PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

Lake County Press, Issue 981, 26 September 1901, Page 7

PERSONAL AND GENERAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

fFuoM the Evening Star's Cokuuspondent.] August 10. Mr Cyrus Hales has made himself a favorite on the stage in the six months he has been in America, and has accepted an engagement in Philadelphia in order to be near his brothers. Mr Hales and his son Leonard, in addition to visits to (he chief cities of the. United States and Canada, had a delightful driving tour all through the Evangeline Country. Before lie leaves this country in October Mr Hales contemplates trips m Scotland, Devonshire, Folkstonc, and France, besides a visit to Germany and a run to Rome. Miss Celia Dampicr has completely recovered from her recent illness, and has returned to town after a holiday at Worthing. Her music has for the time being been in abeyance.

Mr W. Thompson (Christchurch) is turning his face towards his native land, after a three years’ absence, which have been devoted to a thorough study of the artistic and practical branches of the building trade. After a year at the Bradford School of Art, he transferred his affections to the Westminster Technical Institute, where he has been working for the last, two years. He secured last year one of the London County Council’s evening exhibitions in science and technology against 417 other candidates. Last month he gained first-class honors in the City and Guilds honor examination in painter’s and decorator’s work. At the time of the Queen’s death he was engaged in re-decorat-ing the Prince’s rooms at the Jockey Club, Newmarket, with hand-polished enamelled wood and Indian hangings. At the of the year he leaves for America, proposes spending twelve months. Mr Thompson speaks gratefully of the training he received at the Christchurch School of Art, which he says compares very favorably in all its branches with that of the schools of art he has seen in (treat Britain.

Mr Arthur M'Kee iWellington) was one cf the few passengers on the Gothic. Ho will leave in n few clays for a tour in Scotland. Three months is the time he has allotted himself for his holiday. The Earl and Countess of Seafield are staying with friends in Devonshire. Mr Thomas Bullock (Ashburton) and his wife and daughter have just returned after a tour in Scotland. They went up the east coast to Inverness, where Mr Bullock attended the show. He found a general fooling among Scotch fanners that the very heavy and slow Clydesdale should give way to a lighter-legged and more active horse, such as is now used in America. His impression was that in general (locks of sheep and in draught horses New Zealand compared very favorably with what he saw in Scotland, but that in light horses the colony was far behind. After a visit to the Glasgow Exhibition Mr Bullock attended the show of sheep and horses at Belfast, one of the prettiest and best-arranged grounds he has yet seen, and was very much struck by the stamp of light horses exhibited. London was reached via Liverpool, Manchester, and Matlock. Next week Mr Bullock proposes seeing the Dublin show and something of the Irish lakes. He leaves for the colonv next month. ,

The tour of the Canterbury pilgrims Miami Mrs James Austin Graham iSumner) has been brought to an abrupt close by the sad and sudden death of Mrs Graham on July 18. Mr Graham, who was suffering acutely from kidney troubles, was thoroughly restored to health by the medical treatment he received in London and by a short stay in Harrow gate. He and Mrs Graham, after visits to Shropshire, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. had only just begun the round tour of Scotland by way of the Grimm and Caledonian Canals, when on the way to Oban Mrs Graham caught a chill. This affected her throat, jaundice ensued, and in less than a week she was dead from failure of the heart. The shock to Mr Graham at the sudden loss of his helpmate for nearly forty years was lightened by the sympathy shown by the Oban folk, many of whom were almost complete strangers. The manager of the Bank of Scotland, for instance, with whom Mr Graham had had casual business relations, gave him every assistance, and sent a handsome wreath, as did other Oban people. Mrs Graham was buried in the Pennyfuir Cemetery. Mr Graham is staying with a cousin in Chelmsford, and leaves on the 18th or 19th October via 'Frisco or Vancouver, with his friend and fellow-townsman Mr W. Hayward. Mr Hayward, in the three months he has been over, has stuck close to London and business, and is arranging to take out with him several first-class carriages and landaus, to keep his stables up to date. He is the guest of a brother at Wandsworth, and has been to some of the Agricultural shows, the hackneys at, which pleased him immensely. He is not taking back any horses with him, as he considers the cost, of transport prohibitive.

Mrs G. Arthur (Wellington), who is periled at " Chanonry,” Forest Glade, Leytonstone. has had her brother (Mr Frank Minogue) and her sister (Miss Marceline Minogue) staying with her. Mr Minogue will spend two years in England to gain experience in brewing. Miss Minogue has just returned from a sojourn in Ross-shiro, and visits to Edinburgh and Glasgow. After a week in Kent she goes to Dublin for the show, and will return to New Zealand in December. ' Mr Robert Henry Alexander, of Brandfold, near Goudhnrst, Kent': Marina, Yarmouth, I’slo of Wight: and 24 Lombard street, banker, who died on May 26 worth £295,810 Is, leaves his son Lewis Wallace his estate in New Zealand.

