OUR LONDON LETTER.

New Zealand Mail, 22 January 1902, Page 53

OUR LONDON LETTER.

personal andgeneral notes. (From Our Swcinl CorrcspoMlc.it.) 1 LONDON, Decernotr io. c;r George \\ hitmore, wjio arrived hv S tUe NS akaiiui, and is staying at o Vessel .Mansions. Queen’s Club Durden, wfc Keii'-iiigton, lias corns Horne fo. Hs healtli, and to see through tne press t boo n iow finished all but the typent.n“ on which the publishers iuJ “I am glad to hear that Sir r:, doctor and masseur consider G t eO J S L restored to health in I montlis’ 1 time, when he will pro- , ba, i'he f ße\n 1 Dr NVaddell (Dunedin) has been staring at- Brighton with his wife , dimditer, but leaves m a couple ot . d-ivs for Liverpool, whence he will cross to Belfast. After a brief sojourn m ; rli?t city, he will make his v.ay b«ck to the colony via America, miss M an- • ~,.H ; s on the eve of her departure for Leipzig, where she will Stuuy singing and pianoforte. ■ Mr John Gell (Wellington) has sealed down at 48 Highbury Hill a.id will pro- . bably be a year on this side. His -journey over vras pleasant, altiiougli L© found that as the American beats have not come up to their expected speed, it was necessary to drive them ail the : way to make contract time. This necessitated their running into and out of Pagc-pago in the night, and their stay in Honolulu being curtailed to four . hours. . . , i The three Congregational ministers for New Zealand, the Itev. David Hird, ! 51. A., of Mansfield College, who was recently assistant minister to Dr John Hunter, and who is going to Christchurch, the Rev. W. Newman Hall, a nephew of Dr Newman Hall, who transfers his services from Dublin to Edinburgh, and the Rev. Alfred J. Lee, cf Hackney College, who will work in Devonporr. Auckland, had a good “sendoff” last Monday night at tHe Colonial Congregational Missionary, Society’s meeting at Camberwell Green Congregational Church. The principal of Cheslmnt College, from which Mr Newman Hall comes, Dr Whitehou.se, spoke about “Divine Imperialism,” objecting, however, to the word Imperialism as : too reminiscent of the sword. He preferred tiie good old Anglo-Saxon word Commonwealth, which the Australians had appropriated. Tiie colonies needed religion, and we must send them the best young ministers. The valedictory address was given by Dr John Hunter, of Kings Weigh House Church, on the text, “Here am I, send me.” No man, he said, had a right to be in the ministry except those who could not help preach ing. Reality' was the essential condition of good preaching. On Tuesday the three ministers and Mr and Mrs J. E. Baker left in the N.D.L. Grosser Kurfurst. . -At the concert given last Saturday in the Colston Hall. Bristol, in connection with the Bristol Co-operative Festival, Mrs Howie created a most favourable impression, and had an extremely cordial reception. Her contributions to the programme were Vllitsen’s “ Sc.ig of Thanksgiving,” Noel Johnson’s “The Rose.” and “ The River and the Sea,” Reigo’s “Slave Song” and Thomas’s “ Happy he Thy Dreams,” the last i:i Maori. Subsequently she sang at an organ recital at the Victoria Rooms, Clifton, the “Song of Thanksgiving,” and in response to an enthusiastic encore, “Happy be Thy Dreams,” again in Maori. I understand that Lord Granville Gordon is going out to New Zealand shortly shoot stags, and contemplates presenting to the colony a pair of Sardinian moufflon, or hairy curly-horned sheep. The “Nursing Record ■’ congratulates the nurses of New Zealand on the professional status accorded to them by the Nurses’ Registration Bill, and reminds them that, responsibility is inseparable from privilege, and that State registration is the starting point, not the goal of their professional progress. Dr Bake well writes to the “ Speaker” suggesting that the Boer war might be finished m similar fashion to the Maori war, viz., withdraw the troops, arrange an informal armistice with the Boers, allot a small portion of territory to them, and arrange that any person attempting to pass the boundary line on either side might be shot at sight. The Spectator,” Dr Bakewell tells us, declined to publish his letter. No wonder. Surely, the doctor doesn’t expect IT y? take his suggestion seriously and mi , journals don’t like having “their leg pulled.” There are more' New Zealanders at Cambridge just now than there have neon for many a year. The following list of them, showing their New Zealand present colleges, may be enni'f nr refere ' ,ce : —Caius—W. Fan““W : . H - G - Gillies (Wanganui); C. W. Twiggs (Napier 8.H.5.). r “T A; Jr Roberts (Dunedin). t XT r A' r , G- Gran k (Christ’s College); V r T)' ~e nX o od (Christ’s College); .o'llTvv SS<?ll .^ an Kamii); T. D. RusTnkl st - John’s—S. C. Tea.de (Christ’s College); J. N. Ritchie (.?• T ; nitchie (Waneanui); HaltR P '\ A li n Trinity l ! . P - T A \ I t orth y n (Christ’s C’olN" p a i A (I ,sr s ? n (Chnst’s College): on’llk'• (Nelson College). Noncollegiate— Roy E 11 on , street, Cambridge/ ’ 11 ’ Rcgellfc Trooper Tasker is still confined in

