OUR LONDON LETTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6745, 17 February 1909, Page 2

OUR LONDON LETTER

PERSONAL NOTES. FEOlt OUR SPECIAL COEKESFONDEh'T. Christmas Eve, 1903. Tho King returned to London last Monday from Brighton, to preside at a meeting of the Privy Council at Buckingham Palace. His Majesty's health has greatly improved during his stay at tho famous Sussex resort, and he will, as usual, spend his Christmas with tho Queen and the Royal Family at Sandringham, whither ho went on Wednesday. An amusing anecdote relating to the King's stay at Brighton is vouched for by the Rev. Cecil Maunsell, rector of Thorpe Malsor. His Majesty was taking a walk along the esplanade unattended, and was thus accosted by a pert youngster. "Guvnor, kin you tell us the time?" ,: Yes," replied his Majesty, referring to his watch, "it is a quarter to one." " Thenks," said the youth, adding, " I've bin 'ore two bloomin' hours a.waitin' ter see the bloomin' King, an' I aint goin' ter wait no longer." "Xe:/her shall I," replied his Majesty, resuming his walk. It is rather hard to believe that any British youth should be so unfamiliar with the King's lineaments in these days as not to bo able to recognise him when actually on the look-out for him, as the Brighton youth was. But one remembers that at Newmarket many years ago, a young colonial visitor chatted affably with the then Prince of Wales for quite five minutes without becoming aware of tho identity of his casual paddock acquaintance, and was very much surprised to learn who his amiable gossip was. "I thought there was something familiar in his face, hut I had not the ghost of an idea who he was, though 1 knew I'd seen him somewhere before," was the young fc-ilow's reply when chaffed about the inci-, dent. As might be expected, tho members of tho present Liberal Cabinet in England are anything but heroic in the eyes of the suffragettes. Hero is Miss Sylvia Pankhurst's analysis of the Cabinet from the suffragette point of view :■ —■ Most formidable opponent Mr Aiquith Weakest friend Sir Edward Gray Most unfair..... Mr Lloyd-Oool'go Most honest Mr Birrell Most flippaJit Mr Haldane Most insulting Mr Burns Most courteous Lord Crewe & Mr Harcourt Most changeable Mr Churchill Most inconsisVnt...Lord Morley, Mr Gladstone Most cowardly , ..Mr Buxton " Mr Asquith, if an uncompromising opponent, is at least consistent. He simply says 'Go away !' to suffragettes," said Miss Pankh'urst. "Mr Lloyd-George declares ho beliovea in women's suffrage, and yet tried to hoodwink its supporters with a so-called ' message' from tho Government at the Albert Hall. "Mr Birrell, we find, is vory straight and sincere. Ho lias said definitely tha£ he does not believo in married women having tho vote. "Sir Edward Gray put his name on tho back of a Bill in 1890 which would not only have given womeil power to vote, but-to fill every public office—r even to becoming bishops. Wo hope ho may revert to his earlier state of mind. ' ] "Lord Morley believes iu women's suffrage, but voted against it in the last Reform Bill. j " Mr John Burns treats our women with ridicule and contempt, and. talks of restricting women's work, forgetful of the fact thatbis. own mother worked to support him. , " Mr Buxton was the first member of the Cabinet to hit Upon the expedient of sending his wife into the danger zone. Suffragettes who went to question the Postmaster-General found ,Mrs Buxton in his place." , Miss Sylvia finds that the Cabinet contains ten suffragists, four antisuffragists, four undeclared, and one "wobbler"—Mr Winston Churchill.

The Hon. W. P. Reeves has' been appointed a member of the . Royal Commission which is to examine schemes for securing a more fully .'representative character for popularly elected legislative bodies. ■ The chairman of the commission is Lord Richard Cavendish, younger brother of the Duke of" Devonshire, and the other members are Lord LocTiee, of Gowrie, formerly Mr Edward Robertson, exSecretary to the Admiralty; the Hon. Edwin Montague, M.P., who is Under 30 years of age, has been a Liberal member of Parliament since 1906, and is part author of a book on Canada and tho Empire; Sir Francis Hopwood, Permanent Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and a member of the Royal Commission on Shipping Rings, London Traffic, and Canals; Sir Courtenay Ilbert, who has been Clerk of the-House of Commons since 1892; Sir Charles Eliot,. ex-Governor of Eastern Nigeria; and Mr John Walker Hills, MP., for Durham, City.

Mr and Mrs T. S. Tankard, of Christchurch, will.return to New Zealand early in the New Year. At present they are in America. They spent the past summer in the United Kingdom, and Mr Tankard took the opportunity of studying the most recent methods of physical culture. Crossing the Channel to visit Paris, their steamer was run into by a torpedo boat at 2 in the morning, an alarming experience for which, however, no one was any the worse. They spent a fortnight in Paris, and afterwards visited Holland, ■ Belgium, Southern Germany, Lucerne, Como, Milan,,!the Rhine, Venice, and Naples, sailing from Naples for New York. They will return to New Zealand by the Vancouver route.

Master Francis Hutchens, a young New Zealand musician, at present studying in London, has just been awarded the Hine Prize at the Royal Academy of Music, for the composition of a song. The value of tho prize is £l2. The verses which the candidates" were required to set to music were written by George Eliot. The competition was open to. males and females under 17 years of age, Master Hutchens did not commence the composition of his song till a little over a fortnight before the last day for sonding in.

Professor Ernest Rutherford, tho distinguished New Zealander, who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry of £7500 for his discoveries and works on radio activity, visited Stockholm last week accompanied by his wife, and was entertained for sis days. He also made an excursion from Stockholm to Upsala University, where great attention was paid him. Ho inspected the chemical and physical, laboratories before ; returning by way of Berlin to Manchester, where he '* occupies the Chair of Chemistry at .the University.