguished foreigners and officials' wives, and in the Strangers' Gallery one hundred and four lucky M.P.'s will sit and fifty-four stand. Thus, instead of only two hundred of the strongest and swiftest survivors of the melee being rewarded with an uncomfortable squeeze and ssquintt t four hundred and fifty-eight M.P.'s" will each have ,a fair amount of elbowroom in the House of Peers.

Another announcement is that— as anticipated — the King and Queen will during the coming season in the evenings, in lieu of drawing rooms, hold a series of Courts at Buckingham Palace, at which presentations of ladies will be made. Attendance and presentation will be by invitation only, through the Lord Chamlain, and ladies can only receive occasional invitations. Ladies already presented desirous of being invited are to send their names to the Lord Chamberlain's office, together with those of the ladies whom they wish to present. A lady who makes a presentation to their Majesties must be personally acquainted with and responsible for the lady she presents. She must herself attend the Court, and cannot present more than one lady in addition to her daughters or daughters-in-law. Gentlemen may, under exceptional circumstances, accompany the ladies of their family. The dress regulations for the Courts will be identical with those hitherto in force for the Drawing Rooms.

Evening Courts for the purpose of receiving presentations will be historically an innovation, but the ladies to be presented will doubtless consider the ceremony attended with much more eclat and brilliancy at night than was the somewhat cold-blooded presentation in the afternoon.

Certain gentlemen, in your colony who read with feelings of disappointment the King's Birthday honours list may not be greatly pleased to hear that New Year's Day was drawn blank so far as K.C.M.G.'s and other alphabetical marks of kingly appreciation were concerned. For years no such thing has happened, and no official explanation is forthcoming as to why it was thought good to allow the fount of honour to run dry this year.

Probably, however the reason is to be found in the mere accident of dates. The late Queen's Birthday being on May 24, it was convenient that the conferment of honours in bulk should, be made on that anniversary and on the first day of the new year, and the lists were thus divided by, roughly, half a year. King Edward's birthday being- on November 9, it would be obviously inconvenient to issue a list of .honours again so early as January 1. It will probably be found ultimately that a good many of the events hitherto cele-

brated on May 24 will be transferred to Coronation Day, June 29.

New Zealand's Premier is the latest to contribute to the "St. James' Gazette" his impressions of the effect of the Royal visit. That it will strengthen materially the bonds thatt unite the colonies to the Mother Country goes, in his opinion, without saying. The men who have helped to build the Empire are sure to stand by the Empire in prosperity and adversit3 r . The American builders Avere very badly treated, and thej- "cut the painter," hived off. and built a great nation for themselves. The Australasian builders have all they Avant — freedom AA'ithin, protection Avithout; "cut the painter" is not in their vocabulary. That Aisit now stands in our records as the last of the plea sant series of facts AA'hich distinguish the appreciative period of British statesmanship sharply from the very different epoch in AA'hich the Americas were thrown aAA'aA'.

Mr Seddon shows how much better Lord Normanby gauged the pttblie opinion of the colony than those visitors who declared that 'the first war would kill our loyalty, and the first reverse would "cut the painter." The Boer Avar had shown that Lord Normanby was right in his guarantee of colonial loyalty, and the loyal professions that abounded in the addresses to the Royal pair were guaranteed by performances. The loyalty Avhich has rushed to the battlefield has the right to proclaim itself genuine.

After describing the fervour of that loyalty demonstrated during- the Royal tour, T'egardless of expense, Mr Seddon thus peroi'ates: It has been demonstrated that our people regard the Empire, which they have proved their readiness to maintain, as a great system of liberty and universal justice unique in the world's history; that they have the deepest personal regard for the Royal house, which is the political symbol of that system: that nothing- but overwhelminer force can ever break "the crimson thread of kinship" which binds us to it.

It would have been more effective if Mr Seddon had said "Not even overwhelming force can break," etc.

In Mr George William yon Zedlitz, the Victoria College, Wellington, seems to have secured an exceptionally good professor of modern languages. Mr Zedlitz is young (he will be 31 next March) but experienced. A German by birth, he shows no trace of foreign origin in his speech orf manner. He was educated at a, German school until he was 14, then" spent two years at an entirely French-speaking school, and afterwards spent three years at Wellington College, followed by four years at Trinity College, Oxford, where he took high honours and qualified for his M.A. degree. Since he left Oxford he has had 7 years' teaching at Loretto School, and has conducted several of tlte modern language examinations at Wellington College. Of twelve long summer vacations Mr yon Zedlitz has spent eleven on the Continent, in many cases taking pupils with him. He is an enthusiastic student of Italian, ' and has a good working familiarity with the colloquial idiom and classical Jiterature of Ttaly acquired by lon<r residence at Florence and Rome, and has a literary knowledge of the Spanish language. He is highly spoken of by educational experts as a man of high culture and wide knowledge, a capital speaker, an admirable teacher, and excellent disciplinarian, and finally. T would mention, for the benefit of New Zealand girls, that he is a bachelor. Mr yon Zedlitz expects to take his departure for the colony at the end of January.