Mr J. S. Ross, of Cook and Ross, Christ church, who has been touring in Scotland leaves for the colony on the 15th in the Papa roa.

To the younger generation these instances of ludicrous blunders in the dressing of skeleton caolegrams, given in an article on ‘ Contorted Cables ’ in the ‘ Pall Mall Gazette,’ may be new ;

When the Rontgen rays were first attracting attention, a cablegram was sent to New Zealand that “ Gallstones, stones in the bladder, etc.,’’ were plainly rendered visible. The full message published, however, read: “Doctors are using Rontgen's discovery with astounding results. Mr Gladstone's stones in the bladder and injuries to the bones are easily seen.'’ It is said that when this was brought by a colonial Agent-General under the notice of the Grand Old Man he laughed long and heartily. One cable was thus contorted by three New Zealand papers. No. 1 published : “ The Italians have kidnapped two Princes who are closely related to Menelek, ruler of Abyssinia, and who were travelling in Italy for their education*” No. 2 served up a juicier though smaller joint; “Italian agents in Abyssinia are reported to have successfully kidnapped Menelek, me ruler of the country.” No. 3 completed the farce in subdued terms: “Mr Menelick (sic), who is travelling in Italy for educational purposes, has disappeared, and it is reported that an Italian agent has kidnapped him.” This may be said to have mcne-licked the lot, for what the real message was about the public never learned.

The article omits that recent astonishing announcement in an Australian journal that “2,000 Maoris had passed the Indian Civil Service examination." The fact was that Mr Morris had passed that examination 2,000 marks ahead of the next candidate. The ‘lnvestors’ Reveiew' falls very foul of the Government over their borrowing propensities and their treatment of the Manawatu Railway, which, it says, “was built by private enterprise under tempting promises, and the original agreement which gave power to the Government to buy up the line conferred on the company the right to refer the price to arbitration in the event of differences between buyer and seller. Seddon does not sec his way to keep the bargain, prefers to build competing lines with borrowed money, to rush down fares and freights, so as to force the owners of the original line to sell at his price. Wc trust creditors of the colony relish the object lesson here conveyed.” Mr Wilson has his knife into Mr Seddon, of whom he makes the following gross statement : “ It is evident in many a public utterance that the great and peerage-aspiring Seddon docs not always sec eye to eye with the framer of the Decalogue.” This sort of venomous language makes the reader of the

‘ Investors’ Review ’ disinclined to put much confidence in Mr Wilson’s croaking criticisms, even when some ground exists for them. Lord Hobhousc’s retirement at the age of eighty-two from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, of which he has been an unpaid member since 1881, creates no vacancy. The retired octogenarian's specialty was Indian law, and it was said that whilo Lord Morris was the only peer who could pronounce the names of the parties to an Indian suit, Lord Hobhousc alone understood the point which they desired to raise. Between the two justice was done. Lord Hooior.se was called to the Bar in 1845, and took silk in 1862. In 1872 he went out to India as the legal member of the Council of the Governor-General, and stayed five years. For his services he was created a K.C.8.1. and C.1.E., and in 1885 he was raised to the peerage as Baron xtobhouse, of Hapsden. A collection of his addresses, lectures, etc., was made in 1880 under the title of ‘The Dead Hand.' General Sir R. Pole-Carew, of whose appointment as Commandant of the Australian Forces we have heard nothing for some time, responded to the toast of “ The Visitors ” last

Tuesday at the luncheon given by the Duke of Portland at the Welbeck Tenants’ Agricultural Society’s annual exhibition in the riding school of Welbeck Aboey. One thousand tenants and guests were present. The general said if they wished to stop hostilities they must make it plain to the Boars that there must be unconditional surrender. Any weakness on our part was keenly watched by millions of Auglo-Su-ju eyes in all parts of the world, :... I if we ventured to compromise now we should go a long way to not only upsetting that Imperialism to which he hoped this war was giving a strong and vigorous birth, but would come to within measurable distance of destroying the Empire. Mr Heinemann will shortly publish ‘Australasia and Antarctica,’ by Dr H. 0. Forbes, the naturalist-explorer, formerly curator of the Canterbury Museum, New Zealand, and now director of the Liverpool Museum. Dr Forbes has summarised the whole history of South Polar exploration from Ross's time to the beginning of the new century. Mr Henniker Heaton, while admitting that it is difficult, so long as England docs not adopt the decimal system of coinage, to have an international or Imperial postage stamp as a method of petty exchange, strongly advocates in ‘The Times’ that in each of the more important post offices in the United Kingdom a room should be set apart for the sale of foreign and colonial stamps (as is done in some of the colonies, with most satisfactory results), to enable the people engaged in trade and otherwise to exchange or send stamps for reply. He has been urging this simple step on the P.O. authorities for six years—so far without results.

