PERSONAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11534, 20 November 1900, Page 6

PERSONAL ITEMS.

Major F. Nelson George returned from Sydney by the Talune. The Rev. Dr. Egan, who has been on a visit to Australia, was a passenger from Sydney by the Talune. Mr. W. Sadler, who has been purser of the Talune, has returned to the Mararoa, Mr. Mulqueen going over to the Talune. . Captain E. Phillips has resumed command of the s.s. Mararoa. Captain R. Neville, who brought the steamer up from the South, returns to Dunedin.

Among the passengers by the Talune were Messrs. M. McCallmn and C. G. Laurie, who had been attending the Victorian Bowling Championship meeting. Mr. J. B. Coates, general. manager of the National Bank, is at present up from Wellington on a visit to Auckland. He intends .visiting the Lake Country. Mr. W. J. Napier, member for Auckland, is at present in Wellington. Our Wellington correspondent states that he had an interview with the Premier yesterday morning, but his businss is of a private nature. The Wanganui Herald reports that Mr. John Fairburn, resident agent of the Government Life Insurance Department, in Wanganui, has been compelled to send -in his resignation on account of ill-health. Mr. Fairburn has been 18 years in the service of the j)epartment, and has proved a most raccessml officer. - Mr. W.' I. Bolaci, manager of the New Zealand Insurance Company in Dunedin, who was one of the passengers on the car at the time of the Roslyn tramway accident, . has been compelled to seek a short rest. He has attended to his business since me accident, but the after-shock is affecting his health now, and his medical adviser has ordered him away from Dunedin for a week. The marriage Mr. T. Granger and Miss 'Alice C. White was celebrated at All Saints' Church, Howick, on Wednesday, November 16. The church was nicely decorated for the occasion. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. R. Boler. Miss Edwards presided at the organ. The church was well filled with friends of the contracting parties. After the ceremony a large party was entertained at the residence of the bride's parents. :; The four young New Zealanders mentioned lately as officers of H.M.s. Hannibal, of the Channel Squadron, do not, it appears, complete the tale. One of the midshipmen (says the Otago Daily Times) is a Dumdin —James Ritchie, son of Mr. J. M. Ritchie. Young Ritchie only left Wanganui College some 18 months ago. He passed his examination for entrance into the naval service with three first-classes, and was at once appointed a midshipman. There are thus on this one ship of Per Majesty's fleet, officers representing Ocago, Canterbury, Wellington, Hawke's Bay, and Auckland. Our London correspondent writing on Dctober 12, says : — Mrs. (" Alien ") Baker still resides at Bournemouth, and is . "hard at it" with her literary work. She tells me that a story From her pen, entitled Told on the Staircase," will appear in the Lady's Realm before long, while another, called " The Other Mr&. Grey" has been accepted by the editor of Household Words. New Zealand readers are no doubt conversant with a "story, pi which "Alien" is the author, entitled "Another Woman's Territory," ,that has i been appearing lately in the New Zealand Illustrated : this, Mrs. Baker informs me, has been bespoke " for publication in book form. lam glad to find that Mrs. Baker's 'latest work, "The Devil's Half-Acre," continues to be favourably reviewed by critics in the United Kingdom. The Scotsman, for instance, says : "This is a powerful study of human oassion, with New Zealand for its background, having for its central figures characters as strong and as boldly drawn as , any in the whole range of 'Alien's 'writings." M While the Review of the Week regards Mrs. -•' Baker's new book as" " of a strong romantic cast," the Glasgow Herald comments that : "If Scott i was right in his contention that the main business of the novel is to please, there can be no doubt. that 'Aliens Story will achieve< its end; : ■ The story is wellwritten and effective." In the opinion of the Irish Times, " The Devil's Half-Acre, , ■ commands ; attention throughout r the authoress is to be congratulated upon a book evidently the results of a fertile imagination. ;