Major F. B. Bulkeley.\ of Linden Hill, near Twyford, Berks, and Stanlow Place, Staffordshire, died on Xmas Day, at Bournemouth, at the age of 73. He served for some time in the army, retiring from the 65th Foot with the rank of Major. He took part with his regiment in New Zealand in the war of 1860-61. and in the campaigns of 1863-65. After being appointed aide-de-camp to Sir George Grey, he was present at the attack and capture of Waierora. and obtained mention in despatches. Major Bulkeley received the medal for the New Zealand war.

On account of a death in her family, Miss Euth Meeson's -wedding- to Captain Gordon-Hall, at Wimbledon, was of the quietest description, no invitations having- been issued. The bride was married in- a travelling costume of brown cloth and velvet, with a jacket-blouse, elaborately embroidered in gold, hat and furs en suite. Her only bridesmaid was her sister, Miss Dora Meeson, whose gown was of dark blue cloth and velvet, stitched in white, and who wore a peacock feather toque. The honeymoon was spent at Bournemouth. Captain Gordon - Hall, who looks none the worse for his severe* wounds, first in the Tirah Expedition, arid then near Lindley, has been one of the successful officers to pass into the Staff College, Camberley. After a brief stay in town Captain and Mrs Gordon-Hall will make Camberley their headquarters for a couple of years

On New Year's Eve Mrs Brown Potter took part in the watch night service at Corleston Parish Church.

The actress, who was charmingly attired in white, was escorted by the Mayoress of Yarmouth, the -vicar's wife, and the churchwardens. During the service she recited Keat's "St. Agnes Eve," with organ obligato, and on the stroke of midnignt, while the bells were ringing, she recited the iixst, second, and eighth verses of Tennyson's "Ring Out, Wild Bells."

Mr Wm. Booth, Air W. H. BtfßTh, and Miss Booth (Wairarapa), who arrived a fortnight ago by the Gothic, are staying at 70, Lancaster Gate, whence Miss Booth is to be married at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, on 7th January, to Mr W. G. Hutchison, the eldest son of Mr G. Hutchison, of Johannesburg, late M.H.R. for Patea. Mr Hutchison, who is to arrive today, and his bride, after spending a few days first in Brighton, and then in Paris, will leave for Johannesburg about Ist February. The Messrs Booth will travel on the Continent and eventually, after a year's absence, return to the colony, via America.

The Earl of Onslow is on a visit to Sir Francis Grenfell, the Governor of Malta, at the island citadel. Lord Onslow does not believe in "shop" when he is holiday-making, and intimated so pretty plainly to the elected members* of the Council of Government, who wanted to interview him on their grievances. If you have anything new to state, he told them, put it into writing, and it will receive the full consideration of the Colonial Office. Lord Onslow may be "Joe's" understudy, but just now he is "resting."

A New Zealander soldiering on the frontier of Zululand writes to "Truth" in reference to a '?ratemem in an English paper that a soldier's field ration of bread is 240z, or 3oz above the average daily consumption of an Englishman. He says that 16oz is much nearer the average that he has seen than 240z. He continues, "that during the whole time he has been in South Africa he has never seen a single issue of rations without one or more items being short; and for a week or more prior to the date of his letter, no sugar had been obtainable. No vegetables had been issued, if I understand him aright, during the time he had been in Zululand; but he remarks, philosophically, that as his unit had only been there about seven months it may be that the authorities had not had time to discover their whereabouts. From the general tone of this colonist's remarks on our military administration, I infer that he will not have a very pleasant report to make on the management of the war when he returns to New Zealand."

The Agpnt-General is advertising for an assistant medical officer for the SenolifFe Asylum.

A very prominent member of the insurance world has just passed away in the person of Mr E. L. Johnson, of Lloyd's. He has on behalf of underwriters had the examination and assessment of damage of nearly all the colonial hares, rabbits and poultry which have been subject to average, and his general fairness and firmness of character gained him the l'espect of all those with whom he was brought into business contact.

The six corporals of the Defence Force who are undergoing a course of instruction here have finished their gunnery and are now being trained in signalling at Aldershot. They will probably return at the end of next month.

The decree divorcing the Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt is dated December 21, and had it been a week earlier it would have fallen on the double anniversary of the death of the Grand Duke's mother, Princess Alice, and his grandfather, the Prince Consort. As it is, the divorce has been decreed within just about a year of the dissolution of the marriage of the Grand Duke's cousin, Princess Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, and Prince Ai-ibert, of Anhalt-Dessau, an incident which was one of the eiuises that embittered the last days of our late Queen.

All Australasians will regret to hear of the death on New Year's Day of Mr Edward Ellis Morris, Professor of Literature in the University of Melbourne. Mr Morris, who was 38, died of pneumonia at 8, Harley-street, Cavendish Square, the residence of his brother, Mr Malcolm Morris.

Mr Charles S. May, of the Telegraph Department, Wellington, who arrived by the N.D.L. a couple of months ago, is Home on twelve months' leave to gain experience in electrical matters. He has been giving some attention to the carrying of telegraph and telephone wires underground in the metropolis, with a view to reporting to his department thereon. He has also been looking after his new invention, a water level registering appliance, for which he has obtained provisional protection from the Patent Office, and for which patents have been applied for in Europe and America. Mr May has not yet done much travelling, his journeying having been confined to North Lancashire.