PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 40

PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

(From Oxtk Own Cobbespondent.) r r LONDON, October 25. Colonel Sir C. Fergusson, D.5.0., lately commanding the 3rd Grenadier Guards, l# has taken up the post of Brigadier-general c on the General Staff in Ireland, succeeding tt Brigadier-general F. Hammersley. Colonel v Fergueson is the son of the late Sir James „ j Fergusson, and the baronetcy passed to r_ I him on the death of Sir James in Jamaica, s j It will be .remembered that Colonel Sir a Charles Fergusson married Lady Alice Boyle some years ago. Mr George 'Benstead, CM., superintendent of the Charlton and Manchester Joint t Epileptic Colony, Blackburn, has been i appointed principal of the New Zealand I Government Home for Mentally Defective j i Boys. He is 40 years of age and is mar- . '• ried. _ Mr Benstead has been engaged in t teaching, training, and the management . of mentally defective boys for nearly 20 i years, and he holds several certificates of j good class. He has been head master and I has made a special study of boys of weak i, intellect, and for such he has arranged a • course of special instruction. During the ; past four years Mr Benstead »has been i superintendent and head master of schools, : colleges, homes, and a colony for pauper i children- at Farnham, at Sheffield, and also 1 in his present position at Langho. At, ■ t Farnham many mentally deficient lads '' were employed on an 80-acre farm. He : equipped colonies at Shefliield and Langho ; • at the latter institution there are 220 in- - mates. Referring to the career of Mr Benstead, a London paper says : " During the paso four years he has been superintendent and head master of schools, cottage homes, and colonies of pauper ' children at Farnham, at Sheffield, and at Langho, Blackburn, where he holds the post of superintendent of the Chortton and Manchester Joint Colony. Mr Benstead equipped at Langho a nevr colony of homes, laid out 166 acres of ground, started suitable industries and occupations for the 220 inmates, and organised and controlled a ..staff or between 60 and 70. He holds the South- Kensington fii-st-ola^s certificate for advanced agriculture, and also certificates (South Kensington) for advanced sciences, drawing-,- music, drill, ~and physical culture. He is & fully qualified teacher, with a Board • of Education diploma ; and a double first-class certificate in divinity, as well as the London. City and Guilds certificate for manual training and wood-work. Mr Benstead is 40 years of ago. and has a wife and three-year-old I daughter. He is a good all-round sportsman, a good horseman, and fond of , country life and pursuits. His wife has been matron of two establishments with j him." ! The announcement is made that Major- . genaal J. M. Ba.bin & ton, " C.8., 0.M.G., late commanding the New Zealand Defence Forces, has elected to take his retired pay rather than " hang on " for further employment, which, owing to the- congested •state of the senior colonels' list, is not worth waiting for. How well he carried out Ms duties in bringing the local, force* to their present standard of efficiency is mentioned as being a well-known fact, and Major-general, Babington will" have the best wishes of many friends-in the colony on his retirement. That keen ex-New Zealand golfer, Mr ■H. I>. _, Gillies, has recently been taking part in the South of Ireland golf championship, and he was successful in, working his; way up to the final round, when Mr J". J. Hurley was his opponent. The latter, _ however, was the victor, beating Mr Gillies by four holes up and two to play. I hear that Dr Glendining, the' clever young New Zealand, doctor who is attached to the Court of the" Queen of Slpain, has received permission from King Edward to accept the insignia of CabaMero of the Order of- Carles 111, conferred upon him by King Alfonso, in recognition of valuable «ervio39 rendered by him. The Vonerable Archdeacon Robinson (Dunedin) was Tecantly at Bournemouth spending a few days with relatives. The Homeward voyage from Sydney in the s.s. Miltiades was a very pleaea-nt and the Aberdeen liner on that occasion carried the mails for the" Orient Company. There were not many passengers from New Zealand, but Miss Beatrice Way a,nd Mr Herbert Flemming were on board ; they are about to start again for Australia and New Zealand with a theatrical company. The" Archdeacon remained in London for a fewdays before, going to Bournemouth. He has left for the Midlands, where he is to take charge of the parish of Little B^ragh'ton, near Northampton, for six months, at 'the end of which time he looks forward to going on the Continent. lam glad to learn -tfiat the "health of Mrs Robinson has benefited from the Homeward voyage. On the Ist inst. the marriage took place of Mr George Franci3 William Belcher, second son if the Rev. Dr Be'lciher, M.A., LL.D.. of St. Michael's, Lewes, to Miss Amy Umfreville King, eldest daughter of i Mr Charles Umfreville .King, late, of Hure-t Bank, Sanderstead. The ceremony was ' performed by the Rev. Arthur Reede, M.A., I ; at St. Peter's Church, South Croydon. i In the list of candidates who have successfully passed the recent examinations in ; connection with the India Civil Service is ,' the name of a New Zealander — viz., Mr i : William Patrick Cbwie, son of Mr George 1 Cowie, formerly well known throughout the J oolony. He obtained a total of 2632 marks ' the candidate who headed the list obtained ', 3605 marks. In the subject of history, Mt ; Cowie gained Tiigher marks than any other , of the 200 candidates. He ia to enter ' upon a year's special course at Oxford preparatory to going out to India, probably to the Bombay Province. For more than three years past Mr F. P. Tjalboys (Dunedin) has been pursuing his 1 studies in London on electrical work. After "[ having gone through his second and third- ' year advanced courses at King's College, ' he took up a position as second in command of the test-room of the well-known firm of Messrs Johnston and Phillips, where he had tTie supervision of the testing of all alternating and direct currenib machines. During the past few months Mr TalWye has taken up the study of wireless tele- 4 graphy, and also the nature and application ( of X-rays. Next month ha will leave England outward bound for Dunedin. He will cross to New York by the s.s. Majestic. Some little time is to be spent in America, C ■where, by means of special introductions C which he is taking with him from London, I > he will be able 1o visit same of the bic i I

