PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue II, 9 January 1904, Page 53

PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

(From Our Special Verreepoudeut.) LONDON, November 23. Mrs. Btevea, wife of the Agent General for New Zealand, will te’l the •tory of “Two New Zealand Days” in the Ilfi'inbei number of “Temple Bar." The fie l . Lyttelton Fitzgerald, late oi Auckland, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute at a meeting of the council on Tuesday last. Mr. B. C. Aston, Chief Chemist to the New Zealand Agricultural Department, and hie brother. Air. Cyril Aston, are returning to New Zealand by the India, which left London yesterday. The number of visitors from the colony to the office of the New Zealand Agent-General this week has been very •mall The following registered their names: Mrs. W. L. Luxford, Miss Julia and Master Theo. Luxford, of Dannevirke; Air. Arthur 11. Patterson, of Nelson; Air. Jas. G. Stevens, of Wellington; and Mr. and Airs. J. Frith Roberts, ol Christchurch. Successful candidates from Guy’s Hospital at the last final ALB. (London) examination included two New Zealanders—ll. Al. Goldstein, of Auckland; •nd 11. B. Alilsom, of Christchurch. Alisa Jessie Edmiston, of Auckland, who came Home last Afay on a pleasure trip, is returning by the P and O Company’s new steamer Aloldavia, leaving Lnndm or December 11. Since reaching the Ok. Country Aliss Edmiston has travelled far' and wide, visiting Scotland, Ireiand, and the Continent, and erov ding as much sight-ceeing as pos•ibl inti- the six mot ihs at her disposal. Despite the wretched whither jhe has thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. Mr H. Fisher, of Napier, and Air H. Wright, who also came here from Napier, although his home is in Auckland, are returning to the colony by the Omrah, which left London yesterday for Sydney, via Suez. Both have been in England for about eighteen months, during which time they have done a good deal of travelling and sightseeing. This week Air Wright has been on a visit to Scotland, and he journeys thence •cross the Continent, catching his steamer at Naples.

An enterprising young New Zealander is Mi- C. W. Knowles, of Timaru. Some months ago he made up his mind to see something of the world beyond New Zealand, and accordingly came to London last Afay by the Turakina. By Working at his trade as a carpenter and joiner in various parts of the metropolis and in the country he has contrived not only to support himself but to see all that was to be seen wherever he happened to be. He went to Henley Regatta and spent a couple of days at the Bisley Rifle Aleeting, while in London he appears to have done as much sightseeing as could possibly be crowded into the time at his disposal. Mr Knowles is by no means favourably impressed with the conditions of the building

trade in this country. Builders here have to work 91 or 10 hours, as against eight hours in New Zealand, and receive lower wages thou their colonial brethren. Nor do they get the same allround training here as in the colonies. A carpenter, for instance, is distinct fiom a joiner, and the joinery trade itself is highly specialised, one man making nothing but window-sashes, another doors, another mantles, and so on. Mr Knowles will remain here for the winter, after which he will spend some time in Scotland, and then probably cross to America before returning to New Zealand. LONDON, November 20. The Shaw Savfil steamer Corinthic left Loudon to-day on her third voyage to Capetown, Hobart and New Zealand, taking the following New Zealand passengers: For Auckland, Miss M. Hughes, Miss Macfarlane, Miss HMarsh, Miss F. Marsh, Mr and Mrs S. Myers, Mrs L. D. Nathan, Miss M. Blackby, Mr D. Gray, Miss J. Gray, Mr and Mrs T. C. Hassell, Mrs Johns, Miss L. Johns, Mrs S. J. Paul, Mr H. Heimer, Mr and Mrs H. M. Howsham, Miss L. Howsham, Mr J. Heath, Miss E. Hole, Miss N. Hole, Mrs K. Johnson, Mr F. C. Lea, Mr and Mrs J- T. Naughan and family, Messrs J. and W. Moore, Mr H. Maclean, Miss A. Oates. "Men and Women,” a London journal, pays a warm tribute to the popularity of Lady Ranfuily in New Zealand: — "Mr Seddon, whose dislike to titles is notorious, confessed, when he was in England, that if all owners of them resembled Lady Ranfurly the peerage would have no detractors. She has never neglected her social duties at Government House, and, in fact, her receptions have been marked by their freedom from stiffness, as well as by the pains taken by the hostess to make the most obscure of her guests at home; but it is most of all among the toilers in the towns and on the farms in the colony that she has created an ineffaceable impression. Those who are acquainted with her ladyship affirm that when she leaves New Zealand the most treasured remembrance she will carry away with her is that she was as well known in the houses of the lowliest workers as in the palatial residences of the wealthy sheep squatters.”

