PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 10, 7 March 1908, Page 60

PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, January 24. The laie Mr. Seddon is to have a memorial at Eccleston, St. Helens, Lancashire, where he was bern and brought up. At a meeting of the Liverpool Consistory Court on Wednesday, the Rev. J. B. Clarke (vicar) and the churchwardens of Christ Church, Eccleston, applied for permission to remove from the church a reading desk and several seats adjoining it, and to erect in their place new seats for clergy and choir. It was represented that the alteration would result in the singing becoming more congregational. The cost would be defrayed by Mrs. Seddon, of Wellington, New Zealand, as a memorial to her husband, the Hon. Richard Seddon late Premier of New Zealand. In reply to Archdeacon Spooner, the vicar said Mr. Seddon was born and educated in Ecclestsn, his mother being mistress of the school which he attended. The Archdeacon, in decreeing the faculty in the terms of the citation, said it was a matter of great interest to know that the alterations were intended as a memorial of one who had won such a high position in New Zealand as had the late Mr. Seddon, and the vicar was to be congratulated on the fact that his widow had chosen that church as the centre in which such a memorial should be placed. Mr.. Roland St. Clair, of Auckland, has just returned to London after a delightful month’s holiday m Norway, whither he went partly on business and partly for pleasure. In his official capacity as Norwegian Consul at Auckland he made the acquaintance of the Norwegian Minister of Commerce during his stay in Christiania, and was introduced to the King of Norway, the President of the Storthing, and various members of the Government. He found them greatly interested in New Zealand’s industrial and social legislation, and had to answer many questions regarding the working of the various democratic laws for which the Dominion is famous. He had half-an-hour’s conversation with King Haakon and was charmed, as all who met him are, by the monarch’s good-natured ease of manner, and the absence of formality. Mr. St. Clair came away with the conviction that Norway’s King was, to put it colloquially, a real good sort. His work on “The St. Clairs of the Isles” brought Mr. St. Clair in touch with a number of literary men in Christiania, and he was most hospitably entertained by many kind friends in literary and in Masonic circles. Christiania was deep in snow during his vist, with the thermometer showing something like 40 degress of frost, but the cold was not so severe as in London, for the air is dry and bracing. Sledging, skating, and skiing were in full swing, and the Aucklander found no lack of amusement in learning to skate and ski. Altogether he spent about a month in Norway, and has brought away the pleasantest recollections of his visit. The date of his return to New Zealand is at present uncertain. Mr. Athol V. Davis, of Devonport, Auckland, who arrived here by the Everton Grange two days before Christmas, has come to England to raise capital to work the copper mines at Kawau Island, and also to place several patents on the English market. One of these patents is a method of retouching photographic negatives in a remarkably short space of time, enabling a retoucher to get through three or four times as much work as formerly in a day. Another patent is a carriage window which can be opened, shut and regulated without the aid of catches. Mr. Davis spent the Christmas holidays at Oxford with relatives, and while there was elected a visiting member of the Oxford Union, the well-known debating society attached to the University. The Blackheath Football Club, one of the leading London clubs, have invited him to play for their A team, and Mr. Davis intends taking the field in the threequarter line next Saturday. Now that the holidays are over and London has settled down to work again, he has come up to town to begin business in connection with his various projects. Recent callers at the High Commissioner’s office: Mrs. M. Jefferies (Inglewood), Miss Stoddart (Auckland), Miss ft. Ferguson (Christchurch), Mr. William Wilson, B.E. (Christchurch), Mr. 11. M. (Jmyth (Hokitika), Mr. E. Alfred Mayne (Wanganui), and Mr. W. J. Tonkin (Dunedin).

An application has been received by, the War Office for the services of ad officer (not under the rank of captain), for the Royal Garrison Artillery work, as Director of Ordnance and Commandant of the Permanent Force in New Zealand. The rate of pay will be £450 per annum, with a bouse allowance of £5O. Passages will be provided for the officer and hit family to and from New. Zealand. The appointment will be for a period of three years, with possible ex J tension to five years, by mutual agreement at the termination of the first period, and the officer selected will be seconded from his regiment. If serving with the Army Ordnance Department his selection would entail resignation of his appointment in that department. The Rimutaka, of the New Zealand Shipping Company’s line, is due to leave Plymouth to-morrow, January 24, for New Zealand, via Cape Town and Hobart. She takes the following saloon passengers:—Miss K. Blackburne, Mr. M. A. Browne, Mr. J. Buchanan, Mr. A. R. Bushell, Mrs. G. K. Duncan, Miss M. K. Duncan, Miss I. M. Fraser, Miss J. A. Hastie, Mr. C. A. Hawkins, Mrs. Hawkins, Master O. W. Hawkins, Mrs. J. B. Hay, Miss P. Hay, Rev. G. T. and Mrs. Johnston, Mr. J. H. Jowitt, Mrs. Jowitt and family, Mr, A._ Kornweibel,. Professor M. M. McHardy, Mrs. Madocks, and family, Fraulein J. Notterbwaun, Mrs. Simeox, Mr. W. M. Simcox, Mr. C. H. Stephens, Mr. D. Symon, Mrs. Watt, Mrs. E. Watts, Fraulein G. Werth, Miss C. Anderson, Mr. S. Astin, Miss A. R. Blackwell, Mr. T. E. Brad-haw, Miss G. Budgen, Mrs. C. L. Butterworth, Miss M. H. Butterworth, Miss I. F. Butterworth, Miss M. R. Butterworth, Miss D. G. Butterworth, Mrs. M. F. Climie, Miss E. Duncan, Mr. G. R. Gibbons, Mr. E. L. Hampson, Mr. G. Heym, Mr. N. J. Hill, Mr. S. C. Hodges, Mr. T. R. Lees, Mrs. Lees, Miss B. E. Lees, Master C. E. Lees, Mrs. Lethbridge, Miss McGregor, Mrs. E. Montgomerie, Mrs. J. Murray, Mr. W. A. Paterson, Mr. D. K. Picken, Mrs. Picken, Mr. P. H. Powell, Mr. P. Revis, Mr. C. H. Rushton, Mr. W, Shaul, Miss A. V. Tempest, Miss K. M. Todd, Mr. W. Tolehard, Mr. Wm. Waller, Mr. G. F. Wray, and a large number in the third class. Admiral Frederick W. Gough, C. 8., who died at Liverpool last Sunday in his eighty-fifth year, was the last surviving son of Richard Astley, who took the name of Gough, and was a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant of Leicestershire. After completing liis education at Brussels, he entered the Navy in 1838, and served on numerous stations, ineluding North America, the West Indies, the Cape, the East and West Coasts of Africa, South America, Chili, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, India, and the Mediterranean. He held the post of senior lieutenant on the battleship London at the bombardment of Sebastopol. For, distinguished service he was raised to the rank of commander. On returning home from the Crimea, he was for six years in command of the Hastings division of the Coastguard, and was promoted to the rank of captain for zeal in the protection of revenues. During his active service he was five times gazetted for acts of bravery, and his numerous decorations included the South African, Turkish, Crimean and Sardinian medals. He was also a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and when he retired in 1895 with the rank of admiral, he was made Commander of the Bath. Since his retirement he has resided at Liverpool and was a magistrate of that city and of the County of Leicester. Admiral Gough married in 1848 Miss Isobel Davies, second daughter of tlie late Dr. Davies, of Auckland.