HOME CHAT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12427, 16 February 1901, Page 3

HOME CHAT.

COLONIAL TOPICS. [From Oub'Corrksi’omjkxt.] LONDON, Jan. 12. The Commonwealth dinner at the Hotel, Cecil on Monday week -;s, I fear, as regards squash, IkGy to be a 'direful repetition' of the Hopet-ouri banquet, including that ghastly mistake, an “overflow room.” The whole of the 500 covers in the Great Hall have now been allotted, and only seats in the galleries (where yon can .Wr but indifferently), are. obtainable on any terms. The attendance of the Prince of •Wales will, however, ensure two things, a short dinner and brief speeches. His Royal Highness has,indeed, stipulated that the function must be, well over by 10.00. The. Prince will reply to the usual Royal toasts, but ‘‘the star'of the evening,” will, of course, be Mr-Chamberlain, who proposes “ The Commonwealth.'’ We may, I think, look for extra special cioquencc from 1 the Colonial Secretary on. this epoch-marking occasion, and it is hoped to persuade Lord Rosebery likewise to speak. Poor old Sir Andrew Clarke, the doyen of Agents-Ge-neral, replies for the colonies. I suppose this is inevitable, though everyone of his colleagues speaks better than he docs. Mr Reeves would make the ideal reply, but he is naturally out of the question. Lord Onslow is to be present as well as Mr Chamberlain, and the array of ex-oolonial governors at the high table will We sumptuous.

The Agent-General and the Hon R. Oliver paid a visit to Mr H. A. Pegram’s studio the other day to see his clay model of the bust of Sir Harry Atkinson, which pleased them both very much. Mr Oliver, who was so intimately acquainted with Sir Harry, had only one slight suggestion .to make as to the features, and- Mr Reeves another as to the hair, which the sculptor promised to, carry out- Their finding so little to criticise was -a striking testimony : to the excellent likeness that Mr Pegram has produced. In. this the sculptor acknowledges the assistance be has received from the excellent photographs .sent to him, which show the warrior-statesman from every angle, the only point in the view unrepresented being the exact back -of the head. Mr Pegram declares that he never had a brier lot of photographs to work with. Mr Onslow Ford had, on the other hand, a poor lot of photographs of Sir George Grey, but has, nevertheless, achieved, a satisfactory likeness in his bust of the great Pro-Consul.

Sergeant Philip .Benjamin Watts, of Eeretaunga, who came Home from South Africa toward the end of last year, is,now, I hear, on his way back to New Zealand. The voyage out will be his honeymoon tour, for on Dec. 27 he, took to wife Miss Julia Parsons, daughter of Mrs F. J. Parsons, of Cumberland House, Blackla-nds, near, Hastings. The wedding, took place in the presence of a, largo gathering c.f relatives and friends of both- parties at Christ Church, Black-lands. The weddingcake was of a very original design. It had worked into it ■ portraits of Lord Roberts, General BuHer, General ■ French anti General Baden-Pow-ell, and also-' bore the words “Bloemfontein.' ‘‘Pretoria,” “ Saunas Pest,” “ Middleburg ” and “ Klip River.” In the. matter of, presents the happy pair fared exceedingly well.

Trooper Charles Hanson, of the First Contingent, who arrived a fortnight ago from Cape Town, has had a grand time since he arrived, and feels proud of,being a New Zealander. While in London he had invitations to Lord Morpeth's and Mr Burdett-Coutts’s place, hut made for the Land of Cakes, where he has relatives, almost at once. At. Gourock he got a great reception from the Masonic Ledge, and another rousing welcome at the Town Hall. Gr-eejvocfc. Herds now'at Meclrox, Tignribruaich, where he 'delivered,, a. lecture on bis SXpfePi§H6&§ to a. crowded audience. He is going on to Moffat, in Dumfriesshire, and thence north to Aberdeen, and expects to give some, more accounts of bis experiences before he returns to the colour.

