PERSONAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVII, Issue 12819, 26 May 1902, Page 5

PERSONAL.

Mr F. de C. Malet arrived from Welling'ton by the s,s. Rotomahana on Saturday morning.

Captain Hume, who has been appointed to the command of the Lyttelton Artillery District, arrived from Wellington by the s.s. Rotomahana on Saturday morning. When a lieutenant, he was in charge at Lyttelton, but went to South Africa. After seeing service there, he went to England, to further study his profession as an artillery officer. Mr J. S. Wauchop, master of the Balcairn School, has been appointed third assistant master at Gisborne, and leaves to take, up his duties at the end of this week.

Mr C. A. Purnell, soA of Mr C. W. Purnell, solicitor, Ashburton, has passed the first professional examination for the degree of M.B. at the Edinburgh University, taking first-class honours in one o£ the subjects. A wedding took place at Prebbleton on Thursday between members of two families long resident in the district,, Mr Henry Paterson, of Springs Road, to Miss , Mary Reid Anderson, daughter of Mr Henry Anderson, of Woodlaw, Prebbleton. The marriage ceremony was perform* ed at Woodlaw, by .the Rev Mr Thomson,, of the district Presbyterian cliarge, and wan witnessed by about 120 friends of tho bride’s and bridegroom’s families, some of whom. came from distant parts of the colony. The guests were entertained in tho most enjoyable manner, bagpipe and other music being played for the dancers. Tho number and value of the presents showed the great esteem in which the young couple are held.

Count von Waldcrsee, the successor t® Moltke in the German. Army, and the recent Commander 'of the Allied Forces in China, was seventy years old on April 8. This, curiously enough, was the age of Moltke when the Franco-German war, broke out, and it is probable that if Germany had to mobilise her forces to-morrow, Waldersee would be placed in chief command. The Field-Marshal’s popularity with the Kaiser is said! to he due to his wife, who was a Miss Lee, of New York, and formerly the morganatic wife‘of the late. Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein. There is no doubt that Moltke himself indicated Waldersee as has successor. The report Was current in military circles in London a few weeks ago that Lord Kitchener had asked the King, in reply to his Majesty’s request, to postpone the bestowal of any meditated'decoration or distinction until be bad' completed bis task. His Majesty was desirous of including Lord Kitchener among the recipients of Coronation distinctions.

Count Matsukata, ex-Premier and 'Minister of Finance of Japan, who is on 'a tour round the world, is perhaps the ablest and best known of Japanese financiers and statesmen. He was born in 1835, and from 1874 till 1900 has been connected with the financial administration of his country. Ho was the valued co-operator of Marquis Ito.

There is some talk of. President Roosevelt appointing -an old friend of his, Jacob Rus, as Governor of the Danish West Indies when, they are transferred to the United States. Mr Rus has had an interesting career. He’is himself a Dane by birth. Ho came to the States, and began as, a labourer. Achieving success after a hard struggle, he returned to Denmark to marry the sweetheart of his boyhood. For many years he was a reporter on the “ New York Tribune,” and in the discharge of his duties he came constantly into contact with Mr Roosevelt, who was then Police Commissioner in New York, and formed a great friendship with him. It must he borne in mind that a reporter on a great paper in the United States is ■ one of the most important people in the community. Mr Rua is now well on in yeans, and bears a high reputation for philanthropy. It will round off a very characteristic American career df be does become Governor of the new is“ land territories. .“The Western Daily Mercury” gives publicity to some rather disquieting reports as to the general state of the health of the Commander-in-Chief. Lord Roberta is a man of such excellent vitality and exhibits so few of .the signs of the wear and tear of his busy life that few people regard him even, as old, but it is no secret to those wli o have had lately to come in contact •with him that the strain of the past twe years lias told 1 very considerably on him, At tho same time it is denied that there ia at the present moment any question whatever of his retirement from the War Office at the Coronation.

That famous preacher, Dr Joseph Parker, had a birthday a few weeks , ago—his seventy-second—and he received many congratulations. In 1894 he celebrated .the completion of his twenty-fifth year at the City Temple, and accepted a present of 1000 guineas from his congregation, while in 1898 he celebrated his jubilee as a preacher. A sturdy figure, Dr Parker keeps in remarkably good health. When rnmoura of an “ internal trouble ” were going about a few years ago, he assured a crowded congregation that he had a splendid constitution—a tremendous constitution —and that the only internal trouble he ever suffered from came about four times a day.