PERSONAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 9, 9 January 1913, Page 5

PERSONAL.

The Governor (Lord Liverpool) Avill he present at Da-nnevirke Slioav on February 13th. It is further intimated (states a Press Association message) that his Excellency will be accompanied on his visit by the Countess of Liverpool. Mr Fred Hitch, the Victoria Cross hero at Rorke’s Drift, is dead.

Mr and Mrs H. LI. Betts left by the mail train this morning for Timaru.

Madame Bernard and Mrs F. Arden left yesterday for Ncav Plymouth for a short holiday at the seaside. Sir Sydney Oliver, ex-Govcrnor of Jamaica, has been appointed Permanent Secretary of Agriculture for Britain.

The Hon. G. E. Foster, Canadian Minister for Trade, will sail for Australia on February 2 to discAiss the question of- reciprocity. Mr W. H. Skinner, Commissioner of CroAvn Lands at Blenheim, avlio has been revisiting his old home at Ncav Plymouth, returned per mail train this morning. Lord Hardinge, Viceroy of India, is reported by cable to he recovering from his injuries in the recent bomb outrage, but his hearing is affected. Dean Harper, the fourteenth son of the late Bisliop Harper, Avho has been Dean of Christchurch since 1901, has resigned on -the grounds of illhealth.

Mr A. C. Bevington, formerly editor of the Northern Advocate, Whangarei, is leaving for Dargaville to take the editorial chair on the North Auckland Times.

The Hon. F. M. B. Fisher, Minister of Customs, has been advised by the Eight Hon. Mr Fisher, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, that he is unable to make his intended tour of the Dominion. The Hon. W. D. Johnson, Westralian Minister of Public Works, arrived in Eltham last evening (states a Press Association message). The Borough Council and Chamber of Commerce intend giving him a public welcome to the town. Mr A. P. Dryden, Chief Postmaster at New Plymouth, passed through Stratford yesterday en route for Wellington, where he has been appointed Chief Postmaster for the district. On Tuesday night the staffs of the New Plymouth Office made him a farewell presentation of plate, many eulogistic references being passed as to Mr Dryden’s abilities, as a postal official. Mr J. C. Grierson, of Auckland, who previously won the chess championship in 1902, is fifty-six years of age; and is styled the “preux chevalier” of New Zealand chess. In 1009, at (Auckland, he tied for first place with Mr John Mason, but lost in the playing off. The following year he was entirely out of form, suffering from nervous indisposition. In 1911 he had evidently regained his health, for he lost but two games, and his chances of first place at one time during the tournament were extremely good, Mr Grierson is a native of Cheshire, England, and is an accountant by profession. Mr James Craigie, M.P. for Timaru, has received a very interesting little gift, sent from England by Dr, H V. Drew. It is a little parcel of acorns from the famous Boscobel Royal Oak. Boscobel is a village on the eastern border of Chropshire, 37 miles north of Worcester. It was here that King Charles I! took refuge after the defeat at Worcester on. September 3, IGSI, making Boscobel his hidingplace for two days. For more than twenty-four hours he and Major Careless lay hidden in a huge oak, and the Royal Oak which is to-day one of the proudest possessions of the village was grown from an acorn of the tree in which the fugitives sought shelter. Boscobel House, which was in occupation at the times ol Charles’s visit, still stands,