- power stations. After leaving "Vancouver - he will get to Dunedin via. Australia. His holiday periods during tho east three years have been devoted to Continental travel. The Messrs D. A. Ewen and J. F. Ewen (of the firm of Messr6 Sargood, Son, and Ewen), have terminated their visit to England, and have just started for the United States on their return journey to New Zealand. Mr F. J. Sullivan (Dunedin) has recently : reached London, after having devoted five i weeks 16 travelling about Canada. Since i arriving here he" ha,s been busily engaged' i making inquiries into the future prospects of the frozen Tabbit business, and he finds that for New Zealand descriptions it is very 1 bad indfled, partly on account of, the large numbers arriving from New South "Wales and the extremely good quality of those shipments. He tells me that considerable improvement will have to take place in handling rabbits in New Zealand, and they must also be landed in London at less cost than formerly if they are to have, ''any chance at all. As Mr A. F. "Wilding did not defend his title to the Gentlemen's Open Singles (Covered Court Lawn Tennis Championship of England), the holder of thai position ie now M. Max Decugis. The final round was played on Monday, when the Frenchman, who was strong 1 all round, defeated M. J. G. Ritchie, who played below his form, in three Mjaigfot sets, the contest taking considerably lees than an hour. So great was tha winner's superiority in the last s*»t that in four games Ritchie failed to win a stroke. Decugis was successful in 1904-, the second year of the competition. , Mr Colin Gilray, the new Rhodes scholar from New Zealand, was conspicuous in the football field last Saturday, when the match London Scottish v. Oxford University was pleyed at Richmond. Ihe New Zealander, however, did not play for his University \ he was one of the three-quarter backs for the London Scottish, which proved the winners by 25 points to nothing. Some New Zealand students at Guy's .. Hospital were prominent in the football field on Wednesday, when, the match Guy's Hospital v. Cambridge University was played at Honor Oak Park. Messrs P. F. M'Evedy and* L. B. Stringer were amojg the three-quarter backs, and Messrs D. Stout and H. Hoby were among the forwards. -It was an exciting contest, and the University suffered its first defeat, but only by 1 try. M'Evedy -once came away finely, but slipped when weaving his way through; Hoby had a chance from a lineout in the Cantabs' twenty-five, but passed lorward. while on another occasion Hones, after a neat sprint, served Stringer -with an indifferent pass. Guy's played hard; honest football in front; Stringer, Jones, and M'Every were the leading lights behind. Two engagements, at least, of interest to New Zealand readers have been announced ' this -week: — -«-£ii.-; — Mr Hugh I«eee, -of aieesra Gordon. Woodroffe, and Co., East India, avenue,- London, eldest son of the late Mt Edward S., Lees, of Oamaru, New Zealand, has become, engaged to Mies Elsie B. Cobb, -only daughter of Mr Ernest Cobb, of Rochester, Kent. In the other instance the bridegroom -elect is Commander J). Murray Anderson, Royal Navy, His Majesty's ship Cumberland, younger son of" General D. Anderson, colonel Cheshire Regiment, , of 13 Roland Gardens; the bride-elect is Misa Muriel Teschemaker, second daughter of the late- Mr W. H. Tesehemaker, of Kauroo , Hill, Otago, New ■•Zealand, and of Mrs Teschemaker, of 9 Egerton Gardens, Loddon. "" •*' Many and varied have been the travels and experiences of Dr J. R. Don, D.Sc., "M.A., who has been absent frona New Zealaiwl since the early part of the present year. His travels began in Asia— some time being devoted to JapJn, especially in the country regions. From the West Coast of Japan he went through Vladivostock and then by the Trans-Siberian railway to Moscow — a somewhat tedious journey of 12 days. He has been much on the European Continent — Germany, France, and Switzerland — but he has managed to fit in a good deal of travel in the United Kingdom as well. Throughout his tour Dr Don has been on the look-out for wrinkles of educational advantage to ' New Zealand, and with this object in view he has been . through a number of .universities and tech- . nical schools, making a study of the re- ', spective systems adopted. He has been ! very greatly impressed with the continua- : tion schools everywhere, but most of all : those which exist in Germany. Dr Don was in hopes of going to Chicago to inspect the muoh-talked-of Freak School in existence in that marvellous American city, but , he has not been able to carry out this i idea in the time at his disposal, as be # is anxious to be in Dunedin again by Christ- j mas. Dr Don took his farewell departure from England yesterday, bound for Switzer- i land and Italy to enter ti.pon a tour of i three weeks' duration. From Naples he. j i will cross to Port Said, have a look at i Egypt and the Nile, and then connect at i Port Said with the North German Lloyd i steamer Gneisneau. He was in Scotland. < for a while visiting friends and having some golf. Unfortunately severe rheuma- 4 tism attacked him soon after landing in ' England, and this made him rather an i invalid for a while. However, when I saw Dr Don immediately before his depar- * ture he seemed to be in excellent* health and in the best of spirits. He is taking back with him pleasant and amusing recollections of his extended tour. ■ • ' Mr Hall-Jones has returned to London t much benefitted in health by his stay, in " the North of England. He "is taking things very quietly and is not at present devoting t himself to any matters of a business i nature. ,