PERSONAL ITEMS FROM LONDON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10832, 16 August 1898, Page 6

PERSONAL ITEMS FROM LONDON.

|>Rolt OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, July 8. Colonel Walks is much improved in health. ' He and Miss Wales are now back in London. News comes from Scotland that Mr. John Holmes is already doing good work there for the colony. Mr. J. C. Hanna, of the New Zealand Fire and Marine Insurance Company, leaves tomorrow by the s.s. Tantallon Castle for Capetown. Hunting still has attractions for Mr. and . Mrs. E. D. O'Rorke, who purpose, according to present arrangements, staying in England until next year. Mr. A. D. Riley, Director of the Technical School at Wellington, returns to the colony to-day. He has had a busy time here for the past two months or so. Another visitor to Scotland is Mr. Chaytor, j of Blenheim. He is in Oban at present, after having paid a very pleasant visit to the Western Highlands. He intends returning to London next week. The marriage is announced of Miss Ella E. Stockwell, daughter of Dr. Stockwell, of Wyndham, Otago, New Zealand, to the Rev. William S. Riddelsdell. The wedding took place at Colombo on the 4th inst. In a letter received by Mr. J. H. Witheford from Lord Onslow, the latter concludes thus: " I desire to congratulate you upon the success which has attended your efforts to secure the establishment of a naval base in Auckland waters." Mr. John Duncan, managing director of Levin and Co., Wellington, arrived with Mrs.Duncan and Mr. A. Duncan in London last Saturday. They are staying at the Hotel Metropole. Mr. Duncan was among those present at the New Zealand dinner last Monday night. Dr. McDonald, son of Mr. Simon McDonald. of Dunedin, has completed his studies at Edinburgh, and will probably leave during the present month for Cape Colony, going thence on a visit to Johannesburg. He was very successful, I am given to understand, at Edinburgh. Mr. T. Mandeno Jackson has accepted an engagement to go on a provincial tour in October with an English opera company, wiling all the towns in Lancashire and the manufacturing districts. He is at present hard at work studying the chief tenor roles in various operas. In yesterday's Scotsman there appears a long article on Mr. John Holmes and his commercial mission, which is explained with great fulness. The Scotsman says:—"Mr. Holmes is not only an enthusiast but a master nl his subject, charged with statistical information to the finger-tips." Great regret was expressed when it became known that Captain Fairchilu had met with a futi'l accident, nil' the genial old snipper was well-known and liked at Home. On receipt of the telegram, Mr. Mason, of the AgentGeneral's staff, went to the Dental Institute to convey the news to Mr. Fairchild, jun. He, however, had already received a message from his sister in New Zealand. Highly appreciative, though short, is an obituary notice of the late Mr. William Maskell, which appears in the Daily News " The deceased gentleman managed the affairs of the New Zealand University, of which he was registrar, with great skill and devotion till his death. He was distinguished as an j entomologist, and was considered the chief authority of the day on scale blight." One Anglo-Colonial journal says:—"Mr. J. H. Witheford may regard himself as covered with laurels. After being snubbed by the Auckland Harbour Board, he has, single-handed, carried through negotiations with the British Government which will result in very important advantages both to the Board, the city of Auckland, and the people of New Zealand." Captain John Stuart, of the s.s. Arawa, has many friends in New Zealand who will, I am certain, be glad to hear that lie is not in the midst of tie present Spanish-Ameri-can war, though his splendid ship, now sailing under a Spanish name, is ill the thick of it, carrying coals for the warships. When war was declared Captain Stuart was relieved of his charge, and lie is now residing with his family in Aberdeen. The s.s. Tainui is also running under the Spanish flag as a coal tender. Callinc at 110, Feuchurch-strcet, yesterday, I was glad to find that Mr. Thomas Mackenzie was able to return to business. He was confined to his house for some lime, I and on Monday last he found the duties of i vice-chairman at the New Zealanders' ban- ! quet tried him very much. Upon him and ;vtr. H. C. Cameron (the lion, secretary), as a I matter of fact, fell most of the work, and | Mr. Mackenzie had to stand for over threel quarters of an hour to receive the guests as j tliev arrived— mean task for a mail who is I far from well. Among the more recent callers at the Agcucy-Uencral are Mr. L. Skarratt, of Ivaitoki, who is staying at 32, Victoria-street, S.W.; Mrs. Andrew Todd, of Wanganui, who is at 6, Bloomsbury-street; Mr. W. B. Briscoe, of Hawera, whose address is 7, Mon-tague-street, Russell Square; Mr. W. J. Offer, of Auckland, who lias gone to Hook, Brighton; Mr. 11. J. Beswick, of Christchurch ; Mr. T. H. Champ, of Wellington, who is staying with relatives at Ashford, Kent; and Mr. J. G. Pascoe, of Wellington. Miss Theresa Sievwright scored another success by her admirable singing at the musical reception held by the Lady Mayoress of London at the Mansion House last Tuesday. Madame Bertha Rossow, who is also well known in New Zealand, was another of the most effective artists on that occasion, 1 may remark tint bot-li these ladies appear to me to have improved immensely in regard to power and fulness of vocal tone since they have been under the guidance of Signor famwoi, in London. Judging from the results, his teaching method must be peculiarly j effective. Mi'. V. G. Fergusson, son of the late Dr. Fergusson, of Dunedin, called on me a day or two ago. Mr. Fergusson left New Zealand in 1891, and studied medicine for some years at the Edinburgh University. He then went to British Columbia as one of a party. He intended to go to Klondike, but ultimately decided to abandon the plan. After spending some time in Vancouver and travelling through the United States, Mr, Fergusson returned to England, and goes in for a London examination in October, after which he purposes storting with an expedition either to Thibet or Peru. Clearly he possesses what Bulwer termed the planeticose instinct. Miss Ada Crosslev, the colonial contralto, ; who now deservedly occupies so high a place I in English musical estimation, met with an j unfortunate accident recently. She was i travelling from Colchester to Claeton-on- ; Sea, by train. Through some miscalculation ! she was late in catching her train, which had i begun to move out of the station when she arrived. Persuading a porter to open a door I for her, she sprang in, but missed her foot- ; ing and fell, fortunately in the carriage. j But the result was a badly sprained ankle, | which compelled her to leave the train at the I first stopping-place, and spend some little , time at a wayside village until sufficiently . recovered to return to town. I was glad to ; notice, however, that when I met her the i other day at a musical" at home" she seemed ; to have entirely recovered from the effects : of the mishap. She could ill be spared now from London music, especially as Belle Cole is leaving for America owing to the illness of her father. Miss Weston's very clever book on " Imperialism" continues to receive highly eulogistic notices. One of the latest is in St. James' Gazette, which says:— The history of modern Imperialism— fine, healthy English plant which has shot up, as Lord Salisbury grumbles, so much too fast for the j Foreign Ollioe gardeners to keep pace with i its requirements— traced in a brief but j methodical and exceedingly interesting maimer liy M. C. de Thierry in a hand.v and i well-printed volume just published by' 1 Messrs. Duckworth and Co. It is called simply 'Imperialism,' and Mr. Henley's ' name as the writer of an introduction to it 1 will guarantee the spirit in which it is com- j