the military prison at Gosport. As soon as ever the Agent-General heard cf Tasker’s plight, he communicated with the authorities, and villi their permission corresponded with Tasker, offering every assistance. The young soldier replied that he was in good health, in communication with his-relatives, and that he didn’t want anything (excepc presumably his liberty). Although his term of imprisonment does not expire, until lltli January, the Agent-General is making every effort to have him released before Christmas. [As our readers are aware, Trooper Tasker has been released.]

Mr F. ITarcourt (Wellington) is having a month’s holiday in London, after a long period of soldiering in South Af- | rica, whither he went with the Second 1 Contingent. For a considerable time past he has been foreman of the railway at Komati Poort, the station on the border line between the Transvaal and Portuguese territory. His duties on the low veldt were not of an exceptionally arduous character, except- when the Delagoa Bay telegraph officials insisted on cabling very mixed messages m French, or the trains came in riddled with bullets. As the garrison was so small, Mr Harccurt and his companions could not with safety venture more than a couple of miles from the town. The monotony cf existence, however, was varied by hunting and being hunted, for Boers lurking in the vicinity “sniped” persistently and perseveringly. lho malaria proved more prejudicial to Mr Harcourt than the mauser, and an attack of malarial fever, followed by dysentery, necessitated his being “shunted” himself without delay if lie wished to' avoid becoming'a “sleeper” on rite railway. He was bound for Madeira, but owing to the plague at Capetown, was not permitted to land at Toneriffe, and so had to come on to England. He looks fit enough now, and before the end of the year will be wending his way hack to the “‘land of lies,” where, I fancy, his sphere of action before long is likely to be in mines rather than railways. The New Zealander is somewhat sceptical as to the speedy termination of the war, and I sincerely trust that his prediction of “three years more” will prove a false one.

Mr D. Crewe, the genial ex-Mayor of Pahiatua, has also had some experience of railways since lie left the colony. In fact, Mrs Crewe and he experienced the unpleasant “sensation of a short, sharp shock” of a railway collision at Edinburgh on their way South. As the London express was about to leave Waverley Station, the Glasgow train dashed into it from behind, and Mr and Mrs Crewe and their fellow passengers were much upset both in mind and body. Mrs Crewe first had her head banged against the back of the carriage, and was then shot into a confused heap .of females, while Mr Crewe had his iiip strained. One of the muscles in the back of Mrs Crewe’s neck was severely injured, and she was for a considerable time in the doctor’s hands. Both the travellers, however, are now in good fettle, and, having taken a fiat at 3, Luxborough House, Northumberland street, are determined to face the English winter. To their already extensive wanderings in .-America, on the Continent and in Scotland, they will probably add other journeys before tm-v think of returning. Mr Crewe is quietly spying out the methods of the meat market, saying little but thinking much. Mr H. Rowntree (Auckland), without neglecting his studies, lias been doing a good deal of sketching and illustrating for the Newnes papers and magazines, especially the “King.” He has taken up his abode at 41, Laitwood road, Balliam.