PERSONAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 998, 13 December 1910, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS.

Tho Hon. G. J. Smith, M.L.C., is a \\ passenger -bj' the Mararoa, which will nr- ; vivo in Wellington this morning from the : south. i :Mr. A. Crawford, a member of tho , Johannesburg City Council, and editor of the South African Socialist paper "The ] Voice of Labour," arrived from Cape . Town by the Kotorua on Sunday. In , tho course of an interview, Mr. Crawford ' referred to- tho unfortunate position of , whito labour on account of the existence of what is practically an unlimited , supply of black labour. The coloured I man very rapidly picked up a skilled trade. Coloured men were barred from , admittance to tho unions, which Mr. Crawford thought was altogether wrong, i for as yet there was no preference to . unionists. If the coloured class were ' allowed in, their standard of living ' would bo raised, and organised labour . would be strengthened immensely. The j Labour party was against giving tho , black man the franchise, and would not admit him to their unions, so the capitalist exploited them all. The labour men l generally supported the Nationalist party ' in politics, as they consider the Unionists wero preponderatingly capitalistic and alien to their interests. Mr. Crawford will deliver an address on South African politics on Sunday next. Miss Nellio Castle and Mr. James Doherty, of Wellington, have been engaged as soloists _ by the Palmcrston North Choral Society for a performance of "The Messiah,'' to be given on December 21, in aid of the children's ward at tho local hospital. The other soloists will o ho Madame Briggs, of Wanganui, and £ Mr. Sidney Butler, recently from England, i Mr. Lawrence Campbell, the talented elocutionist who i> tu recite in Willing- v ton at Christmas time, and M. . Eugene s Ossipoff, a .Russian baritone, leave Sydney "u Cor Wellington on Saturday next. Messrs. 11. T. H. Drew, formerly of Tin: " Dd.Mi.vioN literary staff, and G. Woolley, ,' 3f Palnievston, are returning from a trip ' to the United Kingdom and Enrobe by !' tho Ulimaroa 10-murrmv, " i ; Air. M. ,T. Kilgour, of the Land Transfer L 3ffice, Wellington; will, ivo understand, re- i] tire on pension early in tho New Year. ' ,i

; Mr. Walter Whyte, who toured the , Dominion with the Norman-Blitz Concert Company, is passing through Wellington on his way to Auckland, where ho takes the tenor solos in "The Mes- : siah," which is to bo produced by the Auckland Choral Society on December 20. Dr. Cleary, tho new Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, is' the recipient of the following tribute in the annual report of the Sacred Heart College-.—"A courteous gentleman and a brilliant controversialist, his advent will be hailed with delight by all, but by none more than by those engaged in Catholic education, of v.-hich he is the recognised and renowned champion. We have every assurance that his winning ways will gain the respect ' and affection even of those who may have ■ to feel the force of his close logic, when in conflict." ', Mr. W. T. Wood, ex-M.P. for Pal- . inorston North, received. a cable message i on Sunday stating that his father had , (lied at his Hobart residence. Mr. Wood, sen., was ' a well-known Tasnianian identity, who has been associated with . Hobart through a long lifetime of from i 87 to 89 years. Though he has never . taken part in polities or public life, he was yet known to everyone, and very . much respected. Ho .retired from .wort . nearly fifty years ago, and lived upon his Hobart property. He was twice married, and had twelve children by.each wife, and there are' ten of the first' and eleven of the second family still living, with a very large number of descendants. One son, who came over to the first Kumara rush, was drowned in the Tcremakau Eiver. Mr. W. T. Wood himself left home in 1870, when he sailed for Dunedin. He, however, saw his father as late as six years ago, when with Mrs. Wood ho visited Hobart. Mr. Cuthbertson, late of the Dunedin postal staff, who had been to the Old Country for his health, left Liverpool to return by the steamer Persic in October, hut died an hour after stepping aboard. Mrs. Cuthbertson, who is a sister, of Mr. John Mackay, of Wellington, Government Printer, was with him. Mr. T. E. Taylor,' M.P., told a Christchurch reporter yesterday afternoon that in response to large numbers of inquiries since his.return from WeUington he had practically decided to be a candidate for tho Mayoralty at tho clecSion next year. He said that next session of Parliament would extend over only a few weeks, and his absence from two or three meetings of the City Council would not in any way interfere with his Mayoral duties.