Adverting to Mr Gilruth’s mission to select veterinary surgeons for his Government in connection with the new Slaughtering and Inspection Act which copies into force in April next Mr Mennel, in the “ British . Australasian,” says :—“lf the purpose of the Act is to protect the community in the colony, it may he of service, but certainly it is not required for the meat exported (which has never been even suspected), nor will its operation add a fraction to the Smithfield market value.” „

Personally, I am father glad that the New Zealand Government has sent Mr Gilruth Home, and that the nature of his mission is being well advertised here. Only yesterday I found in the course of a casual conversation with a couple of intelligent city men that they fought shy of frozen mutton, being under the impression that the enormous quantities of sheep dealt with in New Zealand, Australia and the Argentine must necessarily lead to laxity in the matter of. the state of health of the sheep slain for export. Moreover, they seemed to think that you raised sheep for their wool alone, : and only killed them when their wool producing capacitievs began to diminish.. The brief outline of the conduct of the frozen meat trade from run to London store I was able to give them over the after lunch coffee was a considerable, surprise to them, and one remarked, “Well, I’m very glad to hear what you’ve told us, for it seems to me that I’ve been paying through the nose for a prejudice that hasn’t a leg to stand on. It seems to me that out in New Zealand they are a sight more careful what sort of meat they-send to market than' our own folk, are;” ....

~ r The Earl, and'GouirtesS' of- ; Sea-field, -who, have-ibeen for some time past at Alassid, near San Remo, left by the. Furst Bismarck, on. the 2nd for Cairo,, where will be the guests of Colonel Forestier Walker, of the Egyptian Headquarters Staff, brother of fh'e General in South Africa, for a couple of months. After the Cairo season, and its gay festivities are at an end they will set out on a tour in Palestine and Greece. Lady Seafield’s’sisbsrs, who have established themselves in England, have been spending their Christmas holidays in Paris.

The Rev J. A. Julius, 8.A., who, since 1897, has worked most assiduously.as curate of All Saints and St Phillips, Kettering, is sailing for New Zealand by the Austral, next Friday, in order, I understand, to take up clerical work in his father's diocese.. The “Kettering' Guardian, ' in referring to Mr Julius’s departure., pays him the following acceptable compliments The reverend gentleman came to Kettering in 1897, and has -endeared himself to a large number of people in the town, and especially in the districts where his duties called him. Ho will be. greatly missed,- and his kindness and genial disposition will live long in-the .memory of his congregation.” Last week Mr Julius was presented with a beautiful private communion set, which was subscribed for by a larg-e number of the residents of the districts in which ho worked.

Information has been received in London of the death, at the Eversfiekl Hospital, St Leonards-on-Sea, of Mr Joseph. Hewetson, of Montere, Nelson, at the age of fifty-six. The death took pla>e on Dee. 28, 1900.

London has .seen but. little of Mr L. M. Isitt since he arrived in England last September. The major part of his time at Home has been spent campaigning in Scotland, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and now after at brief rest in the Metropolis, he is off again to the land of haggis and whiskey. He expects to be.prcaching temperance there for fully three months, and except for a few weeks in July and August next he has every night booked until the eve of his. departure for,.Now Zealand, which will probably take place about June 1902. Mr Isitt’s vigorous platform methods have made him extremely popular in; tile Oldi .Country, , which at pre-.

sent suffers from a lack of really good temperance orators. Of lank-haired anaemios, of the squealing, brewer-denouncing type we have a plethora, but their oratory is simply clap-trap and deadly dull stuff at that. Mr Isitt has a keen sense of humour, his discourses'have certainly the merit of originality, and he is keen in debate. At Lincoln one of his audience, raised a> point in connection with the recent beer-poisoning cases, and tried to prove that the, presence of arsenic in beer arose from the British farmers meanness. Said the old man : “ They grudges the; little barley the rats eats, so they shoves a lot o’ rat pizin in thur stacks, and t-het’s how Tis peoples pizined by harsnkk. I knows a varmer as put nigh on a stun o’ X’s varmint, killer in ’is barky stack this ’ear.” In replying to this point Mr Isitt remarked “ Our friend may bo right, but as you all know the deadly element in X’s vermin killer is strychnine, and within my knowledge there is no process in brewing which can change strychnine into arsenic.”

A visitor wdio may not improbaly tour up in Sydney about the same time as the

" dear Yorks,” is Mr Richai'd Le Gallienne, the poet, lecturer and apostle of golden girls. t Mr L. Gallienne has had his famous atramental Absalomian locks shorn, and is alleged to ba looking around for fresh (lecturing) worlds to conquer. His hair-cutting -was quite an event in New York, the newspapers devoting three huge headings and half a column description to the operation. The amputated locks tied up with blue ribbon w'ere carried off by the poet, who left shortly after for San Francisco, via Chicago. He will never, be able to resist, the colonies and the

“blue isles of the Pacific” if he gets to '’Frisco. ■