PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11478, 10 January 1903, Page 3

PERSONAL NOTES FROM LONDON.

_ (FHOM Ot'B OWX CORRESrOXDE.VT.)

LONDON, December 6. Miss Laura Buller, only daughter of Sir Walter Buller. K.C.M.G., F.R.S., of Wellington, New Zealand, is to be married during the present month to Major W. J. Madocks, R.A., son of Mr and the Hon. Mre Robert Madocks. The wedding, I hear, is to be very quiet, owing to the precarious state of the health of the bridegroom's father. A Parliamentary Commission has been sitting for some time under the Chairmanship of Sir John Dorrington, and has had under consideration the question how the expenses of criminal trials at the Assizes may be reduced. At present a prisoner nia.y plead guilty before a Magistrate, who is obliged to commit him for trial—the offence being outside of summary jurisdiction—then the case has to come before the Grand Jury, and then the petit jury; the witnesses have to be bound over to appear in each case, and then it sometimes happens—as in a recent case—"-that when the accused is finally sentenced, after waiting six months for his "trial," the Judge tells him he has already received an imprisonment time as long as he would have inflicted, and so releases him on the spot. One plan sug.ested is that now, I believe, in operation in New Zealand, viz.. i that if the accused pleads guilty before the Magistrate he is simply committed to the Supreme Court for sentence to be pronounced, and so a vast amount of delay and «_penf*e and public inconvenience is avoided. The Commission has been taking the evidence of Dr. F. W. Pennefather, who described the New Zealand method. The Commission has not yet presented its leport. Dr. Pennefatlier leaves London in a day or two to star for awhile with his old friend the Bishop of Bath and Wells, in the famous moated palace at Wells, in whose garden Bishop Ken—a predecessor of Bishop Kennion—wrote the well known evening hymn, "Glory to Thee, my God, this night." Dr. Pennefather purposes wintering in London. At the Alexandra Palace, London, recently, Sullivan's " Golden Legend " was performed- with a very strong cast. The sr.prano heroine, Elsie, was impersonated by Mrs Manson, who was certainly an ideal representative of the part, alike in appearance and in voca! charm. A London paper, noticing the performance, saps: —

" The honours of the evening, however, fell to Miss Mabel Maaison, who, in her impersonation of Elsie, simply charmed the audience. This young lady hails from New- Zealand, and is the possessor of a soprano voice of exceptional quality and compass. She is certainly destined to become a leading star in the musical world. The duet between herself and Mr Green in scene VI. was simply superb, but although on encore was demanded, it was not responded to." Mib Manson has an absolutely full list of engagements up to the end of this year, and I am glad to learn that _er fees are steadily increasing in amount. Among her " bookings" are "Elijah," at I.ford; Society of Musicians' Concert, Shields; " Judas Maccabeus," Manor Park; " Holy City," etc., Stoke Newingtom; "Carmen," at Blackheath; "Rose Maiden," at Newcastle; "Messiah," at Durham; also in important concert* at Glasgow, Ty__mout_, Newcastle, Sunderland, and other provincial centres. Evidently her English career is now fully assured. Mr and Mrs Charles Holwort_y left London the day before yesterday to embark in the s.s*. Whakatane for New Zealand. They hays decided to taJte up their residence perm~»e_tly in New Zealand, where Mrs _Colwort_y—better known aa Lady Buckley—has so many friends. Mr and Mrs Holworthy have found the English climate exceedingly trying during this cold, gloomy and miserable year. Several New Zealand friends assembled at Liverpool street station on Thursday monung to bid them farewell. The Rev. C. W. Carrington, who recently received the appointment of Head of Col- i lege House, Christchurcih, leaves England to-day to take up his new duties. Mr Carrington, who is accompanied by Mrs C_rri_yiton and their family, are travelling by the Ophir. Among other passengew by (the outward trip of t_e Ophir are Dr. Guthrie, Mrs Guthrie, Mi&s B. Guthrie, and Mr E. Guthrie, Vke-Admirai A. "D. Fansha/we, Mrs and Miss Fanshawe.

Mr J. K. Inglis intends spending about two yearns at the London Univeraity, where he proposes going in for has D.Sc. This .U-iveimty is laying itself out for colonists, particularly for post graduates or men so placed that they cannot attend the New Zealand U_iversity. There is, of course, no intention to compete with the New Zealand University; rather t_e desire is to work with that insti!tui_on. Mr W. P. Reeves, who as a member of the Senate of the London University, will be.pleased to supply any student or post graduate student with dnformaition. It is really very i___rkable how well New Zealanders wlho settle in London so often seem (to do even in competition with London veterans, and in many different branches of work. One of the latest instances otf this pleasant tendency is afforded by Miss Lucy Crewe Hawkins, formerly of Wellington, New Zealand, who has recently followed the example of Lady Warwick aaad other well-known English ladies, and has very pluckily opened a millinery establishment at 'No. 9 Lower Belgrave street, close to Grosvenor Gardens, Eaton square, Buckingham Palace, and Victoria Station. Miss Hawkins, who trades under her first two names, as "Lucy Crewe," has always been noted in private ■life for _ef artistic skill in dress and millinery mattens, and she has found a capital opening for the exercise of this skill an her new enterprise. Already her fame (has spread in the London West End, and she has almost more orders than she and her assistants can fulfil. S_« h_s

even in ithis brief time achieved quite a remarkable success, and evidently has enteired upon a prosperous career. I may add that, "Lucy Crewe" is supplying the millinery for the trousseau of Miss Buller's wedding, and that a number of quondam 'New Zealanders now in Ixmdon have already, become her "clients." I have no doubt that colonists visiting London next season will be glad to know about her. Mi- Heinrieh F. yon Haast, having been called to the English Bar, has decided to resumia the practice of his profession- in New Zealand. With this view he has 'booked for liimself and Mrs yon Haast passages for New Zealand by the s.s. TongiarLro, which sails in January next. Mr W. Acton Adams, an old Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, 'has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He is (leaving London about Christmas for the Riviera.

I hear that the engagement has just been announced of Mr J. A. Roberts, of Thinedln, who has been in this country for the past two years, to Miss Downes, of Argoed, Edgerley, Shropshire.