Amongst the rules of the AngloSaxon Club in London is an excellent one providing that the Club shall hold ■three dinners every year. It was a happy idea to make the presentation from the citizens of Auckland to MajorGeneral Baden-Powell the feature of the Club dinner held on Friday evening last. The whole affair was a great success. There was no formality, and under the genial influence of a good dinner, a popular subject and sociable surroundings, the speeches were all in the happiest vein. Mr Reeves paid a graceful tribute to the versatility and cheery courage displayed by theii- distinguished guest in the recent war. “8.P.” was in good form, and made a neat speech in reply. His statement that in his opinion the New Zealanders in South Africa “showed the way to all the rest,” was received with loud applause. Sir

John Hall was persuaded into saying a few words, and although he had come unprepared the veteran ex-Premier made an admirable speech. Gatherings such as these serve to strengthen the bonds of fellowship between Britons here and overseers, and the general opinion if those present on Friday evening was that the Anglo-Saxon Club had set an excellent precedent.

Mr. B. C. Aston, the New Zealand Government, chemist, leaves on his return voyage to the colony next week.

Mrs. L. D. Nathan, of Auckland, left London by the New Zealand Shipping Co.’s steamer Corinthic tp-day, homeward bound.

Mr. Jas. McKerrow., ex-chairman of the New Zealand Land Purchase Board, who has been on a three months’ visit to the Old Country, left for New Zealand by the Orient liner Omrah to-day.

The Agent-General’s Department despatched to-day by the Corinthic a large shipment of lapwings, pheasants, mallard ducks, widgeons, and other birds, for acclimatisation in New Zealand.

The Premiers of New Zealand and Canada are thus contrasted by the “Liverpool Post”: “Mr. Seddon, the frank, buoyant Premier of New sZealand, we seem to know more intimately. Sir Wilfred Laurier is more of the grand seignio, living a little apart.”

The "Financial News” comments favourably on the recent banking legislation in New Zealand. The course which events have taken in the business of the Bank of New Zealand during the past decade is declared to reflect great credit upon those who were Belected to conduct -the compil-icated affairs of the undertaking.

Sir Lambert H. Ormsby, M. D., an exNew Zealander, who was knighted recently, delivered last week a lecture on "The Ideal Physician: His Early Training and Future Prospects/’ on the opening of medical session, 1903-4, of the Royal College of Surgeons, in Ireland, of which he is president.

Mr. R. W. Allen, of Auckland, who is now entering on his fifth year at Guy’s hospital, has been appointed demonstrator in bacteriology and pathology at that institution. A paper by Mr. Allen on certain neurotic diseases was read at the meeting of the physiological society last Saturday evening, and elicited considerable discussion.

The following New Zealanders have called at the Agency-General in London during the past week:—Auckland, Mr. R. W. Allen; Wellington, Messrs. S. H. Luke, and J. P. Luke, Mr. J. R. Delaney, Mr. Thos. Kelly, Mr. Jas. McKerrow, Mr. Henry M. Cohen; Wanganui, Mr., Mrs., and Miss Einpson,; Christchurch, Miss Monica Cocks, Mr. W. M. Lewis; Dunedin, Mr. W. J. Browne, M. 8., Ch., 8., Captain and Mrs. Irvine (nee Rose Blaney, Eldred J. D. Hercus, M.A.; Timaru, Mr. W. C. Knowles; New Plymouth, Mrs. H. L. Skeet; Stratford, Messrs, Moore Bros.