Major Karri Davies is showing the same sturdy independence now that he did after the Raid. He and Mr Wools Sampson were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, and declined to sue for Mr Kruger's clemency and be released with the rest of the Reformers. Davies and Sampson were “no surrender ” men, and served eighteen months of their time before they were released in 1897 in honor of the Queen’s Jubilee. The

Gazette ’ announces that the King has been pleased to accept the major's resignation of the C.8., that officer having expressed a wish to serve the King without any reward. Evidently a Mis Karri-age of honors. Of course, the nasty cynical person read the announcement with a shrug of the shoulders and a murmur of “ Posing again 1”

The general who saved South Africa, for us has just been rewarded by an Earldom and £IOO,OOO. It seems that the memory of the general who won Canada for us is neglected even by that great nation, for, writes a Canadian. "it is sad to see the state of Wolfe's monument to-day. Rank grass grows high inside the rusty and worn iron railings. The \ column is cracked, and if nothing be done i must soon perish. The monument, a simple column, with a helmet and sword on the top, and its inscription “ olfe died here victorious, 13th September, 1759,” is sublime in its simplicity." The present sordid surroundings of the scene of the hero’s death cannot be helped, but surely the monument itself, cn the spot on which he died, should not be left uncared for. Thus the United States of America, in Munsey’s Magazine,’ on the United States of Australia:—‘"lt may seem a little premature to speak of the new Confederation of Australia as a great I nation while its population is less than that of London; but a great nation it will undoubtedly b ewithin a period that is short when measured by the clock of history. The island continent has everything to make it the home of a mighty people. Its resources are vast, its climate generally good, its inhabitants are the pick of the race that has subdued half the globe. They are a masterful people, already boasting a higher average wealth than any other nation, and possessed of unlimited ambition. They intend to be the dominant Power of their Southern Seas, and who shall say them nay?” The colonies are often referred to as "Jewels in the King's crown.” If what Jinkman says in ‘ Truth ’ this week is true, the reference is but a doubtful compliment. He says that those behind the scenes at Court in the reign of George IV. declared that the King continually sent for his crown when he wished to give a jewel to his favorite. Several of the gems were removed and replaced by imitation stones. The crown should be inspected and reported upon by experts before the Coronation, for it would be better that the King of all the Britains should wear no crown rather than one studded with worthless imitation jewels. At the Chalmers Memorial Church, Anstruther, yesterday, Princess Titana Paloma Brander, third daughter of the late Princess Titana Marama of Tahiti, was married to the Rev. Andrew M’Lachlan, of the Erskine United Free. Church, Anstruther. The bride’s stepfather, ex-Bailic Darsie, gave her away, and her two sisters, Miss Brander and Miss Darsie, were her bridesmaids. The congregation was a large and fashionable one. The cable steamer Anglia weighs anchor tomorrow with the Mauritius-Rodrigues-Cocos section of the Cape-Australian cable. Next week the Scotia sails for Cocos to connect up that place with Fremantle, and early in 1902 the line will be landed at Glenelg. Bar accidents, it is expected that the line to Fremantle will be laid by the middle of October. The colonial representatives in London have sent the following address of sympathy to the King;—“We, the undersigned representatives of the Dominion of Canada, the States of the Commonwealth of Australia, of New Zealand, Cape of Good Hope, and of Natal, desire to express our deep regret at the death of your beloved sister, the Empress Frederick, which has happened so soon after the passing away of our revered Sovereign the late Queen Victoria. At the same time, we venture to offer your Majesty and the members of the Royal Family our respectful condolence and heartfelt sympathy in your bereavement.” Mr Mark Hamburg played before the Queen last week. ‘ The Quest of the Gartered Girl ’ might be the title of a motor-car romance which the Free Lance’ relates under the heading ‘Houi Soit Qui Mai y Pense.’ A friend in a long motor-car side in a lonely country broke down far away from a village in a deserted corner near a thicket. A spring had gone wrong that required the lightest of litagures with an elastic propensity. He had given things up in despair! Suddenly he saw approaching a rustic maiden. His face beamed with hope. Here was his chance. Now or never. But stay; did he dare? Yes, he would! Shyly he approached the maiden. Might he ask her a question? "Why not?” she responded. “But 1 must whisper it,” he said. "Then do so," retorted the girl. He whispered! The maiden blushed! Then she, too, whispered softly; “ Yes, 1 do,’’ and nodded. “Yes. 1 will.” An exciting interval for the motor-earist followed. Ho modestly turned his head, and gazed blankly into space. The maid retired into the thicket. Then followed a peal of laughter. Then back came the girl, with downcast eyes, and presented him with —what, do you think?—why, an elastic garter! Instantly the repair was made. He kissed the maiden’s hand and gaily drove away, but when he turned his head at the bend of the road she placed her fingers to her rosy lips and returned the kiss. Who shall say, after this, that in these days of science the age of chivalry is dead?