posed. M. .de Thierry is particularly suc--1 cessful in vindicating Lord Beaconsfield , against Lord Roseberys gibes last year. But jhe is no mere party writer. . . . M. de | Thierry, by-the-way, does not believe in Anglo-Americanism. His 'Empire' is Great Britain and her colonies." '• Mr. Newton Jones, the Sunday-school evangelist who has just returned from New Zealand, has been duly interviewed. He a I disclaims the ability or the wish to speak r dogmatically about New Zealand or its people; but he has certainly formed impressions. He was asked if lie had the ope portunity of noting any effects of the ex- • elusion of the Bible from the elementary r i schools. Mr. Jones replied emphatically: j" Yes, I had; and there is no mistaking its results. A loosening of moral restraint in ' the life of young people, and a persistent in--5 : difference to religion are effects of the secu- • | larising of education which one cannot help I noticing. The loosening of moral restraint is shown in the streets at night. For ex--1 ample, it is simply appalling to see the numr ber of boys and girls who parade the streets 3 to a late hour, and many for immoral purposes. To such an extent lias this evil grown, that, as you may have noticed, a Bill , has been introduced making it a misdemeai' nour for girls and boys under 14 to be on ; the streets after nine o'clock at night." Some- [ how, one can feel from the tone of the report that this utterance was received with a great thrill of horror. Asked if any ati tempt were being made to revert to the use [ of the Bible in schools, Mr. Jones said: "Not . so far as I could gather. Even among those ; who deplore the effects of the secularisation of the schools it appears to be accepted as final. There is no general revolt against it on the part of the people or the press." i Mr. Jones' impression of Sunday-school work : in New Zealand was that "they are ready i for greater things than they have seen yet." i As to " Christian endeavour," Mr. Jones slated that" Christian endeavour in New Zealand is progressive not aggressive." The feature of New Zealand life is contrasted with • the life at Home. What struck Mr. Jones : most was "the love of pleasure." When asked how this showed itself, he said, "In : everything and in every way. There is not that rushing about in business, for example, that you see here, because life is not taken so seriously. A great cricket match will • absorb the attention of a whole town as an t event of the first importance, and all kinds ; of amusements have a proportionately im- ; portant place in the national life." As to ; how this sort of thing told on churches and , religious iife, Mr. Jones said "So far as I could gather it forms the chief difficulty that they have to contend with. People are so i much occupied with sport of all kinds and i pleasures, that it is difficult to arouse in , them a sense of the vital importance of rel ligion. Indifference, not unbelief, is the ■ great foe of religion in New Zealand."