PERSONAL NOTES FROM SOUTH AFRICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 33

PERSONAL NOTES FROM SO UTH AFRICA.

(FP.OU OCR JOH 'iXXE^BrP.G CoRr.ESrOXDKXT.) JOHANNESBURG, May 12. Park Stpt'on, Johannesburg, invariably presents a bustling scene on Monday afteriioons, w hen tho limited mail lca\es for Capetown. By this tra.n p a; =seugcrs lca\o to catch the mail liner for London, and c.-pe(>nll> la til, sei=on of the je.ir Randit^s lurn then eyes towards England. Among tr.c=> that tock tlicir depaituie by tho fa^t tiain on Monday last wvs Mr George Hutcli^on, who has important bu/nnct!: to transact :n London, and expects to be away frcui Joliannesburg for four montlia. Mr A. 0. Hadfi^ld (Wellington) lias been appointed Public Prosecutor at Wolmnranstad, in the Western Distnct, and left la ? t week to tako up his dut:c». Wolmaraiu-I.id i ? situated m a really good farming di.-tiKt, and the tou v ltoeh 1- an attracti\e htllo place. After t'cree month's in South Africa, during v, liu-h tnr.e he has been .spying out the land, Mr R. E. M'Rae, the well-known TaraiKiki settk r. will be back in xScu Zee land a^ sooji as tlua read rs jou, as he goc-s by the Kuapv.hu, lca\ ing Capetown a.t,-oi>t th-o end of tne week. Mr M'Kae is quite satisfied with the agricultural future of the Transvaal, and, having acquired from the Government a p.ckcd block of 40,000 acies in the Ermelo ch^ti ct, 12 miles from Lake Crifc.-i<\ purposes e-)tabliihing there a New Zealand set tie in out. It is for the purpose of bringing out fettlers for the land rhat Mr M'Ra-e i» now in your colony. At tli9 rime of leaving ha expected to return about November. Ho has Keurcd the land, which ii? well watered, on exceptionally easy terms, and moreover has arranged that i-vttlera coming here will bo granted special terms for pa--iige, their wives and families lieing bi ought fiee. The. Government will prowde fencing at cc«t price, charging \»ry low int-CTcet on tlve outla.v. The p-ropot<K.l railway hue to Delagoa will <ro witlr'n a few niilc.s of t'. c land. Mr M'Raes headquarters while in New Zealand will bo H-awcia Mr J. W. Grimes (Lieutenant Grime's, of the Eighth), on the retirement of Mr Athelstan Parsons, takes over the management of tho Government Ermelo farms, and will have general supervision of the> block taken up by Air M'Kae while thc> Government retain an interest in it. Mcv.srs A. R. Mori won and Henry Sharp, who were in the meat t-ad« in Dunedin, c-uno to Johannesburg* la-t mouth. Thc-y were thinking of etaiting on their own account, but ha-*e decided in the rociintivro to tako employment. Being thoroughly good tradesmen, they are siuo to f.i!l on thrir feot Mr W. A. Eov. l'ng. who is in the Railway Servico, has rceiiitly lxsen shifted from near Hoidelberjf to A 7 olkrust, close to the Natal border. Ho is in charge of a line- fencing gang. Mr Alexander Grant, rceeiit'y anived from England, but for many years resident in Canterbury and Hawke's Bay, has ju=t pceepkxl an en^as-^m^nt 'imilar to that of Mr Bowlirig, and will al-o ha\e his headquarter': afc Yolkisrust. Tho latest New Zea!ar>der to join t'>e C S.A.R. as o\cr-eer.- of railway fciong are Mr John Sand-er-on, from Duuodin. and 2>lr 11. M'Knnz c (" Cronjo," of the 4ih Re»iliieiit), fiom .-'outhlai'd. Tlie iormor is t=ta:ioii"'l at Randfout&in, ahd the latter at Kl'rksdoip. Among the New Zep'andens in Duinam aro Mr Robert Neill, nephow of Mr P. C. No-.1l iind ton of llr Robert. Neill, Dunodin, wl'c J.-; in tlio offico of Messrs DennLtcn and Young; and Mr A. F W. Hill, ex crack DunoJia eyelid. Mr Hill ;a v.ith a firm of v.holr alo general imporfciF— Meras Rand! s Bic^. and Hudson.— and is doing wel'. Then tb re- :s Mr George Knox, fornieily of Bri^oe and Co., who irf looked upon a c tlic father of New ZralairJers at the port town. He is c\er on the> look-out to brfri^nd those coiling from t'le colony, and In- a']viccy.iis oajr-rly sfuiht nfter. N.i(.iliari* s N'ew Zcalanders also incln'lo ATr A Si-e (Diinetlin). who took a clcrk-lnp a few cla)^ nfter landing at P-irban m June last, and is quite sah-iicd witli h.-» Irt; Mr J. Moss (Oait'aru\ mauagini? the wholo-ale dcp?rtmrr,l for 0110 of tl.c Lr>;r<.t boot nnfiortinj? firms in Duiban; Mr A. Alkin=ou (Oamani), who tells you from his pe-rch in the Standard Rank that ho. prefers the Port of Natal to the White City a.s a moneymaking place; and Mr A. P. Ca Micron (Dunedin), now tra\eller for J.uaes and James. Quite a iiumbw of tho " ifn of blue" at Durban hail frcm Maoriland. Mr W. A. Swanson, forrr.erlv of Dunedin, is in bu=nie c s in Johannesburg as a watchmaker and jeweller.